A Chinese court has sentenced an American citizen age 78 to life in pris0n for espionage. As per of statement on the court’s social media account, John Shing-Wan Leung, who is also a permanent resident of Hong Kong, was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to life in pris0n on Monday.
Leung was detained by state security forces on April 15, 2021, in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. His allegations were not mentioned in the announcement.
The statement further stated that the court seized personal property worth 500,000 yuan ($71,797). The safety and security of American citizens abroad is the Department of State’s top priority. We have no additional comments due to privacy concerns, a US Embassy official told in a statement.
Chris Tang the city’s Secretary of Security in Hong Kong was informed by Chinese officials that John Leung will be arrested in 2021.
Leung’s impris0nment occurs while Sino-American relations are at their lowest point in fifty years due to escalating competition in trade, technology, geopolitics and military might.
It also happens at a time when American and Chinese officials are resuming high-level interactions after efforts to improve relations earlier this year were broken by a dispute over a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon.
Leung is one of an increasing number of foreigners who have fallen victim to China’s escalating anti-espionage campaign under leader Xi Jinping. The 17th Japanese national to be jailed in China since the counter-espionage law was established in 2014, Chinese police apprehended an Astellas Pharma employee in Beijing in March on suspicion of espionage.
Two Canadians, businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, were held by China for over three years in another well-known case.
Their arrest on espionage accυsations in late 2018 happened not long after Canada detained Huawei executive and Chinese businesswoman Meng Wanzhou on the basis of a US warrant pertaining to the firm’s commercial operations in Iran.
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The two men were nevertheless released on the same day that Meng was granted permission by Canada to return to China, despite Beijing’s repeated denials that their cases were motivated by political revenge.
China passed a comprehensive update to its already comprehensive counter-espionage law last month and it will go into force on July 1.
The new legislation broadened the definition of espionage to embrace any “documents, data, materials or items related to national security and interests,” as well as cyberattacks against government institutions or crucial information infrastructure. Previously, it only applied to state secrets and intelligence.
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