WASHINGTON: A Chinese court has sentenced a 78-year-old United States citizen to life in prison on spying charges.
John Shing-Wan Leung, who is also a permanent resident of Hong Kong, was jailed on Monday.
The court in the southeastern city of Suzhou gave no further information about the allegations against him.
A news release from the court said Leung was arrested two years ago by the local bureau of China’s counterintelligence agency.
He had been “found guilty of espionage, sentenced to imprisonment deprived of political rights for life,” according to the Intermediate People’s Court statement posted on the WeChat social media platform.
It is unsure where Leung was living at the time of his arrest.
A spokesperson for the United States embassy in Beijing said they’re aware of the reports. “The State Department has no good priority than the safety and security of the US citizens overseas,” they said.
Closed-door trials occur daily in China, and little information is usually made public for sensitive cases such as espionage charges.
In July, a new law would come into effect that broadens the scope of Beijing espionage legislation. It would ban the handing over of any data the authorities deem to be related to state security.
The jailing is likely to strain further relations between China and the US, which deteriorated during ex-US President Donald Trump’s administration after he launched the trade war against China.
The two superpowers continue to grapple over various problems, including Taiwan, China’s militarisation of the South China Sea, and the origins of Covid virus.
Tensions heightened in February when the US shot down an alleged spy balloon, which China insisted was a weather monitoring device.
