Beijing claims an American citizen jailed for life in China earlier this year is a decorated spy who had worked for US intelligence for more than three decades, as it ramps up a campaign warning citizens to guard against foreign espionage.
Or merely being a pawn for the CCP. A couple years ago they arrested (kidnapped) 2 Chinese Canadians so they could have a trade for a detained Chinese businessman/politician in Canada.
I can't believe there were no reprucussions for this, literally kidnapping and holding anothers countries citizens for ransom. Somalian pirates did this and there was a coalition of dozens of countries to shut them down.
*for clarity the Chinese Canadians were visiting China when they were detained
That being said, would not surprise in the slightest if he's a spy; just curious about the timing... there's definitely spies from every country that has any in China, the US etc.
Why would they choose a us citizen. That's already a difficult place to start cause there'd be more surveillance on him vs another person from a different country or a full Chinese citizen.