China’s Jailing of Brit for Espionage Will Further Discourage Business, Analysts Say

FILE - British and Chinese national flags on display at the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, China, Jan. 17, 2008. Beijing confirmed on Jan. 26, 2024, that British businessman Ian Stones had been sentenced to five years in prison in 2022 on an espionage charge.

Beijing’s revelation that it sentenced an elderly and well-connected British businessman who has lived in China for decades to five years in prison for espionage will further discourage business and trade, say analysts and a friend of the man.