With Xi Visiting, Family Highlights US Woman’s Spying Detention in China

Mrs Phan-Gillis, a naturalised American citizen who is one of the Vietnamese “boat people” from the 1970s, was part of a trade delegation from Houston and was arrested while trying to cross from the southern city of Zhuhai to Macau on 19 March, her family said.

Authorities in China have held an American girl for the last six months accused of stealing state secrets, her husband has disclosed.

The woman also goes by the name Sandy Phan-Gillis, and is known as Pan Wanfen in Chinese.

“Sandy is a hard-working businesswoman who has spent years doing non-profit-type work to build Houston-China relations”, he said.Simon Tang, a lawyer based in Houston, confirmed that Phan-Gillis had been “formally arrested a few days ago” after months in secretive detention in Nanning, capital of Guangxi region. She has been hospitalised repeatedly while in detention, it said. According to the Houston Chronicle, soon after Sandy was detained, she told the party she was travelling with that they should go ahead because she is attending to some personal matter. He said the woman was healthy.

The Chronicle said she was on a routine trip with Houston officials and businesspeople to China to promote trade with the Texas city.

He added that “it was odd , but she’s been there [China] hundreds of times”, so he thought little of it.

While US consular officials have been able to meet with Phan-Gillis, she has not been able to contact family and friends, the statement added.

Australian national Stern Hu, an executive with the mining giant Rio Tinto, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2010 on bribery and trade secrets charges.

The USA embassy in Beijing would not comment on the story and referred the BBC to the US Department of State in Washington, which was closed at the time of enquiry. Sandy was stopped at a border checkpoint, accused of being a spy and has been detained ever since.

She offers consulting services for USA and Chinese businesses, the newspaper said. The authorities released the wife on bail in February, but the husband was formally detained on criminal charges.