China arrests US woman on spying charges

China has formally arrested an American woman accused of spying, the Foreign Ministry confirmed.

55-year-old Texan businesswoman Sandy Phan-Gillis was detained in Zhuhai in March while visiting southern China with a delegation from Houston, and has been secretly held in Nanning for six months. But the detention wasn’t made public until the eve of Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US.

Phan-Gillis’s husband, Jeff Gillis, who dismisses the spy charges as ridiculous, said “he hoped that Xi’s visit would open opportunities for the Obama administration to press for her release after months of secretive and fruitless efforts on his own,” according to the New York Times.

Gillis also believes that as with previous foreign nationals accused of spying, his wife’s Chinese heritage made her vulnerable to arrest.

“Chinese authorities are very much of the mind that if you are ethnic Chinese, we own you,” Gillis said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Li said Phan-Gillis has been permitted regular visits from the US consulate and is cooperating with the investigation.