[3] Li owned an export business that bought and sold solar cells and related-technology to aerospace firms in the United States.
Li was held in secret detention for months without access to legal counsel under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL).
[3] Li's family reported to U.S. officials in 2022 that he was confined to a tiny cell with eleven other prisoners only allowed to leave for daily COVID-19 testing and less than one hour per week of exercise.
He is currently the only US citizen being held in China on state security charges.”[4] Harrison has urged U.S. government officials to be outspoken in calling for his father's release.
Li was featured in a wheat paste mural in Washington, DC alongside other Americans detained abroad, including Brittney Griner.
[16] In 2020, a group of thirteen lawmakers in the United States sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to be "tenacious advocates" for those Americans wrongfully detained by the CCP.
[17] Senator Marco Rubio wrote that Li's detention highlights the risk to Americans if Chinese "security laws" expanded into Hong Kong.