A Chinese-American businessman held in China for almost five years finally returned to the U.S. ahead of the China-U.S. summit.
Hu Zhicheng, who was detained and held in China for years in a dispute with a competitor, has finally returned to his Southern California home, revealed Hong Li, wife of the businessman, to the Associated Press Tuesday night.
"We're grateful, we're very, very grateful for everybody's help and we're really happy to have him back home," said the mother of two children.
The Chinese-American businessman was released just ahead of the summit between the U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
"We have seen the press reports, and are pleased that Dr. Hu is home with his family," said the State Department in a statement.
It appears that China is extending a gesture of goodwill to the U.S. government by releasing Hu.
Several other prisoners including a few Tibetan political prisoners were also released from the Chinese jails.
However, China-expert Dibyesh Anand, Associate Professor at University of Westminster, said that this is just an age-old trick used often by countries to promote a friendly atmosphere.
"This is an old trick used by US, USSR and now china before their summits-- to offer some sops. This is blunt the edge off the criticism and give a semblance of improvement," Dibyesh Anand told International Business Times.
Hu, who is an internationally recognized scientist in the development of catalytic converters that are used to limit automobile pollutions, returned to China in 2004 hoping to build cleaner automobiles in the country. He was even honored by the Chinese province of Jiangsu as one of the leading innovators in the region to build top-grade catalytic converters.
However following an accusation of stealing confidential information in 2008, he was jailed for 17 months while police investigated the case. After clearing the case, he was released from jail but the government stopped him from returning home.
The businessman's family had been busy in recent months lobbying the U.S. government and writing petition letters on the social networks including change.org.
The sudden return of the businessman has brought much joy to the Southern California family.
courtesy: HNGN
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