Xue, 56, was found guilty last month of the murder of An An Liu, 27, whose body was found in the boot of his company car outside the couple's home in Auckland in September 2007.
She had been strangled with a neck tie and a pendant she was wearing.
Security cameras later caught Xue abandoning the couple's daughter, then three years-old, at a Melbourne train station.
He flew on to the United States, where he was caught after more than five months on the run.
After sentencing in the High Court this morning, defence counsel Chris Comeskey said an appeal against conviction was being planned.
"He maintains that he is in no way responsible for her death," Mr Comeskey told journalists outside court.
"It follows from that that we will be having a close look at the file to prepare an appeal for him."
He said the defence's case remained the Ms Liu could have died from a sex act gone wrong with someone else.
He pointed to evidence presented during the three-week trial of unidentified male DNA on a pair of Ms Liu's knickers in the boot and also on the tie.
"The scenario has not changed," he said.
"You know from covering the trial that the deceased was on internet dating sites and she described herself as being quite voracious in her sexual activity."
He said a suggestion by the sentencing judge, Justice Hugh Williams, that Xue might have raised the partial defence of provocation, was "absurd", because Xue "maintains steadfastly that he is not the killer".
After the jury found him guilty, Xue, who has not made any statements to police and did not give evidence at his trial, reacted by shouting "unfair" and "innocent".
Today, he kept quiet and showed no emotion.
Mr Comeskey said the reason for the difference in response was because a jury's verdict always carried an element of uncertainty and surprise, which was less of a case at sentencing.
The defence's indication of an appeal comes despite Justice Williams' comment that the jury had "probably unsurprisingly" come to the verdict that it did.
The judge also said Xue could conceivably have used the partial defence of provocation.
Evidence was presented that Ms Liu married Xue only as a means to stay in New Zealand, and that she did not love him, did not want to have sex with him and didn't want another child with him.
She had also left an ambiguous message on an internet networking site.
"No doubt on legal advice, the partial defence was never raised," Justice Williams said.
While the defence had sought a non-parole period of 10 years, the minimum allowed for a life sentence, the judge took into consideration what he considered to be aggravating features.
These included the cruelty involved in the strangulation, the degree of pre-meditation and Ms Liu's vulnerability.
The couple's child, Qian Xun, also known as Claire, is now living with her maternal grandmother, Xiaoping Liu, in China.
Justice Williams said Mrs Liu, in a de facto witness impact statement, "spoke feelingly of the devastation and enormous sense of loss" that she and her family felt over her daughter's death.
"She also speaks poignantly of the sense of bewilderment and incomprehension on Claire's part of her mother's sudden and continuing absence."
