US presses for scholar's release

Gao Zhan: Hoping to be released on medical grounds

The US is stepping up its efforts to secure the release of Gao Zhan, a US-based scholar who has been jailed for 10 years in China on charges of spying for Taiwan.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker told journalists: "We are engaged intensively with the Chinese on this to urge the Chinese government for her early release on humanitarian grounds".

US Secretary of State Colin Powell was expected to raise the issue during a meeting on Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart, Tang Jiaxuan, at a regional conference in Vietnam.

Gao's husband has vowed not to rest until she is freed

Gao, a Chinese sociologist with permanent US resident status, was found guilty of helping a Chinese-born US citizen, Li Shaomin, who was convicted of spying earlier this month.

Li was ordered to be deported, but on Tuesday Gao and fellow US resident Qin Guangguang were given prison sentences.

"Qin Guangguang and Gao Zhan both collected intelligence for spy agencies in Taiwan, causing a serious threat to China's national security," China's state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the court as saying.

Also sentenced was Chinese citizen Qu Wei, who got 13 years.

US dismay

The US reacted with dismay at the news, which came three days before Mr Powell is due to visit Beijing.

A senior American official travelling with him said the US had asked to attend Gao's trial, but the request was refused.

"We are concerned about the lack of transparency in the process and the speed with which this was done," said the official, who did not want to be named.

There's not much argument over the evidence, because Gao Zhan admits that she did these things - what we need to sort out is whether these things constituted crimes

Bai Xuebiao, Gao's lawyer

Gao's trial lasted four hours according to one of her lawyers, Bai Xuebiao.

Mr Bai said he had asked for Gao, 39, to be released for medical care for a heart condition, but had little idea if his request would be granted.

Gao's lawyers said the only evidence the government could produce against her was that she had photocopied articles from official Chinese Government publications about relations between China and Taiwan.

Her husband Xue Donghua has vowed not to rest until she is released.

"I am depressed. I am surprised. But I still have hope," he said.

Colin Powell's visit aims to mend ties with Beijing

BBC Washington correspondent Nick Bryant says the hope in Washington is that Gao will be released before the weekend when Secretary of State Colin Powell is due in China for a visit intended to repair relations between the two countries.

Gao, who works at the American University in Washington, was detained on 11 February at Beijing's airport during a family trip to China.

Gao's fellow defendant, Qin Guangguang, a US-based pharmacist who previously studied at the University of Michigan and Stanford University, was detained in December and has worked for a Chinese-American joint venture pharmaceutical company UMIC.

Two other US-based academics in detention are Wu Jianmin, 46, a Chinese-born US citizen arrested in December and Liu Yaping, a US-based Chinese citizen arrested in March.