Now.
78 year old
American citizen
has been sentenced
by a Chinese court
to life in prison on spying charges.
John Liu,
who is also a Hong
Kong permanent resident
was detained
two years ago
by state security authorities.
Authorities in Hong
Kong have been notified
and are now following up.
China hasn't provided
any further details.
The sentencing comes
as relations
between Beijing and Washington
are at their lowest point in 50 years.
Ivan Watson joins us now.
Ivan,
when I read this story,
I'm embarrassed to say
I hadn't even and didn't
recognize his name.
What more do we know about him
and and the charges against him?
Right.
Well,
we really didn't know
that this American citizen
had been in Chinese custody
for four more than two years
until the court in Suzhou
issued this statement
today announcing
that he had been sentenced to life
imprisonment on the charge of espionage.
They identified the man as John
Shin Wang, known 78 years old, a U.S.
citizen, also
a Hong Kong permanent resident
who'd actually been
detained since April 15th of 2021.
We don't have
really further details on that,
except that the Hong Kong government,
the highest security official in the Hong
Kong government,
did clarify in a press conference that
the administration here in
Hong Kong knew about this case
going back to 20, 21, but did not add
any further comments on this.
Now we've reached out to the US Embassy
and they also say
that they're
not going to comment on this case
due to privacy considerations
and that they have no greater priority
than the safety and security of U.S.
citizens overseas.
I would like to add that just last week
the US
national security adviser Jake Sullivan,
he met for hours face to face with
his Chinese counterpart, Wang
Yi in Vienna.
And they had discussed
a whole wide range of issues.
But among the issues
that Sullivan reportedly
brought up were the cases of Americans
allegedly wrongfully detained
in Chinese custody.
Marc, Sweden, Kylie and David Lin.
We did not hear the name
of this individual
who's just received a life sentence
in China.
One final detail
is that the Chinese government
has been tightening the rules
for what it defines as espionage.
It passed a law making it much stricter
some years ago
and just last month has tightened
those rules
even more, making it
potentially very, very dangerous
to hold on to any documents,
even any papers
that the authorities could judge to be
a national security matter.
Yeah, I mean, this
there's so much detail in that.
It's quite fascinating.
And what stands out to me, actually,
is what you said about those talks.
Several hours on one occasion,
I think I read 8 hours worth of talks
between high level officials
and the choice here,
Jake Sullivan, rather than the U.S.
secretary of state.
Interesting timing,
important breakthrough,
given that I just said
in your introduction,
a 50 year low in relations, important to
to be around a table and talking
I think at this moment for many reasons.
Absolutely.
And also the fact
that I mean this was on Friday
that both the Chinese side
and the White House put out
remarkably similar statements
meaning that they for once
these two governments
their delegations were able
to come to agreement
and not just about that
but also to agree
that they would maintain
this important strategic channel
of communication.
And one step further
that they would build on the engagement
between President
Biden and President Xi
that was reached
back in Bali
on the sidelines of the G-20 summit
in November. Of last year.
That's not the kind of language
that we've heard in months
ever since that
that Chinese surveillance balloon
was detected over the US
and then shot down by the US.
And that basically scuppered
a planned visit
by the US Secretary of State
Blinken to Beijing.
It could be a sign these talks last week
that the two,
the world's two largest
economies are headed towards
some kind of
common ground,
which would probably be welcome
if you're talking about stability
around the world. Absolutely.
Watch this space and agree
on the
remarkably similar statements
to a movement here. Clearly, I think.
Ivan Watson, thank you.