US citizen sentenced to life in Chinese prison for espionage.

China has sentenced a 78-year-old US citizen, John Shing-Wan Leung, to life in prison on spying charges. Leung, who 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. The sentencing comes amid deteriorating ties between Beijing and Washington over trade, technology, human rights, and territorial claims. 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.