China's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a Chinese national reported as being held hostage by Islamic State insurgents matches the "characteristics" of a Chinese citizen who has gone overseas.
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the comments at a regular news briefing.
Earlier reports said Beijing was attempting to verify reports that a Chinese citizen had been taken hostage by the Islamic State extremist group, as IS claimed it had kidnapped a Chinese and a Norwegian and demanded an unspecified ransom for their release in an issue of its English-language magazine Dabiq.
