China Sentences Elderly US Citizen to Life in Prison for Spying Charges

China has sentenced a 78-year-old US citizen, John Shing-Wan Leung, to life in prison on spying charges. Leung, who also holds permanent residency in Hong Kong, was detained in April 2021 by China's counterintelligence agency. The charges against him have not been publicly released. Long pretrial detentions are not unusual in China, and prosecutors have broad powers to hold people charged in national security cases, regardless of their citizenship status. The sentencing comes amid deteriorating ties between Beijing and Washington over recent years.