China to try second U.S. 'spy' scholar

Gao Zhan has been indicted for spying for Taiwan

By staff and wire reports

BEIJING, China -- U.S.-based scholar Gao Zhan will go on trial in Beijing Tuesday oncharges of espionage one of her attorneys has told CNN.

The trial comes four days ahead of a visit to China by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Bai Xuebiao told CNN he had seen his client briefly on Monday to advise of her of her defense.

He said Gao had told him her pre-existing heart condition had worsened slightly during in five-months in detention.

Bai said he expected the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court would reach a verdict within hours, as with the case of Li Shaomin, a Chinese-born American business professor who was tried 10 days earlier.

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If convicted of espionage, Gao potentially faces years or even life in prison.

Her attorney has not commented on whether he would argue for her to be deported to the United States.

Deportation

While there is no legal mechanism for deportation of Chinese nationals, authorities have often used it as a method of dealing with what they view as diplomatically problematic detainees.

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The timing of Gao's trial suggests that China was hoping to stop Gao's case from clouding Powell's visit, due to begin Saturday. The visit, Powell's first as Secretary of State, comes as Beijing and Washington work to repair recent strains in relations.

Powell said on Friday he was confident of improving ties and insisted Washington did not view China as a potential enemy.

Gao, a sociology research fellow at the Washington-based American University, has been detained for more than five months after she was picked up by Chinese state security agents at Beijing Airport in February.

Her husband Xue Donghua and five-year-old son Andrew were also detained separately for several weeks.

Gao's detention sparked an outcry in the U.S. because Chinese authorities failed to notify the U.S. Embassy of the detention of her son who is a U.S. citizen.

U.S. Ambassador arrives in Beijing

News of Gao's trial comes one after the newly-appointed U.S. ambassador Clark Randt arrived in Beijing Monday to take up his post.

In a statement delivered outside his official Beijing residence, Randt said he had been asked by U.S. President George W. Bush, of whom he is a close associate, to "convey his warm greetings to the Chinese people".

The former Hong Kong-based legal partner was Bush's Yale University classmate. He also served as U.S. commercial attaché in Beijing between 1982-84.

In his statement, Randt said Bush "respects China and its talented people" and "admires your rich history and culture".

Randt adopted an old Chinese saying to describe his hopes for improving Sino-U.S. relations -- "remove the clouds to see the sun".

The last two U.S. ambassadors left Beijing amid crises in Sino-U.S. relations.

Joseph Prueher left grappling with the aftermath of the April 1 collision between a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter.

His predecessor, James Sasser, had his hands full dealing with fall-out from the bombing of the Belgrade embassy by a U.S. aircraft during the NATO campaign over Yugoslavia.

Reuters contributed to this report.