Official: Incitement sentence justified

The conviction and sentencing of Taiwan resident Lee Ming-che for inciting subversion of State power was based on clear facts and abundant evidence on the Chinese mainland, an official said on Wednesday.

Lee, 42, was sentenced to five years in prison by a court in Hunan province on Tuesday.

"Law enforcement departments on the mainland investigated Lee's case strictly in accordance with the law and legal procedure and the sentence was based on clear facts and sufficient evidence," Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Wednesday at a news conference.

"The defendant's rights and interests were fully protected," he said, adding that any attempt to use the trial and sentencing of Lee for "political hype" would fail.

"It was the groundless attacks on the mainland by some people in Taiwan that have seriously harmed cross-Straits relations," Ma said, commenting on criticism from Taiwan that Lee's sentence had harmed cross-Straits ties.

"Mutual respect for each other's development path and social system is the bottom line for cross-Straits relations," he said. "We respect the current system and lifestyle of Taiwan compatriots, but that does not mean the Taiwan side can impose its own political ideas on the mainland. It does not mean that some people from Taiwan can arbitrarily violate the laws of the mainland under the pretext of 'democracy and freedom' either."

Lee's family had traveled to the mainland and were present when the court handed down the sentence in Yueyang, Hunan province, Ma said.

Lee was prosecuted alongside mainland resident Peng Yuhua, 38, who received a sentence of seven years for the same offense.

Xinhua contributed to this story.