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(Bloomberg) — China released three Americans as part of a prisoner swap between the Biden administration and the Chinese government, according to people familiar with the matter, a rare moment of cooperation between the adversaries.

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A statement from the US National Security Council said the three Americans — Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung — would be reunited with their families “for the first time in many years.” The three had been designated as wrongfully detained in China, and the US statement said there were no longer any Americans held in the country with that status.

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The NSC didn’t mention that the three were exchanged for Chinese citizens detained in the US. But two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public information, said they were swapped for an unspecified number of Chinese.

“This is unprecedented,” said John Kamm, founder, chairman and executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of prisoners held in China. “Nothing like this has ever happened. Prisoner exchanges are not in China’s DNA.”

The release offers a parting gift to President Joe Biden, Kamm said, as well as a message for President-elect Donald Trump that Beijing might be willing to make concessions in the future.

The Chinese embassy in Washington had no immediate comment on the prisoner exchange.

The names of the Chinese weren’t disclosed, and US officials declined to say when pressed. However, a US Bureau of Prisons database showed that two Chinese nationals, Xu Yanjun and Ji Chaoqun, were no longer in the bureau’s custody.

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Xu was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison for what prosecutors alleged was years of espionage-related activities in his role as a career intelligence officer with China’s Ministry of State Security, including the attempted theft of confidential data on aircraft engine fans from General Electric Co.’s aviation division. Authorities said Xu was the first Chinese government intelligence officer ever to be extradited to the United States to stand trial.

Xu was also accused of being Ji’s handler in the US. In 2016, Ji enlisted in the US Army Reserve.

The swap would be the latest example of the US and allies being willing to give up convicted criminals and high-profile detainees in exchange for Americans deemed wrongfully held by other countries. That trend has been greeted with praise but also concern from Democrats and Republicans alike that it encourages other countries to seize Americans for future trades.

In 2022, the US exchanged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA star Brittney Griner. And a trade earlier this year saw Russia free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and several others for Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing of a Chechen separatist in a Berlin park. Several other Russians convicted on a variety of criminal charges were also released.

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Among those released by China, Swidan is a Texas businessman who was on China’s death row for alleged drug trafficking, and Li is a naturalized US citizen who imported solar energy technology. Leung, who is also a Hong Kong permanent resident, was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison last year on spying charges.

Swidan has been in Chinese custody for 12 years.

Kamm said Swidan and Li have serious medical issues. “I suspect that this is so-called medical parole, a humanitarian gesture,” he said.

In a statement, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas praised the efforts of the Biden administration in securing the release of the Americans, noting that Swidan’s mother, a Texas resident, has waged “an unremitting battle” to bring him home.

“President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Carstens, Ambassador Burns, and their teams have for years worked tirelessly to secure this achievement, and I am deeply grateful for all their efforts,” Cruz said.

—With assistance from Jordan Robertson and Jamie Tarabay.

(Updates with details of swap, background on previous exchanges)

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