2024-01-28 12:29:00
For decades a British businessman worked in China, but one day he disappeared. The previously unpublished case indicates that additional foreign businessmen may be arrested in China without the public’s knowledge
Ian J. Stones, a 70-year-old British business executive, worked in China for four decades, including with large American companies, including with Pfizer before starting his own consulting company, and then, in 2018, he disappeared from the public eye. The Stones were arrested in China without a report of the incident from the Chinese or British authorities.
The quiet arrest of a foreign businessman well-known in China’s business community highlights the risks of operating in the country, which has a political justice system controlled by the Communist Party.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in response to questions from the Wall Street Journal that Stones was sentenced to five years in prison for illegally selling intelligence information to overseas companies. The ministry said that he appealed his conviction but the appeal was rejected in September last year.
Stones’ daughter, Laura Stones, said neither the family nor British embassy staff had been allowed to see any of the legal documents related to the case, so she could not comment on the details.
“There was no admission of the alleged crime, but according to Chinese law he must serve the remainder of his sentence,” she said.
The silence surrounding the Stones case suggests that more foreign businessmen may be detained in China, unbeknownst to the general public, as families or governments work privately to secure their release, US experts on Chinese law say. China does not always disclose arrests of foreigners, especially in politically sensitive matters, but in some cases foreign governments publicize cases of their own nationals.
Laura Stones said her father was on trial behind closed doors, with neither the embassy nor family members allowed to attend. Embassy officials and one family member were allowed to witness one hearing, she said.
Stones received a master’s degree in Chinese language in the UK and moved to China in 1978 at a time when few foreigners lived there.
Stones is fluent in the language and has a deep understanding of China’s culture, according to those who know him. He began working in the corporate world in the 1980s, and went on to work as an executive at Pfizer and then at General Motors.
In the late 2000s, he was invited to be interviewed for “My Thirty Years in China”, a book by a small group of well-known foreign businessmen who talked about their experiences in the country.
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