• 11/26/2024

Former democracy activist Tang Yuanjun charged in US with spying for China

Hong Kong Free Press

Tang Yuanjun charges with spying

A New York resident who took part in China’s 1989 democracy movement was charged Wednesday with operating as an illegal agent for the Chinese government in the United States, the justice department said.

China flag patriotism National Day 2023
A Chinese flag in Hong Kong on October 1, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Tang Yuanjun, 67, swam to a Taiwan-controlled island more than 20 years ago before being granted political asylum by the United States.

He was charged on Wednesday with acting as an agent for the People’s Republic of China in the United States from 2018 to 2023, the justice department said in a statement.

Former democracy activist

Tang completed “tasks at the direction of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), which is the PRC’s principal civilian intelligence agency,” the department said.

Tang provided MSS officials with information on “individuals and groups viewed by the PRC as potentially adverse” to its interests, including “prominent US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents”.

FBI Edgar Hoover Building
FBI Edgar Hoover building. Photo: Wikimedia commons.

He is also accused of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for claiming he no longer had access to an email account used to communicate with his MSS handler.

He was arrested on Wednesday and was scheduled to appear before a district judge.

Asked by AFP about the case on Thursday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said it was “not familiar with the specifics you have raised”.

See also: Chinese-born academic convicted in US of spying for Beijing by ‘masquerading as pro-democracy activist’

Tang, a native of China’s northeastern Jilin province, had been sentenced to 20 years for taking part in the 1989 democracy movement that resulted in the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.

He was released after serving eight years.

Tang remained active in advocating for democracy in China and was repeatedly detained, questioned and harassed by the authorities before fleeing to Taiwan, according to a Taipei-based rights group that helped with his asylum bid in 2002.

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https://hongkongfp.com/2024/08/22/former-democracy-activist-tang-yuanjun-charged-in-us-with-spying-for-china/