China charges 3 HK-based Britons
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BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China has indicted three Hong Kong-based British nationals after keeping them in custody for more than a year in the southern province of Guangdong, a British diplomat said Tuesday.
The diplomat declined to elaborate on the charges.
Hong Kong media have said the three were former officials of China's state news agency Xinhua and sold classified material to British intelligence over a period of about 10 years before being taken into custody early last year.
The Washington Post said that one of those charged was accused of spying for Britain between 1988 and 1995, when the Hong Kong was still a British colony. Xinhua was Beijing's de facto embassy in Hong Kong before the 1997 handover.
The case was seen by analysts as a warning to Britain not to meddle in Hong Kong affairs as Beijing wages an increasingly harsh campaign to silence demands for more voting rights.
"I can confirm that three British citizens have been detained in Guangzhou," said a spokesman for the British Embassy in Beijing. They were taken into Chinese custody in January 2003.
"We are in touch with their families but because they are dual British and Hong Kong nationals, we are not able to formally get consular access because they are in the second country of their nationality."
The three have been charged, the spokesman said. But he declined to elaborate and said it was for the Chinese authorities to comment on.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry could not immediately be reached.
Hong Kong media have been identified the trio as Liu Lin, Chen Yulin and Wei Pingyuan. They entered China on Hong Kong travel documents and were not being treated as British nationals.
The Washington Post said Chen, also known as Chan Yu-lam, 53, was tried behind closed doors in Guangzhou February 24.
A verdict and sentence are scheduled to be announced Friday.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
