Innocent U.S. Citizens Barred By China From Coming Home

Chinese officials are defending their decision to bar three U.S. citizens from leaving the country, saying they are suspected of "economic crimes".  Victor and Cynthia Liu, children of a fugitive Chinese businessman, and their mother, Sandra Han, have been detained since June.

Their father, Liu Changming, who has been estranged from the family for over five years, is wanted in a $1.4bn fraud case in China.

"As we understand it from the relevant authorities, these people you have mentioned all have legal and valid identity documents as Chinese citizens," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.  "They are suspected of having committed economic crimes and have been restricted from leaving China by Chinese police."

While exit bans have often been imposed on Chinese-born foreigners, all three family members reportedly entered China on American passports.

19-year=old Victor and 27-year-old Cynthia travelled with their mother to a tropical Chinese island this summer to visit their grandfather.  Days later, their mother - who is a Chinese-born US citizen - was detained by Chinese officials and taken to a "black jail" - a secretive detention center.

The two Liu children have tried to leave the country three times and continue to stay with an uncle.  They are being held in order to lure their father, a former state-owned bank executive, back to face criminal fraud charges, though he reportedly cut ties with the family in 2012.

According to the China Daily paper, Liu Changming is one of the country's 100 most-wanted fugitives facing arrest for alleged corrupt practices. He fled China in 2007.