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Son: Father innocent of spy charge
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSNEW YORK (CNN) -- The son of an American being held under house arrest in China on suspicion of conducting espionage for Taiwan said his father is an apolitical businessman who has no contacts in Taiwan and no dealings with any government agencies there. "The whole thing is a mistake. My father is innocent," Xie Yuanyang, who lives in New Jersey, told CNN late Friday. "We don't have any friends (in Taiwan). Forget about close friends. My father had never been there before." A State Department official said Friday that the Chinese government put Xie Chunren under "residential surveillance" in Chengdu on May 31 "under suspicion of espionage for Taiwan." U.S. officials have visited the elder Xie three times since his detention and are in regular contact with his son, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of State Department rules. Xie Yuanyang said his father, 56, who emigrated to the United States from China in the late 1980s, runs a nutritional products company called NatureAll, based in Hillsborough, N.J. "He doesn't know anyone in the governmental area. He doesn't know anyone close enough to make them angry," the younger Xie said. "He has business partners. His business is very simple. He deals with nutrition products. He doesn't deal with any government agencies." However, the son said his father does know David Dong, a Chinese-American arrested by the Chinese on spying charges in August 2004. The younger Xie said he thinks his father's arrest could be connected to Dong's case. "They knew each other. They were just acquaintances. (Dong) contacted him for business opportunities," the son said. "He was not a friend, not anything close." The elder Xie's last contact with Dong was in 2000, his son said. -- CNN producers Lauren Rivera and Elise Labott contributed to this report. 
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