On Monday, China sentenced a 78-year-old US citizen , John Shing-Wan Leung, to life imprisonment on spying charges. US citizen Leung, who holds permanent residency in Hong Kong, had been detained by the counterintelligence agency in the southeastern city of Suzhou on April 15, 2021. The city’s intermediate court announced Leung’s sentence through a brief statement on its social media site, but provided no details regarding the charges.
Authorities conduct private investigations and trials without or with limited public disclosure of information. The deteriorating relationship between Washington and Beijing, characterized by trade disputes, technological tensions, concerns over human rights, and China’s assertive stance on territorial claims, has reached an unprecedented low point.
The sentencing comes as U.S. President Joe Biden is traveling to Hiroshima, Japan, for the Group of Seven major industrial nations summit, followed by a visit to Papua New Guinea, a Pacific island nation in a region where China has sought to increase its economic, military and diplomatic influence.
The Suzhou court did not indicate any tie to overall China-U.S. relations, but they selectively charge individuals with spying and do not release the evidence supporting these charges. That is standard practice among most countries, who wish to secure their personal connections, networks and access to information.
However, China’s authoritarian political system and the ruling Communist Party’s absolute control over legal matters, civil society and freedom of information forestalls demands for further information, as well as court appeals.