American Who Stole Terracotta Warrior's Thumb Must Be 'Severely Punished', China Says

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Originally Posted by Threerun

Uh- go to Yellowstone NP and you tell me if they are all 'good tourists'. Plenty of articles detailing how they've harmed the NP.

Which is why the Chinese gov't has had to resort to public education initiatives on how to be a good tourist.

Whether it's working or not, I wouldn't know.

[Phil75230]

Let the Chinese have him for a few years!

That said, it's appropriate to bring up things a foreign service officer in Beijing or wherever can and cannot do.

Neither they, nor the US government can even do so much as post bail, much less get them out of the country without penalty. Foreign visitors are subject to the laws of the area they are presently in (even at sub-national jurisdictions). Think about it. If our government can bail someone out of jail in this, what is there to prevent Moscow from getting a Russian national out of trouble for stealing American historical artifacts from American soil?

The most an FSO can do is to provide the accused with a list of defense attorneys with experience representing foreign accused, make sure the American receives a reasonably fair trial by the standards of Chinese law for this kind of crime, plus visit Americans in Chinese prisoners to make sure they are getting realistically humane treatment from their jailers.