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May 15 (UPI) -- A Chinese court sentenced a 78-year-old U.S. citizen who was living in Hong Kong to life in prison for espionage. The Intermediate People's Court in Suzhou announced Sunday that it handed the life sentence to John Shing-Wan Leung after he was arrested by Chinese authorities on April 15, 2021, in the Jiangsu province.
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The court also confiscated $71,797 of personal property from Lueng, who is a permanent resident of Hong Kong, and stripped him of his political rights for life.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said on Monday that it knows about Leung's sentencing.
"The Department of State has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas," the embassy said. "Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment."
The arrest came as mainland China has imposed an aggressive crackdown on the former British colony after a wave of pro-democracy rallies in 2019.
A national security law that essentially criminalized any dissent under broad definitions for crimes such as terrorism, subversion, secession, and collusion with foreign powers, went into effect in 2020.
In April, the Chinese government passed a new amendment to its counter-espionage law, which defines state secrets-and intelligence as any "documents, data, materials or items related to national security and interests."
