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Agence France-Presse

Two Americans who run an English-teaching business in China have been detained in the east of the country, according to their company, which said they were being held on “bogus” charges.
Jacob Harlan and Alyssa Petersen were arrested in Jiangsu province last month, their company China Horizons said on its Facebook page.
A Gofundme.com page set up to raise money for Petersen’s legal fees says she was formally charged with “illegally moving people across borders”.
The detentions come amid diplomatic and trade tensions between China and the United States.
“We are aware of the detention of two US citizens in Jiangsu, China and the charges being brought against them by the provincial government,” a US state department official said on condition of anonymity.
“We take seriously our responsibility to assist US citizens abroad and are monitoring the situation.”

China Horizons, which has its headquarters in Idaho, said on Facebook last week that the pair “are being charged for bogus crimes and their families are working on getting them international lawyers to help them get back home to the States”.
Harlan, the company’s founder, is being held in a hotel under police surveillance in the city of Zhenjiang, according to a separate Gofundme.com page set up for his legal fees.
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Police detained him while he was with his eight-year-old daughter at a hotel in Weifang, Shandong province, on September 28 and took away his phone and computer, it said.
His daughter was finally allowed to briefly call her mother and she later took an international flight with a family friend.
Petersen, who is an associate director of the company, was detained on about September 27 and was not heard from for two weeks until the US state department located her, according to her Gofundme.com page.
“We received information that she is doing OK, She wakes up when told, she goes to sleep when told. She spends her day in a Jail Cell or walking in a circle counting steps,” the page says.
“She cannot have any contact with anyone outside a Consulate Officer who can visit once a month and a Lawyer.”
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The state department official confirmed that Petersen was receiving “all appropriate consular services”.
Zhenjiang police said they had no immediate comment, and the US embassy did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
China Horizons, which arranges for Americans to teach English at Chinese schools, said it would shut down at the end of October.
“Unfortunately, because of increasing political and economic problems between the US and China, we are no longer able to send teachers to china safely,” the company said on its Facebook page.


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Jacob Harlan and Alyssa Petersen, founder and associate director of Idaho-based China Horizons, arrested in late September in eastern Jiangsu province, employer says
Petersen formally charged with ‘illegally moving people across borders’



Jacob Harlan and Alyssa Petersen, founder and associate director of Idaho-based China Horizons, arrested in late September in eastern Jiangsu province, employer says.
