US calls for release of geologist held in China as spy

• Source: Global Times
• [02:55 November 23 2009]
• Comments

By Zhang Wen

The United States called Friday for the release of Xue Feng, a China-born US oil geologist being held on suspicion of stealing State secrets, according to AFP.

"We encourage China to grant Dr Xue humanitarian release and immediately deport him back to the United States," Susan Stevenson, spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Beijing, told AFP.

"It is an espionage case," the counter-espionage official from the Chinese government department said. "The Chinese side has very solid evidence to prove that Xue Feng stole State secrets and violated China's law."

Xue was detained in China in November 2007 as he prepared to fly back to the United States after trying to purchase a database of information about China's oil industry on behalf of his employer at the time, IHS Inc, according to Jerome Cohen, a New York University law professor who is seeking Xue's release and spoke with The New York Times Sunday.

An anonymous source told AFP that Xue was formally arrested in April the following year and charged with procuring State secrets.

Stevenson said the US Embassy had been closely involved with the case and had conducted more than 20 consular visits to Xue to monitor his welfare.

Xue's case was raised during US President Barack Obama's visit to Beijing this week, the embassy said.

US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman also talked about the case with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei at the beginning of the month, Stevenson said.

The New York Times also said that Xue has been trying to tell his friends to make his case public.

Ed Mattix, a spokesman for IHS, a global consulting and data company based in Englewood, was quoted by the newspaper as saying, "We have been advised that any further communication on the situation could be detrimental to the diplomatic efforts."

Agencies contributed to this story