re: China and Olympics. If the US wanted to keep China from getting the Olympics, we should have started the campaign a year ago. The blame goes to Clinton on this one. And here is his thanks.
Saturday, 14 July 2001 5:34 (ET)
China convicts scholar of spying
By KIRK TROY
BEIJING, July 14 (UPI) - A Chinese court Saturday convicted an American
academic on espionage charges and sentenced him to be deported, U.S. and
Chinese officials said.
Li Shaomin, a Chinese born American citizen, was found guilty by a Beijing
court for spying for Taiwan, the sources said.
"We can confirm that on July 14 Beijing's first intermediate court
sentenced Li Shaomin to be deported," a U.S. embassy spokesman said.
"We welcome China's decision to release Mr. Li so that he can be reunited
with his family. This has been a matter of great concern to many people in
the United States and one we have raised at high levels with the Chinese
government," the spokesman said.
Li went on trial in the controversial case that many analysts see based on
trumped up charges used to punish those who publish research conflicting
with the communist party line.
Security was heavy at Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate Court and court
officials would not confirm that the trial was indeed underway Saturday
morning.
"Large number of evidences produced at the court show that Li accepted
tasks from a Taiwan spy organization and collected information for it, which
harmed state security of China," said a statement via China's state run news
agency, Xinhua.
"An official from the U.S. Embassy to China sat in Saturday's trial and a
lawyer appointed by Li also defended for him," Xinhua said.
Li, a Chinese born American citizen, was arrested last February in
Shenzhen just across the border from Hong Kong.
Most diplomats and analysts expected the conviction and for China to deport
him to the United States ahead of a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of
State Colin Powell later this month.
The case is one of many recent arrests in which Chinese-born academics who
have returned for family visits or for research purposes have been arrested
for spying. The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning to Chinese
born American citizens against traveling to China in response to the
arrests, a move that angered Beijing.
The trial also comes just hours after Beijing won the right to host the
2008 Olympics. The Chinese capital has been swept up in a flurry of
celebrations and Beijing is seen as eager to bring a quiet end to Li's case.
--
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
All rights reserved. |
