China has sentenced a 78-year-old US citizen to life in prison for espionage, a court said yesterday, but revealed few details about the case that had previously gone unreported.
Such heavy terms are relatively rare for foreign citizens in China, and the jailing of US passport holder John Shing-wan Leung (梁成運) is likely to further strain already damaged ties between Beijing and Washington.
Leung, who is a Hong Kong permanent resident, “was found guilty of espionage, sentenced to life imprisonment, deprived of political rights for life,” the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
Authorities in Suzhou, a city in eastern China, “took compulsory measures according to the law” against Leung in April 2021, it said, without specifying when he had been taken into custody.
It was unclear where Leung had been living at the time of his arrest.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Beijing said they were aware of reports that a US citizen had been convicted and sentenced in Suzhou.
“The [US] Department of State has no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas,” the spokesperson said. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”
The court statement provided no further details on the charges, and closed door trials are routine in China for sensitive cases.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) declined to comment further on the case at a news conference yesterday.
The jailing is likely to damage relations with Washington, which are already severely strained over issues such as trade, human rights and Taiwan.
Washington and Beijing have ended an unofficial pause in high-level contacts over the US’ shooting down in February of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon.
In an apparent breakthrough last week, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Chinese Central Foreign Affairs Commission Director Wang Yi (王毅) held eight hours of talks in Vienna, with both sides describing the meeting as “candid, substantive and constructive.”
On Friday, Washington issued a statement condemning the reported sentencing of a human rights activist for “inciting subversion of state power.”
Guo Feixiong (郭飛雄), also known as Yang Maodong (楊茂東), was jailed for eight years, according to rights groups. There has been no official confirmation from China of the sentencing.
In its statement, the US Department of State said its diplomats had been barred from attending the trial in southern China.
“We urge the PRC to live up to its international commitments, give its citizens due process, respect their human rights and fundamental freedoms including freedom of speech, and end the use of arbitrary detentions and exit bans,” US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
RSS