China sentenced a 78-year-old US citizen to life in jail, on spying charges. In April 2021, authorities in the country seized John Shing-Wan Leung, who has permanent status in Hong Kong.
The counterintelligence department in the southern city of Suzhou targeted Mr. Leung. The local court has now stated that he will serve a life term in prison without providing any further details about the charges. (lovelandhabitat.org)
In China, investigations and trials are held behind closed doors, with only minimal information made available to the public. This sentence also risks hurting relations between the United States and China.
The announcement comes as US President Joe Biden prepares to fly to Japan for the Group of Seven major industrial nations summit. Later, he will travel to Papua New Guinea, a Pacific island nation where China has also exercised geopolitical influence.
The Suzhou court made no mention of Mr. Lueng’s offenses being tied to general China-US ties, but spying indictments in China can be selective, with no evidence to back them up. The Chinese Communist Party has complete authority over the Chinese judicial system.
Controversial execution of Mark Swidan: Strained US-China Relations
US-China ties suffered earlier this year when a Chinese court upheld the execution of a US citizen. Mark Swidan, a Texas businessman, had been imprisoned for more than a decade after being jailed on drug-related crimes in 2012. In 2019, the Jiangmen Intermediate People’s Court in southern Guangdong Province convicted him of narcotics production and trafficking.
This culminated in a death sentence with a two-year reprieve. The US State Department was “disappointed” when the punishment was upheld.
State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said: “Today the People’s Republic of China’s Jiangmen Intermediate Court denied wrongfully detained US national Mark Swidan’s appeal, and upheld his death penalty with a two-year suspended death sentence.
“We are disappointed by this decision and will continue to press for his immediate release and return to the United States.”Mr. Swidan’s mother, Katherine Swidan, told CNN earlier this year that her son had been detained in what she described as a “holding tank.
“She added: “He’s been in there for 10 years, where they never turn the lights off, so as a result, he’s going blind. He’s got fractures in his leg.”