Modern countries regarded as having engaged in hostage diplomacy include China, Turkey, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
These obligations would be in the form of signing of a peace treaty, in the hands of the victor, or even exchange hostages as mutual assurance in cases such as an armistice.
During the Han dynasty, taking unilateral hostages consisting of zhìzǐ was a standard practice for the centralized monarchy to control smaller yí states.
This practice was also adopted in the early period of the British occupation of India, and by France in relations with Arab nations in North Africa.
The British were able to effect the release of their personnel by decoupling the hostage situation from broader political and economic issues through protracted negotiation.
[11][12][13] In 2019, Australian Yang Hengjun's detention was also linked to a renewed effort at hostage diplomacy in response to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou.
[19] The Taiwanese government has expressed concerns that the Hong Kong national security law will be used to facilitate further Chinese hostage diplomacy.
Hostages have included, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Jolie King, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Morad Tahbaz, Kamal Foroughi, Aras Amiri, Kameel Ahmady, and Anousheh Ashouri.
[31] According to diplomat Hans-Jakob Schindler, the case of businessman Helmut Hofer marked the first known instance of "hostage diplomacy" involving Germany.
Schindler, now head of the "Counter Extremism Project", has noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran used Hofer and other detainees as political hostages.
"[33] The 2020 detention of Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian Citizen who lived in the United-States, who was captured by Iranian authorities in Dubai in a covert operation, has added to criticisms of German diplomacy.
[36][37] Russia has been accused of hostage diplomacy in the cases of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, and has exchanged prisoners with the United States in the past.
[41][42] According to Eric Edelman and Aykan Erdemir of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, hostage diplomacy has been widely used by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
[44] Lot of press and newspapers medias considers the case of Frederic Pierucci, in the French company Alstom acquisition, by General Electric American group, as a study-case of hostage-diplomacy.