Such a severe punishment against a foreign citizen on this ground is relatively rare in the Asian country.

This announcement comes as US President Joe Biden visits Japan to attend the G7 Summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21.

John Shing-wan Leung, also known as Liang Chengyun, was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to life imprisonment and life deprivation of political rightsthe Intermediate People’s Court of Suzhou (east China) said in a statement on Monday.

His personal property was also confiscated in the amount of 500,000 yuan (C$97,000) during the first-instance trial, which is believed to be behind closed doors on Monday, as is usual in cases of this nature.

Unanswered questions

The authorities responsible for state security had already taken over this in 2021 coercive measures against this American citizen, according to the press release, language that refers to detention in general.

The press release did not mention the exact nature of the charges against John Shing-wan Leung, what occupation or occupation he was in China, or where he was at the time of his arrest.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Beijing told AFP that they were aware of reports that a US citizen had been sentenced in Suzhou.

The State Department has no higher priority than the safety of American citizens abroad.said the embassy. For reasons of confidentiality, we cannot make any further comments.

In Hong Kong, where John Shing-wan Leung had his permanent residence, security chief Chris Tang said city authorities had been notified by mainland China of his arrest in 2021.

Hong Kong Police have taken follow-up action on the reporthe said, declining to give further details.

When asked during a regular news conference on Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to give further details.

strained relationships

The sentencing of John Shing-wan Leung risks further damaging Sino-US relations.

They have been tense in recent years due to disagreements over many issues: the trade imbalance, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing’s handling of its Uyghur Muslim minority, rivalry in the tech sector, or the Chinese balloon affair in FEBRUARY.

In late April, the Chinese parliament passed amendments to the national anti-espionage law that now specifically prohibit the transmission of national security-related information outside of China and expand the notion of espionage.

Foreigners are regularly accused of espionage or similar allegations in China.

According to the Japanese news agency Kyodo News, a Japanese man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for espionage in February.

Chinese-Australian writer Yang Jun was arrested in January 2019 for the same reason.

Canberra last week called for the release of Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who had been in detention for more than 1,000 days and worked for the Chinese English-language public broadcaster CGTN. The 40-year-old mother of two is being prosecuted by Beijing Disclosure of state secrets abroad.

In 2018, a few days after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, then finance director of Chinese telecommunications group Huawei, in Canada, China arrested two Canadians accused of espionage.

Advisor Michael Spavor, who was eventually sentenced to 11 years in prison, and ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig were then released in 2021, hours after an agreement was reached to release Ms Meng.