On Friday, Beijing officially confirmed that Ian J. Stones, a long-standing British business figure in China, was sentenced to a five-year prison term in 2022 on charges related to espionage.
Wang Wenbin, the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, disclosed that Ian J. Stones had been found guilty of accepting inducements to provide intelligence to “external forces.” However, specific details about the charges were not divulged.
Both the UK and the US governments had previously cautioned about the potential risk of detention in China under its national security laws.
Notably, in the previous year, a Japanese pharmaceutical company employee was detained on suspicion of espionage.
The case of Ian J. Stones had not been publicly known until it was reported by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. According to the American newspaper, Stones, who is approximately 70 years old, had a career spanning around 40 years in China, with previous employment at General Motors and Pfizer before establishing his consulting firm, Navisino Partners, about 15 years ago.
Last year, foreign business organizations and governments called for greater clarity regarding the activities permissible for foreign firms under the anti-espionage law, particularly concerning stricter regulations on data transfer and the definition of data related to national security.
Raids conducted on the offices of three foreign companies, including two consultancies and a due diligence firm, had heightened concerns within the business community.
Both the British and U.S. governments had issued travel advisories, warning about the risk of arbitrary detention in China and the broad reach of the national security law.
The advisories highlighted that individuals could be detained without intentionally breaking the law, and Chinese authorities had considerable discretion in classifying various materials as state secrets, leading to the detention and prosecution of foreign nationals for alleged espionage.
Ian J. Stones had appealed his conviction, but the original ruling was upheld by a court in September, according to Wang Wenbin.
He said that the case was handled “in accordance with the law, ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of both Chinese and foreign parties involved.”
