US charges former democracy activist with spying for China
Al Jazeera
The New York resident fled China after being imprisoned for participating in activities that led to Tiananmen protests.
United States prosecutors have charged a New York resident who took part in the Chinese pro-democracy movement that resulted in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown with spying for China.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) said on Wednesday that Yuanjun Tang was charged with acting as an agent for China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) from 2018 to 2023, and “making materially false statements” to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Yuanjun had provided the MSS, the country’s principal intelligence agency, with information on “individuals and groups” viewed as “potentially adverse” to China’s interests, including “prominent US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents”, the DoJ said in a statement.
The 67-year-old had used “a particular email account, encrypted chats, text messages and audio and video calls” to relay information to his handler, said the statement. He had later “falsely claimed” to FBI officials that he was no longer able to access the email account.
Yuanjun, a native of China’s northeastern Jilin province, had been sentenced by the Chinese authorities to 20 years in prison for taking part in the 1989 democracy movement that resulted in the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, serving eight years before being released.
