China sentences ex-engineer to death for spying

A former Chinese engineer has been sentenced to death for leaking state secrets to a foreign power, China's national security authorities said Wednesday.

The man, surnamed Liu, "secretly copied, duplicated, and sold a large volume of state secrets to a foreign espionage and intelligence agency," China's Ministry of State Security said in a post to its official WeChat account.

Liu had worked as an assistant engineer at a research institute and had resigned after believing he had been treated unfairly, the ministry said.

Before leaving, however, he "secretly copied and retained a large quantity of classified materials he had handled, intending to use them later for retaliation or blackmail against his superiors," it added.

The ministry did not state the research institute which employed Liu, nor did it give his full name.

Liu accumulated heavy debt after failed investments and "turned his attention to the classified materials in his possession, giving rise to treasonous thoughts of selling intelligence," it said.

The foreign intelligence agency — which was not named — cut off contact after tricking Liu into handing over the classified information at "a very low price," according to the ministry.

"However, the irredeemable Liu did not become aware of the consequences of his actions," it said, adding that he soon went abroad again to sell classified information.

"Over a period of six months, he covertly traveled through multiple countries, severely compromising China's national secrets."

Liu was sentenced to death following an investigation, the ministry added.

No details were given about when he would be executed.