China sentences U.S. citizen to life in prison on espionage charges

A 78-year-old U.S. citizen has been sentenced to life in prison on espionage charges, Chinese state media reported Monday.

John Shing-Wan Leung was given the prison term by the Intermediate People’s Court of Suzhou, in eastern Jiangsu Province, CGTN stated in an online report. The report identified Mr. Leung as a permanent resident of Hong Kong who holds a U.S. passport.

The court said in a statement that Mr. Leung “was found guilty of espionage, sentenced to life imprisonment, deprived of political rights for life.”

Mr. Leung had been arrested two years ago by officials of the local Chinese counterintelligence agencies, according to the court statement posted on the Chinese-language social media platform WeChat.

The notice also stated that personal property worth around $71,800 was confiscated from him. No other details were disclosed, and China frequently conducts secret trials with little or no information about the proceedings.

The harsh life sentence for a foreign citizen, however, is unusual.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington Monday that the department is aware of the sentencing.

“When a U.S. citizen is detained overseas, the department works to provide all appropriate assistance, including relevant consular access,” he said.

“The department has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” Mr. Patel noted, declining to comment further because of privacy concerns.

The spokesman said he had no information on whether Mr. Leung would be designated as wrongfully detained by the State Department. “Broadly speaking, that is a deliberative process that is ongoing,” he said.

The State Department has identified at least three Americans imprisoned in China — Kai Li, Mark Swidan, and David Lin, all of whom the U.S. government contends have been wrongfully detained. The sentencing comes amid a crackdown on foreign businesses in China that has included counterintelligence raids on several U.S. and Western businesses.

The government of Hong Kong also offered little information about Mr. Leung’s case. Secretary for Security Chris Tang told the Associated Press Monday that Chinese authorities had reported the arrest to the city through a notification mechanism in 2021. But Mr. Tang offered no other details about the case.

The Biden administration has been seeking improved ties to Beijing as part of an effort to avert a potential conflict with China.

Chinese officials recently announced plans to release a new espionage edict on July 1. The law will dramatically expand the legal definition of espionage, by defining all documents related to national security as state secrets.

“That, in combination with China’s willingness to weaponize globalization, makes it extremely dangerous for Western businesses to remain in China,” stated Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in a recent report.

The law appears targeted at all foreigners working in China and is expected to include searches of all foreigners’ baggage and electronic devices of those suspected of espionage.

Last month, authorities questioned the staff at U.S.-based consulting firm Bain & Co. in Shanghai in a surprise raid. In another case, Chinese security officials conducted a cybersecurity review of imports from chip maker Micron Technology Inc., and an employee of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma Inc. also was detained.

The crackdown appears to be part of a campaign by Chinese President Xi Jinping to target what he regards as capitalist forces that challenge his governing concept of “Marxism-Leninism with Chinese characteristics,” as the official ideology is called. The campaign seeks to shape the international image of China’s government and limit information available to foreign companies, including auditors, management consultants and law firms.

Ms. Braw, the AEI analyst, noted that foreign firms have grown increasingly wary of doing business in China. Apple and Samsung recently announced plans to move some of their manufacturing and supply chains out of China.

“Businesses thought they could float above geopolitics. China’s new legislation is emphatically extinguishing any remaining hopes to that effect,” she stated.