China detains American woman on spying allegations

Chinese authorities are investigating an American businesswoman on suspicion that she posed a threat to the country's national security, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, confirming earlier media reports that Phan Phan-Gillis of Houston was detained earlier this year.

Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the woman was healthy and was able to meet with American officials. He said Beijing is handling the case according to China's laws.

Citing privacy concerns, the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday declined to comment on the woman's detention.

Phan-Gillis is a Vietnamese-American of Chinese descent. The Houston Chronicle reported Monday that she was in a trade delegation to China when she was stopped on her way to Macau.

“It is the most stupid politics in the world to arrest a U.S. citizen the week that [Chinese President] Xi Jinping is coming to the United States for a state visit on political charges of spying,” her husband, Jeff Gillis, told The New York Times.

“I really don’t want to be disruptive. I don’t want to ruin anybody’s party,” he added. “I just want to get my wife back.”

Gillis told the Houston Chronicle that he was publicizing her six-month detention as Jinping visits the United States this week in hopes of pressuring Beijing and Washington to secure her release.

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

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

She offers consulting services for U.S. and Chinese businesses, the newspaper said.

“Sandy is not a spy,” Gillis told The New York Times. “Sandy is a hard-working businesswoman who has spent years doing nonprofit-type work to build Houston-China relations.”

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press