AFP, BEIJING: A US businesswoman has been held for six months in China over alleged espionage, her supporters said, revealing a case that could complicate Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States, beginning Tuesday.
China's ministry of state security detained Sandy Phan-Gillis in March and she is being investigated on accusations of "spying and stealing state secrets", according to the website savesandy.org, which provides information on her and her case.
Phan-Gillis was held while crossing the border to Macau at the end of a visit to China by a trade delegation from the Texas oil capital Houston, where she is a member of the mayor's International Trade and Development Council, the site said.
The five-member group had visited other Chinese cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and only Phan-Gillis was detained, it added.