US elderly citizen jailed for life on spying charges by Chinese court

An American citizen has been sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese court on spying charges.78-year-oldJohn Shing-Wan Leung was convicted of espionage and given a life sentence by theIntermediate People’s Court in the eastern city of Suzhou on Monday.It also ordered the confiscation ofpersonal property worth$71,797 (500,000 yuan).

Leung, who also holds permanent Hong Kong residency, was arrested by the Chinese authorities on April 15, 2021 inSuzhou, Jiangsu province.Details of the charges against him have not been released publicly.

However, according to an article published in 2004 in the People's Daily, a person with the same name, born in Hong Kong on the same date was a US-based businessman who had close ties to officials with local governments in both countries.

The article stated that Leung founded a friendship association between the US city of Oklahoma and the Chinese city of Guangzhou in 1985 which actively promoted and started US-China trade and cultural exchanges.

The pictures also showed Leung posing for photos and attending events with senior officials, according to a report by South China Morning Post.

China amends espionage law

The court's verdict comes after amendments to the Counter-Espionage Law were implemented during the14th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee meeting last month.

Under the revised law, the definition of espionage activities has been refined. It explicitly categorises "collaborating withspy organisations and their agents" and "conducting cyber-attacks against state organs, confidential-related units, or critical information infrastructure" as espionage activities.

Under the law, an espionage conviction that threatens national security could lead to a jail sentence ranging from 10 years to life.

US-China relations

The sentencing comes at a time when relations between the two countries are at a historic low. The US Embassy in Beijing said it was aware of the situation.

“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 was quoted as saying by CNN.

The spy balloon saga earlier this year led to a further deterioration of US-China ties. However, as the officials were resuming high-level engagements, the fresh sentencing threatensto set back the initiative.

In recent years, Beijing has been going after foreign nationals who it accuses of being spies, In March, a Japanese employee (17th overall since 2004) was detained on spy charges. Previously,two Canadians – former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor – were detained for over three years by the authorities.

(With inputs from agencies)

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