The Chinese government has revealed that a British man who has been involved in business in China for 40 years has been sentenced to five years in prison for illegally providing information overseas. In China, a veteran expatriate of a Japanese company was also detained last year on suspicion of being involved in espionage, raising concerns among foreign companies.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a press conference on the 26th that a court in Beijing sentenced a British man to five years in prison for illegally providing information overseas in August last year. I made it.
The man appealed against the first instance judgment, but the case was dismissed in September last year.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a leading American newspaper, the man had been involved in business in China for 40 years, including establishing a consulting company in Beijing, but disappeared from public view in 2018. That's it.
The Wall Street Journal quotes experts as saying, ``This case suggests that even more foreign company officials may be detained in China.''
Last year, a veteran Japanese expatriate from the major pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma, who had worked in China for a total of about 20 years, was arrested in China for his involvement in espionage.
Xi Jinping's leadership has repeatedly shown a stance of tightening crackdowns on spies, and there is growing concern among foreign companies.