SHENZHEN, China -- An Australian businessman whose case has dramatized the perils of trading in China was jailed for 16 years Thursday on corruption charges and told he would be deported.
But the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court did not say whether James Peng would be deported during or after his sentence, said Michael Lightowler, Australia's ambassador to China, who attended the 1 1/2-hour session.
The Australian government expressed disappointment, and Peng's mother, Zhuang Rilan, said her son was innocent and that his former business partners had framed him.
The full sentence was 18 years, of which 16 are to be served, Lightowler told a news conference. The sentence apparently begins with Peng's detention nearly two years ago.
Lightowler said the Australian government would press for clemency on compassionate grounds but had "no indication whatsoever'' when Peng would be deported.
Speedy deportation, as happened to Chinese-American human rights campaigner Harry Wu, would offer China a face-saving way of normalizing relations with Australia. Wu was sentenced in August to 15 years in prison on espionage charges, but quickly expelled.
Peng smiled at his mother and Lightowler as he was led in to court in handcuffs, witnesses said. They said he told the court he was innocent and should be released.
Lightowler said Peng could appeal, but the Australian Associated Press said Peng told the court he accepted its verdict. Lightowler said Peng's case had worried Australian businessmen, especially those of Chinese descent who have moved into southern China to profit from its economic boom but risk running afoul of the elastic Chinese legal system.
The 36-year-old father of three was seized October 1993 in the Portuguese colony of Macao and taken without extradition proceedings to Shenzhen, a southern boomtown that is the cradle of China's economic reforms. He has been detained ever since, which is illegal under Chinese law, but not unusual.
Peng's wife, Lina, says her husband was in dispute with influential Chinese, including Ding Peng, niece of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, over the ownership of Champaign Industrial Co. Ltd., a successful textiles firm he founded.Champaign was the first foreign joint venture listed on Shenzhen's stock market. Mrs. Peng believes Chinese officials detained her husband because they envied his success.
The Australian government, which has been accused of not doing enough to help Chinese-born Peng because he is an immigrant, said it would lobby for his early release. But it also said there was a limit to how much any government can interfere in another's legal affairs.
"We are disappointed at the severity of the sentence,'' acting Foreign Minister Bob McMullan said in a statement.
He said he would call in the Chinese ambassador to urge lenient treatment and that Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans would raise the issue with Chinese counterpart Qian Qichen in New York, where the two are attending the UN General Assembly.
But the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court did not say whether James Peng would be deported during or after his sentence, said Michael Lightowler, Australia's ambassador to China, who attended the 1 1/2-hour session.
The Australian government expressed disappointment, and Peng's mother, Zhuang Rilan, said her son was innocent and that his former business partners had framed him.
The full sentence was 18 years, of which 16 are to be served, Lightowler told a news conference. The sentence apparently begins with Peng's detention nearly two years ago.
Lightowler said the Australian government would press for clemency on compassionate grounds but had "no indication whatsoever'' when Peng would be deported.
Speedy deportation, as happened to Chinese-American human rights campaigner Harry Wu, would offer China a face-saving way of normalizing relations with Australia. Wu was sentenced in August to 15 years in prison on espionage charges, but quickly expelled.
Peng smiled at his mother and Lightowler as he was led in to court in handcuffs, witnesses said. They said he told the court he was innocent and should be released.
Lightowler said Peng could appeal, but the Australian Associated Press said Peng told the court he accepted its verdict. Lightowler said Peng's case had worried Australian businessmen, especially those of Chinese descent who have moved into southern China to profit from its economic boom but risk running afoul of the elastic Chinese legal system.
The 36-year-old father of three was seized October 1993 in the Portuguese colony of Macao and taken without extradition proceedings to Shenzhen, a southern boomtown that is the cradle of China's economic reforms. He has been detained ever since, which is illegal under Chinese law, but not unusual.
Peng's wife, Lina, says her husband was in dispute with influential Chinese, including Ding Peng, niece of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, over the ownership of Champaign Industrial Co. Ltd., a successful textiles firm he founded.Champaign was the first foreign joint venture listed on Shenzhen's stock market. Mrs. Peng believes Chinese officials detained her husband because they envied his success.
The Australian government, which has been accused of not doing enough to help Chinese-born Peng because he is an immigrant, said it would lobby for his early release. But it also said there was a limit to how much any government can interfere in another's legal affairs.
"We are disappointed at the severity of the sentence,'' acting Foreign Minister Bob McMullan said in a statement.
He said he would call in the Chinese ambassador to urge lenient treatment and that Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans would raise the issue with Chinese counterpart Qian Qichen in New York, where the two are attending the UN General Assembly.