China says jailed British national in 2022 for spying

BEIJING: China said on Friday it had sentenced a British national in 2022 to five years in jail for spying, in its official confirmation of a case that had gone unreported until this week.

The Wall Street Journal first broke news of the case of UK businessman Ian Stones on Thursday, reporting, citing his family and other sources, that he had disappeared in 2018 after decades of work in China.

Asked about the report on Friday, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said a Beijing court in 2022 “sentenced in first instance the British defendant... to five years in prison for the crime of illegally obtaining intelligence for overseas actors”. After an appeal, he added, the case was upheld in September last year.

Wang, referring to Stones by a Chinese name, said the “court tried the case strictly in accordance with the law”.

Beijing, he said, “fully guaranteed the various legitimate rights” of the prisoner and had arranged for UK officials to visit him and attend his trial. “China is a country governed by the rule of law,” Wang said.

“The judicial organs strictly promote the handling of cases in accordance with the law, safeguarding the rights and legitimate interests of both Chinese nationals and foreigners,” he added.