China brushes off US spy case, Sierra Leone and Xinjiang Beijing dismisses US espionage accusations against an alleged Chinese intelligence agent who was extradited from Belgium as made "out of thin air" -- upping the ante in a case likely to exacerbate tensions between the global powers. At a regular press briefing, China's Foreign Ministry also hits back at criticism of the country's just-scrapped airport scheme in Sierra Leone and accuses US of seeking to 'disturb' its Xinjiang policies after a US congressional report said Beijing's mass internment of Muslim minorities may constitute "crimes against humanity". IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES