China yesterday confirmed the spying trial of Li Shaomin (
"The espionage case of the US citizen Li Shaomin will be opened at 9am on July 14 at the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.
She said the trial would not be opened to the public, but that a consular official from the US embassy and a translator would be allowed to attend.
Zhang said she had no information on the upcoming trial of Gao Zhan (
US officials have said they expect Gao's trial to start in the same "timeframe" as Li's.
"I want to remind you that Gao Zhan is a Chinese citizen," Zhang said in response to a question on whether the US would be allowed access to Gao's trial.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Beijing said yesterday that the issue of attending Gao's trial had been raised by the US side "several times" in the past week but that so far China had failed to respond.
Li and Gao are among five US scholars being detained in China.
Hopes for the prompt release of at least some of the scholars were boosted last week when the US said that Li's trial was imminent, citing "direct" information from the Chinese government.
Some analysts believe China may convict and expel the accused and so remove a possible impediment to a planned state visit to Beijing of US President George W. Bush later this year.
Li, 45, has been in detention since Feb. 25 when he was picked up by police in the southern city of Shenzhen, on the border with Hong Kong, and detained without explanation.
Gao was detained in isolation from her husband Xue Donghua and her five-year-old son Andrew in February after returning to China for a family holiday.
RSS