US relief over China expulsion ruling

The case was an irritant in US-China ties

The United States has welcomed China's decision to deport - rather than imprison - an American academic of Chinese origin, Li Shaomin, who was convicted of spying for Taiwan.

"We welcome China's decision to release Mr Li so that he can be reunited with his family," a US State Department spokesman said.

The case of Mr Li, a professor at Hong Kong's City University, had been "a matter of great concern to many people in the United States," the spokesman said.

US citizen Li was detained without explanation

The decision to deport him came a day after China was chosen to stage the summer Olympics in 2008. Mr Li, 44, was convicted on Saturday after a trial that lasted less than five hours.

The case had soured Sino-US relations and had been raised with the Chinese by President George W Bush.

The US spokesman said Washington was pressing for the release of five other detained Chinese-born academics.

Mr Li, a US citizen who teaches business studies in Hong Kong, was arrested during a visit to China in February and was being held on what human rights groups said were politically-motivated charges.

No expulsion date

The Chinese official news agency Xinhua did not say when Mr Li would be deported.

We continue to urge the Chinese Government to promptly resolve the cases of those who have been similarly detained

US State Department

An official Chinese report said he was found guilty and would be deported, but made no mention of a sentence and gave no further details of the case.

An American diplomat was present at the closed trial, but foreign media were barred.

Mr Li, 45, has been in detention since 25 February when he was picked up by police in the southern city of Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, and detained without explanation.

The academic, who has a doctorate from Princeton University, was formally charged with spying in May.

The swift trial and expulsion may be aimed at removing a major irritant in US-China ties two weeks before a visit to China by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, correspondents say.