"It is the increasing manifestation of what some have called China’s “hostage diplomacy”. Donald Clarke, a professor at George Washington Law School indicates that “China views the holding of human hostages as an acceptable way to conduct diplomacy”. Famously, two prominent Canadians were detained for three years without charge by China – seemingly in response to Canada’s arrest of Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou. In 2020, a famous Australian anchor named Cheng Lei at CGTN (China Global TV Network) was detained under China’s state secrets laws – seemingly in response to a deterioration in relations between the two countries.
Whatever else you think about China, it is a tragedy for all countries that relations have come to this. Because it signals – along with the Great Firewall of China, the National Intelligence Law, Document 9 and ever-stricter control over China’s media and internet – the increasing isolation of the Chinese people; the end of their all-to-brief exposure to the rich multiplicity of thought in the world. The Party is building a wall around the nation and there are risks to those who go over it.
It signals a resurgence of a Maoist “cult of personality” system under one leader, Xi Jinping, in which “good thought” is distinguished from “bad thought”, and in which the latter is ruthlessly suppressed, be that in China or elsewhere."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-taking-us-citizens-hostage-125051857.html