US charges Chinese dissident with allegedly spying for Beijing
US prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a Chinese dissident living in the United States, accusing him of being an agent of Beijing's intelligence service.
Yuanjun Tang, 67, was arrested on Wednesday in New York City, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice (DOJ). He is accused of spying on Chinese democracy activists and dissidents based in the United States.
Yuanjun Tang, who is now a naturalized US citizen, is also facing charges of making false statements to the FBI.
The DOJ’s statement on Wednesday revealed that Tang 'was charged by criminal complaint with acting and conspiring to act in the United States as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and making materially false statements to the FBI.'
The statement further alleges that from 2018 to 2023, Tang operated as an agent for China under the direction of the country’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), which is China’s primary civilian intelligence agency.
Tang is accused of regularly receiving instructions through email, encrypted chats, and other communication methods from the MSS. He is also alleged to have 'regularly received instructions from and reported to an MSS intelligence officer about individuals and groups considered by the PRC as potentially harmful to its interests, including prominent US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents.'
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