An American seismologist has been detained in China on espionage charges since 2024, his family has revealed, saying Donald Trump’s direct appeal for the scientist’s release to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, went unanswered. Youlin Chen – who has researched how to detect underground nuclear tests using seismological data – was detained on 5 November 2024, according to a statement from the NGO Global Reach, which is working with his family to secure his freedom. Global Reach said Chen’s arrest may be linked to the US government’s accusation that China…
Tag: Law
A California mayor pleaded guilty to acting as an agent for China. Foreign policy experts aren’t surprised
Foreign policy experts say they are not surprised at China’s efforts to exert its influence over local US communities after the mayor of a southern California city resigned this week and said she would plead guilty to acting as an illegal foreign agent of Beijing. Eileen Wang, 58, agreed to plead guilty to a felony count related to the charge on Monday and could face up to 10 years in federal prison. According to a plea agreement filed by the justice department, Wang and an associate worked with the People’s…
Jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai wins free speech award in Germany
The jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster said on Thursday that Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on 23 June at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle’s director general, Barbara Massing, praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk”. “With Apple Daily, he gave…
Jimmy Lai: will Hong Kong media tycoon die in jail? – The Latest
The media mogul and prominent pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong for national security offences. His family has described the sentence as ‘heartbreakingly cruel’, given the 78-year-old’s declining health. Lai was convicted in December on charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, after pleading not guilty to all charges. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s senior China correspondent, Amy Hawkins – watch on YouTube The Guardian
The best of the long read in 2025
Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist? At 18, Mustafa was told his only way out of prison was to join the regime forces. After 14 years, his past as one of Assad’s fighters could get him killed When fossilised remains were discovered in the Djurab desert in 2001, they were hailed as radically rewriting the history of our species. But not…
Handling of China spying case was ‘shambolic’, security committee concludes
Parliament’s security committee has criticised prosecutors for pulling their charges against two men accused of spying for Beijing, in a damning report that concluded the handling of the case was “shambolic”. MPs said that a process “beset by confusion and misaligned expectations” and “inadequate” communication between the government and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had contributed to the collapse of the trial, while several “opportunities to correct course were missed”. The report concludes the committee’s six-week investigation into the collapse of the high-profile trial of Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher…
OBR says it raised concerns with Treasury about pre-budget briefings – UK politics live
From 1h ago OBR raised concerns with Treasury about pre-budget leaking before budget took place, MPs told Hillier started by asking about the letter sent by the OBR to the Commons Treasury committee on Friday explaining what the OBR told the Treasury in the run up to the budget about its forecasts. Prof David Miles said the OBR decided to send the letter because there were a lot of misconceptions about the role played by the OBR this time. He said the letter was meant to be published on budget…
Chinese scientist charged with smuggling pathogen into US to be deported
A Chinese scientist charged in Michigan with smuggling biological materials pleaded guilty on Wednesday, but was given no additional time in jail beyond the five months she already spent in custody. Yunqing Jian, who was a temporary researcher at a University of Michigan lab, will be released and quickly deported. A judge called it a “very strange” case involving an “incredibly accomplished researcher”. Jian, 33, was arrested in June and accused of conspiring with a boyfriend to study and nurse a toxic fungus at a campus lab. A pathogen known…
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
A British university complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project being dropped, the Guardian can reveal. In February, Sheffield Hallam University, home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), a leading research institution focused on human rights, ordered one of its best-known professors, Laura Murphy, to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China. Murphy’s work focuses on Uyghurs, a persecuted Muslim minority in China, being co-opted into forced labour programmes. Her research,…
Missing ‘critical element’ caused UK China spying trial to collapse, say prosecutors
The government’s evidence in the China espionage trial was missing a “critical element” that meant there was “no other option” but to collapse the case, prosecutors insisted on Monday night. Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, did not directly blame anyone for the collapse of the trial but said the government’s refusal to describe China as a national security threat meant “all routes were closed”. Matthew Collins, the senior civil servant who drafted the government’s evidence, said he could not meet prosecutors’ demands because the Conservative government at that…