Through 8 years in Chinese prison, Huntington's Kai Lee says he stayed hopeful

WASHINGTON — For eight years, Kai Li, of Huntington, held on to hope that he would be freed from a Chinese prison on charges he was acting as a U.S. spy.

Freedom came on Day 3,001 — a number his son, Harrison Li, has engraved to memory after lobbying lawmakers for years to fight on behalf of his father.

On Wednesday, father and son walked the halls of the U.S. Capitol to thank those they say played a role in negotiating Li’s return last November, and to advocate on behalf of Americans still detained overseas.

"I believed in my heart, from the bottom of my heart, that ‘my government won’t give up,’" Li, 62, told Newsday as he sat next to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)

Harrison Li, 27, said Schumer’s office was the first congressional office he called when the Li family learned their patriarch had been detained in Shanghai in September 2016 on espionage charges. Li and U.S. officials have said the charges were fabricated, and contend the owner of an import-and-export business and two gas stations was "wrongfully detained."

Kai Li, a naturalized U.S. citizen, said he was held in secret detention for nearly two years after being detained on a trip to see family. In July 2018 he was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to media reports.

Schumer said he advocated directly to Chinese President Xi Jinping for Li’s release during a bipartisan trip to China in 2023 and repeatedly raised Li’s case to the White House. Schumer said Harrison Li reached out weekly to ensure his father’s case was not forgotten.

"Relentless was his dear son," Schumer said. "It’s a beautiful family story of a son’s love for a father."

Kai Li was released Nov. 27 along with two other Americans in a swap for detained Chinese nationals. The Biden administration had raised the cases of the detained Americans in several meetings with Chinese officials, according to The Associated Press.

Long Island lawmakers have long advocated for Kai Li’s return. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) met with both men on Wednesday, and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) met with them on Thursday. 

Suozzi and LaLota are both co-sponsors of a bipartisan bill introduced in April that calls for the IRS to "postpone tax deadlines and reimburse paid late fees" for Americans "wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad."

LaLota in a statement posted on X on Thursday said Li's plight "inspired" him to co-sponsor the legislation.

"After enduring several human rights abuses, the last thing a recently freed citizen should have to worry about is paying tax penalties," LaLota said.

Suozzi, after meeting with Li said in a social media post he is "grateful for the chance to stand by him as he rebuilds his life here in America."

Li, whose businesses shuttered during his detainment, said he wanted to meet with lawmakers in part to share the challenge detained Americans face upon returning.

"It’s all destroyed," Li said. "Now, I’m trying to find a way to make a new business, to try to make a new living."

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.