American woman held in China accused of being a spy

HOUSTON — Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States, a Texas man hopes to put pressure on U.S. and Chinese authorities to release his wife who is being held in a Chinese jail.

Chinese authorities are investigating the Houston businesswoman on suspicion that she threatened China's national security, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, confirming earlier reports that Phan Phan-Gillis was detained this year while traveling in the country.

Jeff Gillis said his wife went to China with Houston city leaders and Houston and Chinese businessmen on a trade trip in March. Phan-Gillis was stopped at a border checkpoint and held ever since.

For the last six months Phan-Gillis was being held in a residential facility, which is similar to house arrest. However, this weekend, she was moved to an actual jail.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Phan-Gillis was suspected of "endangering China's national security."

"We hope that the outside world will respect China's handling of this case according to the law," he added.

The U.S. State Department said Phan-Gillis is being held by the Chinese Ministry of State Security in the southern city of Nanning and that she was visited six times by American consular officers since her March 20 arrest. The department said in a statement Tuesday it was closely monitoring the case.

“I just thought it was a huge mistake,” said Gillis. “I mean, my wife is not a spy. She is not a spy, she is not a thief, she’s a hard-working businesswoman that does tons of non-profit work for Houston.”

Gillis is willing to do whatever it takes to get her back.

“Come on give me my wife back. My wife is not a spy my wife is not a thief. She is a hard working businesswoman who's done good for this town and for America. Let's get her back," he said.

Phan-Gillis is a naturalized American citizen of Chinese descent who was born in Vietnam.

The woman also goes by the name Sandy Phan-Gillis, and is known as Pan Wanfen in Chinese.

Gillis said there are no formal charges against his wife.

He said he believes that's because Chinese officials don't have a case.

Contributing: Hannah Gardner, for Paste BN in Beijing; The Associated Press.