China has charged a US academic with spying for Taiwan, a US embassy spokesman said today.
He said China notified the embassy this week that 45-year-old Mr Li Shaomin, a Chinese-born US citizen and a lecturer at City University of Hong Kong, had been formally charged - nearly three months after he was detained.
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"We have been notified on May 15th that the Chinese authorities had formally arrested Li Shaomin and charged him with spying against China on behalf of Taiwan," the spokesman said.
"We are very concerned by this and we will continue to express our concern about Li Shaomin's case to the Chinese government," he said.
The spokesman said the United States would continue to push for his speedy release.
Mr Li has held since February 25th when he was picked up in the southern city of Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, and detained without explanation.
He is one of five US-based Chinese scholars or Chinese-born US citizens to be detained or arrested by the Chinese authorities in recent months.
AFP