The state department said united states was extremely
We call on China to grant Dr. Xue humanitarian release and immediately deport him back to the United States, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. The U.S. government is deeply concerned for Dr. Xues well-being.
The U.S. Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, said he was disappointed by the sentence and that the prosecutors case appeared flimsy and opaque.
This is a case that we have highlighted repeatedly at very senior levels of our government, he told Reuters.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang earlier said the sentencing was a domestic matter.
Chinas judicial departments have handled this case strictly by the law. This is Chinas internal affair, Qin told a news briefing in Beijing. Chinas internal affairs and judicial sovereignty cannot be interfered with by foreign countries.
Xue was convicted of attempting to obtain and traffic in state secrets, a year after his trial ended, said the Duihua Foundation, which promotes prisoners rights in China and the United States. The database was classified as a state secret only after it was sold, it added.
Chinas notoriously vague state secrets laws received international attention last year when Australian citizen Stern Hu and three colleagues working for mining giant Rio Tinto were detained for stealing state secrets during the course of tense iron ore negotiations.
The four were later convicted of the lesser charges of receiving kickbacks and stealing commercial secrets.
Huntsman said Washington would continue seeking Xues immediate release, possibly on medical or humanitarian grounds.
Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Huang Yan, Chris Buckley and Andrew Quinn Editing by Nick Macfie source
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