China detains two Americans amid tension with US

China detains two Americans amid tension with US.  They were running an English-teaching business in China.

According to their company, authorities held them on “bogus” charges.

China detains two Americans

Their Idaho-based company China Horizons said on its Facebook page that the cops nabbed Jacob Harlan, a father of five and Alyssa Petersen.  However, the arrests in China’s Jiangsu province occurred last month.

A gofundme.com page set up to raise money for Petersen’s legal fees. It says she China formally charged her with “illegally moving people across borders”.

Notably, the detentions come amid diplomatic and trade tensions between China and the United States.

AFP story quotes US State Department official

Meanwhile, an AFP story quoted a US State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

That the US aware of the detention of two US citizens in Jiangsu, China and the charges against them.

“We take seriously our responsibility to assist US citizens abroad and are monitoring the situation.”

Furthermore, China Horizons on Facebook termed allegations as bogus crimes charges.  It said that their families are working on getting them international lawyers to help them get back home to the States.

Moreover, the founder of China Horizons Harlan held in a hotel under police surveillance in the city of Zhenjiang.

According to a separate gofundme.com page set up for his legal fees, Police detained him while he was accmpanying eight-year-old daughter at a hotel in Weifang, Shandong province, on September 28.

Police also took away his phone and computer, according to the post. However, they allowed his daughter to briefly call her mother she later took an international flight with a family friend.

China detains two Americans

Petersen, the associate director of China Horizons, detained around September 27.  Since then not heard from for two weeks until the State Department located her, according to her gofundme.com page.

“We received information that she is doing okay, She wakes up when told, she goes to sleep when told. She spends her day in a Jail Cell or walking in a circle counting steps,” the gofundme.com page says.

“She cannot have any contact with anyone outside of a Consulate Officer who can visit once a month and a Lawyer.”

The State Department official confirmed that Petersen is receiving “all appropriate consular services”.

The AFP further reported that Zhenjiang police told them they had no immediate comment. The US embassy did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

China Horizons, which arranges for Americans to teach English at Chinese schools, said it would shut down at the end of October.

“Unfortunately, because of increasing political and economic problems between the US and China, no longer able to send teachers to china safely.” .

Shiite News Monitoring Desk