Ex-head of Chinese state-owned company jailed for 6 years on spying charges

arifnsn November 7, 2023

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A former state-owned company executive has been jailed for six years by a court in southwest China on espionage charges after he was found to have provided classified documents to a foreign country that he was applying to immigrate to, according to official media.

It comes as China has expanded its anti-espionage law, broadening the definition of spying, and is also making a major update to its state secrets legislation.

The man, who was identified only by his surname, Wang, used to head the overseas arm of a state-owned firm based in southwest China, Sichuan Radio and Television reported, quoting the provincial state security agency.

The report did not name Wang’s employer or the country he was found guilty of providing state secrets to.

It said the company had been accused in a 2012 lawsuit of spying for China, without giving further details. The Sichuan state security agency noticed during the case that Wang had applied to immigrate with his family via a highly unusual channel and decided to investigate, according to the report.

Materials related to Wang’s company were found when authorities searched his home in Chengdu, 14 of them considered “classified information”.

“Our investigation found that in order to gain the trust of this country, he provided ‘evidence’ – according to their spy agency – so that they could maliciously accuse us, leading to the Chinese company not being able to operate internationally, and the development of Chinese industry being blocked,” a Sichuan state security agency employee told the broadcaster.

The report said Wang was recently sentenced by the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court to a six-year prison term and had 500,000 yuan (US$68,700) confiscated.

Spy games: why the US-China cold war is heating up in public

Another spying case in Sichuan was reported for the first time last month by state broadcaster CCTV. In that case, an employee at a national defence unit, surnamed Hou, was detained by the provincial state security agency in 2021. He is accused of meeting an American spy while he was on an exchange in the United States in 2013. It is alleged that Hou was paid to provide classified information, even after his return to China in 2014. There has been no verdict in the case as yet.

China’s top legislative body in April passed the first revision to the country’s counter-espionage law since 2014. The revised law took effect in July. It makes “cyberattacks against state organs” part of espionage, and includes documents, data, materials and items related to national security and interests as “state secrets”.

A draft revision of the state secrets law was also made public last month, and is expected to be passed in the near future. It is the first major update to the legislation in a decade. New clauses include a ban on all state employees with access to classified information from travelling overseas without prior approval – even, for a period, after they leave their jobs or retire.

The sweeping changes come as Beijing is locked in an intelligence war with Washington and its allies.

President Xi Jinping has made national security a key focus since taking office in 2012. In May, during a meeting of the National Security Commission which he chairs, Xi warned that China is facing more complex and difficult national security concerns.

He said the security apparatus needed to stay “keenly aware” of the complicated and challenging circumstances around national security and grasp the major related issues.

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