A Canadian citizen has been indicted on charges of spying and stealing China's state secrets, Chinese authorities said on Thursday.

Kevin Garratt has been indicted by prosecutors in Dandong, Northeast China's Liaoning Province. The case will be tried at the Dandong Intermediate People's Court at an unknown date.

Dandong is a city on the China-North Korea border.

During the investigation, Chinese authorities also found evidence which implicates Garratt in accepting tasks from Canadian espionage agencies to gather intelligence in China.

Suspected of getting involved in activities that undermine China's national security, Kevin Garratt and his wife Julia Garratt were put under residential surveillance by the national security agency of Dandong, Liaoning Province on August 4, 2014, China's foreign ministry said in February, 2015.

Kevin Garratt was held in criminal detention for suspected theft of and prying into state secrets, and Julia Garratt was released from custody on bail on February 3, 2015, according to foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei.

According to previous media reports, the couple ran a coffee shop on the Chinese border with North Korea before they were detained.

They have been living in China since 1984, Canadian newspaper The Global and Mail said earlier.