In a controversial move, President Joe Biden has granted clemency to a Chinese national, Jin Shanlin, who was convicted for possessing a staggering 47,000 files of child pornography.
This decision was part of a larger prisoner exchange between the United States and China. The Biden administration's recent actions have been described as the "largest single-day grant of clemency" in American history.
As reported by The Post Millennial, the Financial Times revealed that three Chinese nationals were involved in the prisoner exchange last month. Two of these individuals were convicted of espionage, while the third, Jin Shanlin, pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in 2021. The Dallas Morning News reported that the incriminating evidence, a trove of 47,000 files of child sexual abuse material, was discovered on Shanlin's computer.
During Shanlin's trial in Texas, an FBI agent testified that Shanlin's family had ties to influential members of the Communist Party in China. Following his conviction, Shanlin was sentenced to 97 months in prison and five years of supervised release. The clemency granted by the Biden administration on November 22, however, cut his sentence short. The disturbing material found on Shanlin's computer included videos involving infants and toddlers, discovered during a police raid on his home.
Upon Shanlin's release, Mao Ning, a representative of the Chinese foreign ministry, stated, "This once again demonstrates that China will never abandon its compatriots under any circumstances, and the motherland will always be their strong support."
The other two individuals involved in the prisoner swap, Xu Yanjun and Ji Chaoqun, were convicted on espionage-related charges. Ji, sentenced to eight years in prison, was apprehended while attempting to gather defense technology for China's state department, with Xu as his accomplice.
China has maintained that the three individuals were wrongfully detained and were returned due to the "tireless efforts of the Chinese government." The clemency grants to these three Chinese nationals have sparked intense scrutiny of the Biden administration, particularly in the wake of the president's recent blanket pardon of his son, Hunter Biden. This series of events raises questions about the administration's commitment to justice and the rule of law, particularly in cases involving serious crimes such as child pornography and espionage.
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