China has detained two ethnic-Chinese foreign nationals for "violent terrorist activities", the Foreign Ministry said today.
The men were identified as New Zealander Mr Sun Gang and US citizen Mr Benjamin Lan, known in Chinese as Mr Lan Yupeng.
"They received support from the heads of some hostile organisations and came to China to carry out violent terrorist activities," a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.
She did not name the organisations or give details of the accusations against the two men.
The New Zealand embassy confirmed that Mr Sun had been detained but declined to coment further. The US embassy said embassy officials had visited Mr Lan.
Mr Zhang said Beijing security forces caught the men with evidence that proved "they were engaging in, or plotting to engage in, violent terrorist activities". She did not say when they had been caught.
"Because these two men are suspected of breaking relevant Chinese laws, they are already in detention under law and the case is being heard by relevant Chinese judicial departments," she said.