China has filed espionage charges against an American consultant, it confirmed Wednesday, days before President Obama is set to visit the country for a summit of the Group of 20 nations.
Confirmation of the charges against 56-year-old Sandy Phan-Gillis, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Vietnam, comes more than a year after her March 2015 arrest while on a trade delegation.
{mosads}“Based on our understanding, Phan-Gillis, because of suspected espionage, has been charged according to law by the relevant Chinese department,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a press conference, according to multiple reports.
“China is a country ruled by law. The relevant Chinese department will handle the case strictly according to law,” she added, without providing additional details of the allegations.
Supporters of Phan-Gillis have denied that she in any way spied on China on behalf of the U.S. and are asking Obama to personally intervene.
“Sandy is not a spy,” her husband, Jeff Gillis, claimed on a website dedicated to her case.
“I view my wife as a true American hero, and I would like to get her back.”
In interviews with The New York Times and Houston Chronicle, Gillis claimed that Beijing has accused his wife of conducting an espionage operation in 1996, and trying to recruit Chinese people on behalf of a foreign power.
In June, a United Nations working group claimed that Phan-Gillis had been subjected to arbitrary detention.
The ordeal could complicate matters for Obama, who heads to the city of Hangzhou on Friday for what will be his final G-20 leaders summit as president.
Gillis has urged the president to raise the case of his wife during meetings this weekend. Her indictment adds to a mountain of issues between the U.S. and China, including Beijing’s encroachment into the South China Sea, human rights issues in China and nascent cooperation on cybersecurity.
U.S. diplomats have raised Phan-Gillis’s case on multiple occasions, the State Department said in July.
“We urge China to resolve this case expeditiously and provide a fair and transparent legal process in accordance with local law and in a manner that also respects international human rights,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said at the time.