China sentences 78-year-old US citizen to life in prison on spying charges

A 78-year-old American citizen has been sentenced to life in jail by a Chinese courtroom on spying expenses.

John Shing-Wan Leung, who can be a Hong Kong everlasting resident, was convicted of espionage and given a life sentence Monday by the Intermediate People’s Court within the jap metropolis of Suzhou, based on a assertion on the courtroom’s social media account.

Leung was detained on April 15, 2021, by state safety authorities in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, based on the transient assertion, which didn’t present particulars on his expenses.

A 78-year-old American citizen has been sentenced to life in jail by a Chinese courtroom on spying expenses. (Getty)

The courtroom additionally confiscated private property price 500,000 yuan ($107,556), the assertion added.

Chinese authorities and state media haven’t beforehand disclosed any info on Leung’s detention or the courtroom course of that led to his conviction.

Cases involving state safety are normally strictly dealt with behind closed doorways, the place the judicial system has a conviction fee of round 99 per cent, based on authorized observers.

The US Embassy in Beijing mentioned Monday it was conscious of experiences of Leung’s sentencing.

“The Department of State has no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment,” a spokesperson for the US Embassy mentioned in an announcement to CNN.

CNN has additionally reached out to the US State Department for remark.

Hong Kong was notified by Chinese authorities of the arrest of John Leung in 2021, town’s Secretary of Security, Chris Tang, mentioned in a press convention on Monday.

The sentencing of Leung comes at a time when relations between Beijing and Washington are at their lowest level in half a century amid intensifying rivalry over commerce, expertise, geopolitics and navy supremacy.

It additionally comes as American and Chinese officers are resuming high-level engagements since a dispute over a suspected Chinese spy balloon shattered efforts to fix ties earlier this yr.

Leung is amongst a rising variety of international nationals to have been ensnared in China’s widening crackdown on espionage underneath chief Xi Jinping.

John Shing-Wan Leung can be a Hong Kong everlasting resident. (Getty)

In March, Chinese authorities detained a Japanese worker of Astellas Pharma in Beijing on suspected espionage — the seventeenth Japanese nationwide to have been detained in China because the counter-espionage regulation was launched in 2014.

Their arrest on espionage expenses in late 2018 got here shortly after Canada arrested Chinese businesswoman and Huawei government Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant associated to the corporate’s business dealings in Iran.

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Last month, China handed a wide-ranging modification to its already sweeping counter-espionage regulation, which can take impact from July 1.

The new laws expanded the definition of espionage from protecting state secrets and techniques and intelligence to any “documents, data, materials or items related to national security and interests” and to incorporate cyberattacks towards state organs or crucial info infrastructure.

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Source: www.9news.com.au