<p>The world can see <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China</a> is not a &#8220;great power&#8221; as the U.S. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congress</a> unites in demanding freedom for Mark Swidan, an American who has been &#8220;unjustly detained&#8221; for more than a decade, Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ted-cruz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ted Cruz</a> (R-TX) declared on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Cruz spoke exclusively with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> days after the Democrat-controlled Senate <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-resolution/23/actions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed by unanimous consent his resolution</a> calling for the immediate release of Swidan, a move which followed the GOP-led House unanimously approving its own resolution <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3971913-house-unanimously-approves-resolution-demanding-china-immediately-release-detained-us-citizen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">making the same demand</a>.</p>
<p>Such a &#8220;powerful&#8221; display of unanimity demonstrates a &#8220;degree of focus and visibility&#8221; that is sure to be noticed by Beijing, according to Cruz, who noted that the Chinese Communist Party is &#8220;highly sensitive&#8221; to international pressure.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Chinese dictatorship does not like the world to realize that they are oppressive despots,&#8221; Cruz said. &#8220;Great powers do not hold hostages and China is not behaving like the great power it claims it wants to be.&#8221;</p>
<p>Chinese authorities arrested Swidan, a Houston businessman who is now in his 40s, in 2012 while he was on a business trip. Swidan was convicted in 2019 after being accused of taking part in a criminal drug conspiracy and given a delayed death sentence.</p>
<p>A Chinese court rejected Swidan&#8217;s appeal and upheld his death penalty with a two-year suspended death sentence, the State Department announced last month.</p>
<p>President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken &#8220;continue to remain personally focused on the release of Mark Swidan and other U.S. nationals wrongfully detained or held hostage across the world,&#8221; State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a <a href="https://www.state.gov/mark-swidans-suspended-death-sentence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.</p>
<p>Cruz&#8217;s resolution, which was co-sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), warned Swidan&#8217;s health has deteriorated amid &#8220;inhumane&#8221; conditions, a lack of adequate medical care, and efforts to prevent family from contacting him. The resolution also made note of a 2020 United Nations working group <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session86/A_HRC_WGAD_2019_72_AdvanceEditedVersion.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> that determined Swidan was being arbitrarily detained and should be released.</p>
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<p>&#8220;Time is of the essence. It is now or never, I believe,&#8221; Cruz said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The senator divulged that he has been in contact with Swidan&#8217;s mother, Katherine, noting she &#8220;desperately&#8221; wants to see her son come home. To that end, in addition to his resolution, Cruz said he has been &#8220;leaning on&#8221; the State Department to do more and met with China&#8217;s ambassador to push for Swidan&#8217;s release.</p>
<p>The State Department says Biden <a href="https://twitter.com/KellieMeyerNews/status/1650950782139654145" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised the issue</a> of &#8220;wrongfully detained U.S. nationals&#8221; in a November meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Indonesia, and U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/envoy-made-rare-prison-visits-three-us-citizens-china-official-says-2023-03-24/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly met</a> with some of them, including Swidan, in recent weeks.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s not enough for Cruz, who said there are a number of &#8220;tools&#8221; that can be employed, such as exerting economic and diplomatic pressure to the point that China decides it is &#8220;not worth the hassle to keep Mark Swidan as a hostage.&#8221; Cruz said he plans to keep using his &#8220;leverage&#8221; in the Senate and posited that the president could make a huge difference with one small suggestion.</p>
<p>&#8220;As far as I know, Biden has never said the name Mark Swidan. That needs to change,&#8221; Cruz said. &#8220;The president needs to stand up and use the bully pulpit of the White House to call for his release.&#8221;</p>

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Ted Cruz, In Quest To Free Mark Swidan, Sees No ‘Great Power’ In China