Chinese police detained a five-year-old US citizen and prevented him from seeing his parents for 26 days without informing the US authorities, the US embassy in Beijing claimed today.
Human Rights in China (HRIC) said five-year-old Andrew Xue and his parents, Chinese citizens Xue Donghua and Gao Zhan, were detained at Beijing airport on February 11th as they were heading to the United States after visiting family.
Gao, a scholar at the American University in Washington, and her husband are US residents awaiting full citizenship while their son is a US citizen because he was born in the United States.
"They were separated and held for 26 days at an unknown location. Andrew was not allowed any contact with his parents and grandparents throughout this period," said the statement.
"Chinese officials neglected to inform the American embassy that they were holding an American citizen, as required by law," HRIC claimed.
"They also failed to inform their families or their employers as to their whereabouts," said the New York-based group.
The statement said Andrew and his father were released on March 8th and have since left the country. However it said Gao's whereabouts and condition were unknown.
Asked to comment on the report, US embassy spokesman John Berry said: "The HRIC report is consistent with our understanding of events."
Mr Berry said the embassy could not comment on the details of the case because of US privacy laws but that under a consular agreement China should notify the US side within four days if any of its citizens were detained.
He added: "You can be sure we are monitoring compliance of this requirement very carefully and that we make our displeasure known to the Chinese government if we have determined that they have not implemented it."
HRIC claimed Xue repeatedly asked the authorities for his young son to be allowed to stay either with him or with his grandparents in China, but the request was denied.
It said that during his detention he was repeatedly asked about his wife's research and a reported visit she made to Taiwan.
AFP