BEIJING - CHINA insisted on Thursday it would not give special treatment to a scientist sentenced to death for passing information to Taiwan, as the United States reiterated its concern about the case.

'Wo Weihan is a Chinese citizen who broke Chinese law,' foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.

'We can't give privileges to him because he has foreign relatives.' His comments came after Wo's daughter Ran Chen, an Austrian citizen married to an American, saw her father in prison for the first time in four years on Thursday morning for what she thought was their last encounter.

'After meeting with my dad, I went home and cried for two hours, it was so difficult and emotional, because I thought that by the time I got home, maybe he had already been executed,' Ms Chen said.

But it appeared that Wo, whose death sentence was approved by China's top court, had not been executed on Thursday as Ms Chen had feared he would.

'The Austrian embassy received a phone call from the (Chinese) Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that we will get a second visitation right after this morning, so that makes us extremely hopeful,' Ms Chen told reporters.

The High Court of Beijing was unavailable for comment when contacted by AFP.

Wo, a 59-year-old medical scientist and a Chinese citizen who previously lived in Austria, was detained in early 2005.

His case has drawn worldwide attention, with Austrian President Heinz Fischer and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealing to Beijing to spare him.

The case deals with leaking state secrets, and Ms Chen said one charge that was listed said he might have talked about senior leaders' health - an act punishable by death in China.

The United States Thursday once again said Wo's arrest and trial fell short of international standards for due process.

'Reportedly Mr Wo did not have access to legal counsel until after the prosecuting officials completed their investigation,' US embassy spokesman Susan Stevenson told AFP.

'His confession was coerced and the charges against him were questionable.' Ms Chen reiterated that she and her sister were not looking for any special privileges for Wo, but they did not believe he should be executed.

'We're asking for the rule of justice. In our view, my father has not received justice,' she said. -- AFP