US Names Top Countries Where Western Travellers Face Biggest Risk of ‘Hostage Diplomacy’

Five countries pose the highest risk to Western travellers of being kidnapped by state agencies, a Senate inquiry into the wrongful detention of Australian citizens overseas has been told. The United States special presidential envoy for hostage affairs (SPEHA) at the Department of State, Roger Carstens, told the Committee that China, Russia, Syria, Venezuela and Iran pose a high threat of committing “hostage diplomacy.” Hostage diplomacy involves a foreign visitor being illegally detained and used for diplomatic leverage. An indicator of the extent of the problem for the United States—and the priority placed on it by its government—is the fact that Secretary of State Antony Blinken carries a card featuring the names of every arbitrarily detained American around the world....