U.S. prosecutors have filed prison prices in opposition to a Chinese language dissident dwelling in the US, accusing him of being an agent for Beijing’s intelligence companies.
Tang Yuanjun, 67, was arrested in New York Metropolis on Wednesday, the U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ) stated in an announcement.
He’s alleged to have spied on Chinese language democracy activists and dissidents dwelling in the US.
Mr. Tang, now a naturalized U.S. citizen, was additionally charged with making false statements to the FBI.
The BBC couldn’t instantly determine Mr Tang’s lawyer.
The U.S. Division of Justice stated in an announcement on Wednesday that Mr. Tang “is topic to a prison indictment charging him with appearing and conspiring to behave as an unregistered agent of the Folks’s Republic of China (PRC) in the US and making materials falsehoods to the FBI.” assertion”.
It additionally claims that between 2018 and 2023, he served as a Chinese language agent underneath orders from the Ministry of State Safety, China’s most important civilian intelligence company.
Mr Tang is accused of commonly receiving directions from the company by way of electronic mail, encrypted chats and different communications.
It’s alleged that he “commonly receives directions from and experiences to NSA intelligence officers relating to people and teams deemed by the Folks’s Republic of China to be probably detrimental to the pursuits of the Folks’s Republic of China, together with outstanding Chinese language pro-democracy activists residing in the US folks and dissidents.
“He additionally had at the very least three face-to-face conferences with Ministry of Nationwide Safety intelligence officers and helped the Ministry of Nationwide Safety infiltrate group chats on an encrypted messaging app utilized by many Chinese language dissidents and pro-democracy activists to speak about democracy query and specific criticism of the federal government of the Folks’s Republic of China,” the Ministry of Justice claimed.
He apparently agreed to work for Chinese language intelligence in an effort to permit his household to dwell in mainland China, BBC US information accomplice CBS stated, citing US prosecutors.
Mr. Tang was imprisoned in China for opposing the Chinese language authorities, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.
In keeping with CBS, he protested in opposition to the Chinese language Communist Get together in the course of the 1989 Tiananmen Sq. demonstrations.
The Justice Division stated he efficiently defected to Taiwan round 2002 and was later granted political asylum in the US.
