China uses harsh tactics to keep secrets under wraps

SHANGHAI — China's sentencing on Monday of an American geologist, who has been jailed for the past 2 ½ years, to an additional eight years in prison for stealing state secrets is another demonstration of how the Chinese government will use the legal system to protect the business interests and competitive edge of its state-run firms.

Xue Feng, 44, a naturalized American who works for a U.S. energy-consulting firm, was charged with trying to buy a database that reportedly showed the location and condition of oil and wells belonging to China's government-owned National Petroleum Corp.

In other countries, such information would normally not be considered particularly sensitive. But China in recent years has shown an increasing willingness to use its catchall state secrecy laws — usually invoked in matters of national security — to protect what it considers the trade secrets of its state-run companies, particularly in the all-important energy sector

In March, Stern Hu, an Australian working for the mining firm Rio Tinto, was convicted in Shanghai of stealing commercial secrets and bribery relating to China's iron-ore purchases; Hu received a 10-year sentence.

Xue, who was arrested in November 2007, claimed he was tortured while in detention, including being burned on his arms with lit cigarettes and bashed in the head.

His case had attracted high-level American attention, with President Obama raising his concerns when he visited China last year. The case was a test of the administration's "quiet diplomacy" approach of bringing up human-rights issues in China.

U.S. consular officials have visited Xue nearly 30 times during his detention.

Unlike Hu's case, however, Xue's case was kept deliberately low-profile, apparently partly out of a respect for Xue's family in Texas, who feared that making him a public figure could further antagonize China's leaders.

In an unusual public display of concern, U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman attended the court session Monday in Beijing. Afterward, Huntsman said in a statement that the U.S. was "dismayed" by the verdict, and he asked that Xue be given a "humanitarian release" and deported to the United States.

Three Chinese associates of Xue's were also convicted. One received the same sentence as Xue, eight years in prison and a fine equal to about $30,000. Two others received lesser sentences of 2 ½ years in prison, and smaller fines.

Xue was sentenced under a notably vague state-secrets law, used in the past to prosecute cases ranging from military espionage to information leaks from state ministries. State security officials detained Xue in November 2007 after he signed a purchase contract on behalf of a Colorado-based energy consulting firm, IHS Energy, for a database on the Chinese oil industry.

The nature of the database has not been made public. Xue apparently came across the database during discussions with Chinese friends and did not regard it as sensitive, a Hong Kong-based official with the Dui Hua Foundation, Joshua Rosenzweig, said in a telephone interview on Monday. Indeed, both the Dui Hua Foundation and Xue's lawyer say the Chinese government did not classify the information until after it had been sold to IHS, now known as IHS Inc.

"This illustrates the extreme importance with which China views its access to natural resources, especially things like steel and oil. These are things China sees as vital to its economic growth, which in turn is vital to maintaining stability," Rosenzweig said. "It's clear that resource issues are seen as national-security issues."

After the verdict, Xue's sister, Xue Min, who was in the courtroom, was interviewed on BBC television saying her brother was "beyond feeling angry," and that he told her not to worry about him.

His lawyer, Tong Wei, called the verdict "as bad as I thought it could be" and "the worst possible outcome." He said Xue might appeal.

The Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that follows human-rights issues in China, said that Xue, 44, has a heart condition. Xue's lawyer, Tong, said that Xue was not seriously ill and was receiving medical care.

"Now that the Chinese legal system has ruled, I believe the time has come for Dr. Xue, who has already been detained for two and a half years, to be released," Huntsman said in a statement. "I urge the Chinese authorities to take into account the long ordeal he has suffered and in the spirit of justice allow him to be return home and be reunited with his family."