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CNN Saturday Morning News

U.S. Applauds Deportation of Convicted Chinese Spy

Aired July 14, 2001 - 09:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The State Department is welcoming China's decision to deport an American scholar who had been convicted of spying for Taiwan. U.S. officials are urging Beijing to review some similar cases as well.

Li Shaomin was convicted of espionage this morning, and we get details from CNN's Lisa Rose Weaver.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The trial at the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court was closed to the public. Within four hours came the conviction, espionage. The court's sentence offered few details, only that a large amount of evidence showed Li had helped a Taiwanese spy organization collect information that harmed China's national security.

Li was detained in February and charged with espionage in May. The case coincided with the arrests of other scholars linked with the United States, including Gao Zhan, also detained in February. State prosecutors are building an espionage against her as well.

The evidence that led Chinese state prosecutors to charge Li Shaomin was never publicly spelled out, a lack of transparency which is common to China's legal system.

JIA QINGGUO, PEKING UNIVERSITY: I think that's -- the Chinese government has an obligation, in a way, to tell the public and to tell the world what kind of crime these people have committed.

WEAVER: Beijing's treatment of Li and others highlights the degree of official distrust of ethnic Chinese whom the government suspects of obtaining sensitive information.

The verdict contradicts the image of openness China is trying to maintain, most spectacularly with Beijing's success in winning the right to host the Olympic Games in 2008.

(on camera): Li Shaomin's verdict and his release in a sense shows Beijing's success at playing both ends of the game, exercising its legal process on its own terms, and regaining some diplomatic ground with the United States, which has said it welcomes the move.

Lisa Rose Weaver, CNN, Beijing. (END VIDEOTAPE)

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