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US prosecutors have filed felony fees towards a Chinese dissident dwelling within the US, accusing him of being an agent of Beijing’s intelligence service.
Yuanjun Tang, 67, was arrested on Wednesday within the New York City, the US division of justice (DOJ) mentioned in a press release.
He is alleged to have spied on US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents.
Mr Tang, now a naturalised US citizen, can also be accused of constructing false statements to the FBI.
The BBC couldn’t instantly establish a lawyer for Mr Tang.
In Wednesday’s assertion, the DOJ mentioned Mr Tang “was charged by felony criticism with appearing and conspiring to behave within the United States as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and making materially false statements to the FBI”.
It additionally alleged that between 2018 and 2023 he acted as China’s agent on the orders of the nation’s ministry of state safety (MSS) – China’s principal civilian intelligence company.
Mr Tang is accused of commonly receiving directions by way of e mail, encrypted chats and different technique of communications from the company.
It can also be alleged that he “commonly obtained directions from and reported to an MSS intelligence officer relating to people and teams considered by the PRC as probably opposed to the PRC’s pursuits, together with distinguished US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents.”
“He additionally travelled at the very least 3 times for face-to-face conferences with MSS intelligence officers and helped the MSS infiltrate a gaggle chat on an encrypted messaging software utilized by quite a few PRC dissidents and pro-democracy activists to speak about pro-democracy points and specific criticism of the PRC authorities,” the DOJ alleges.
He apparently agreed to work for China’s intelligence company in a bid to see his household dwelling in mainland China, in keeping with CBS, the BBC’s US information accomplice, which cites US prosecutors.
According to courtroom paperwork, Mr Tang was imprisoned in China for opposing the Chinese authorities.
He protested towards the Chinese Communist Party in the course of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, CBS studies.
In about 2002, he managed to defect to Taiwan, and was later granted political asylum within the US, the DOJ mentioned.
