American geologist Xue Feng was sentenced to eight years in a Chinese prison.His crime was gathering data on China's oil industry. Beijing intermediate People's court claimed that his actions endangered China's national security. Chinese officials claimed that Xue received documents on geological conditions of onshore oil wells and a database that gave coordinates of oil and gas wells belonging to China National Petroleum. Also that the information was sold to IHS a company that Xue works for. When he was being sentenced he was allowed only one family member in the court room. The U.S. ambassador to China attended the hearing. The U.S. Embassy issued a statement calling for Xue's immediate release and deportation to the U.S. The case has been dragging on for 2 and a half years. Agents from China's security agency detained him in 2007 and tortured him. IHS claimed that Chinese officials never notified them that they were doing something wrong. The information Xue collected was commonly available and the Chinese government controls access to that information. Xue Feng is currently appealing his conviction.
This case is a reminder of the dangers of doing business in China. The scary thing is Xue was just doing his job. Xue should not be in prison.He was just doing what he was told to by his employers.IHS are the ones who should be in trouble and not Xue Feng. At the same time Xue Feng should have did his homework and checked to see if what he was doing was OK. No matter what country you are doing business in it is common sense to check their laws. A business person who is overseas needs to know that country's laws and customs.Never assume anything.
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