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China holds US citizen accused of spying for Taiwan BEIJING, Aug 19 : China detained a US citizen on suspicion of spying for ideological foe Taiwan and has kept him under house arrest without charge for nearly three months, the US embassy in Beijing said today. Chinese-born Xie Chunren, 56, was arrested in the southwestern province of Sichuan on May 31 after he traveled there from the United States, the embassy spokeswoman said. ''He is currently under residential surveillance under suspicion of espionage for Taiwan,'' she said. China claims the self-ruled island of Taiwan as its own and both sides have been spying on each other since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. The charges came to light just weeks before Chinese President Hu Jintao makes his first trip to Washington as leader, adding new friction to ties already strained over issues from China's military build-up to textile trade. Xie's son said his father was not a spy. ''I think it's a mistake,'' Xie Yuanyang said by telephone from his home in New Jersey. ''He's so busy running his business he doesn't even have time to watch movies.'' Xie Chunren travelled frequently to China for work related to his business selling nutritional supplements. The United States recognizes the mainland as China's sole legitimate government -- the ''one-China'' policy -- but in a deliberately ambiguous piece of foreign policy is also obliged by law to help Taiwan defend itself. The US embassy spokeswoman said officials from the consulate in the Sichuan capital Chengdu had visited Xie three times since his detention. His son said that was the only outside contact he had had. LEGAL ISSUES In Washington, a U.S. State Department official said both the consulate in Chengdu and embassy in Beijing were following the case very closely and providing all possible assistance. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States was trying to ensure Xie was treated fairly and in accordance with standards agreed to by the United States and China as prescribed under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the case was handled in accordance with the law. ''Xie Chunren is suspected of engaging in activities endangering the security of the People's Republic of China,'' the ministry said in a statement. Xie, who lives in New Jersey, is the latest in a string of Chinese-born American citizens to fall foul of Chinese authorities. David Ji, the co-founder and chairman of US electronics distributor Apex Digital Inc., was arrested in late 2004 for check fraud in a dispute with Changhong Electric Appliance Co. Ltd. He was released from custody this week. In August 2004, Beijing accused David Dong, a Chinese-American also known as Dong Wei, of spying for Taiwan. Dong has been held since 2003 when he traveled to the southern city of Guangzhou on a business trip. Chinese media have said he was recruited by Taiwanese military intelligence and received a monthly salary to steal state secrets. Xie's son speculated that his father's detention was related to Dong's case. ''Since nobody can talk to my father, no one knows for sure,'' he said. He said his father was a distant acquaintance of Dong's, but that the two were not friends. ''Right now we're just hoping he gets released. I don't know what kind of evidence they have,'' he said. Dan [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://www.terror-hunters.com/> www.terror-hunters.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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