China sentences 78-year-old US citizen to life in jail on spying expenses

China sentenced a 78-year-old United States citizen to life in jail Monday on spying expenses.

John Shing-Wan Leung, who holds everlasting residency in Hong Kong, was detained April 15, 2021, by the counterintelligence company within the southeastern metropolis of Suzhou.

The town’s intermediate court docket introduced Leung’s sentence in a short assertion on its social media web site however gave no particulars of the fees.

Such investigations and trials are held behind closed doorways and little or no data is made public.

Relations between Washington and Beijing have hit a historic low amid disputes over commerce, know-how, human rights and China’s more and more aggressive strategy towards its territorial claims.

The sentencing comes as US President Joe Biden is touring to Hiroshima, Japan, for the Group of Seven main industrial nations summit, adopted by a go to to Papua New Guinea, a Pacific island nation in a area the place China has sought to extend its financial, army and diplomatic affect.

Whereas the Suzhou court docket provided no indication of a tie to total China-US relations, spying expenses are extremely selective and proof backing them up just isn’t launched.

That’s normal follow amongst most nations, who want to safe their private connections, networks and entry to data.

Nonetheless, China’s authoritarian political system and the ruling Communist Celebration’s absolute management over authorized issues, civil society and freedom of data forestalls calls for for additional data, in addition to court docket appeals.