"It's a better way for the party to exert its control, " Joshua Rosenzweig explains.

BBC: China leaders reassert control over security portfolio

"Nine years from now, if she can convince the prison that she is suffering from a serious illness, there would be a legal basis to release her, " said Joshua Rosenzweig, an expert on China's criminal-justice system at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

WSJ: Sentence of China's Gu Expected to Be Reduced

"Her case has thrown existing reform proposals into relief and it has also put into relief the trend of the public having a greater acceptance of removing nonviolent crimes from capital punishment, " said Joshua Rosenzweig, Hong Kong-based senior research manager for the Dui Hua Foundation.

WSJ: China Rejects Millionaire's Death Sentence