Wang Shujun in an undated photo. Wang, secretary-general of a Queens-based Chinese pro-democracy group, was arrested in New York City on March 16 on charges relating to acting as an agent for China. (The Epoch Times)
A
prominent Chinese American dissident was recently arrested in New York City,
accused by the FBI of working as an informant for Chinese intelligence for 17
years.
Wang
Shujun, 73, of Queens, was one of five defendants charged in
separate cases unsealed on March 16, that federal prosecutors said were part of
the communist regime’s broader campaign to harass, intimidate, and spy on
overseas Chinese dissidents.
Two of
the defendants, including Wang, allegedly worked for the Ministry of State
Security (MSS), the Chinese regime’s top intelligence agency. In
recent years, individuals associated with the agency, including hackers, spies,
and company insiders, have
been exposed by U.S. authorities for espionage activities.
Wang is
a well-known figure in dissident circles and the Chinese diaspora community in
New York City. He was among a group of dissidents who co-founded the
Queens-based Chinese pro-democracy nonprofit Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang
Memorial Foundation in 2006. He served as secretary-general of the foundation,
named after two former reformist leaders of the Chinese regime.
According
to a criminal complaint unsealed on March 16, Wang, who was once a professor in
China, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2003. Between January 2016 and
August 2021, he spied on his fellow dissidents and worked as a mole in the
foundation, the court document said. He reported to four different MSS
handlers, and at least one Hong Kong pro-democracy activist whom he provided
information on was subsequently arrested by Chinese authorities.
Hu
Ping, who was a co-founder of the foundation, told The Epoch Times that he was
not surprised that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
was infiltrating the overseas Chinese pro-democracy movement, given that the
regime could exploit the openness of American society.
“Surely
the Chinese Communist Party would send its agents or try to turn one of us into
an informant. Either way, it is extremely likely,” Hu said.
According
to Hu, Wang isn’t the only one and there are more like him.
“They
play different roles, with some intentionally trying to sing a different tune
at some organizations with the aim of fomenting discord,” Hu explained.
To the
best of his knowledge, Hu said he is aware that some people in pro-democracy
circles in the United States are CCP agents, but the FBI has not detected them.
He
added that the Chinese regime would offer money or business opportunities in
China as incentives to induce individuals into working as agents for Beijing.
Hu is
also the honorary editor-in-chief of New York-based Beijing Spring magazine, an
online political publication.
The Alleged Plot
Wang
began providing information to the MSS “at least in or about 2005” according to
the complaint. However, the court document only detailed his alleged crimes
between 2016 and 2021.
Two of
his handlers were from the state security bureau in the northeastern Chinese
city of Qingdao, where he used to be a local college professor before moving to
the United States, the complaint said. The other two handlers worked for MSS’s
bureau in southern China’s Guangdong Province.
He
communicated with his handlers through either face-to-face meetings while he
was visiting China, messaging apps, or emails in which he wrote up information
he collected into “diaries.”
“These
‘diaries’ included details about Wang’s private conversations with prominent
dissidents as well as the activities of pro-democracy activists and human
rights organizations,” the complaint said.
One of
the diaries Wang wrote dated March 15, 2016, when he shared his “analysis” of
possible protests during the upcoming U.S. visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“Wang
provided the name of the individual planning these demonstrations and shared
another individual’s assessment that the planners might not be as ‘aggressive
as last year,’” according to the complaint.
Xi
attended the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on April 1, 2016. A
year later, he met with former U.S. President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in
Florida.
A large
part of Wang’s efforts to collect information concerned a Hong Kong politician
and solicitor. The complaint did not reveal the name of the individual but said
he was the former chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic
Democratic Movements of China, the former chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic
Party, and a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
The
court document also said the Hong Kong politician was arrested on
April 18, 2020, before he was given two concurrent jail sentences of
18 months on May 28, 2021.
These
descriptions clearly indicated that Wang’s target was Albert Ho, who was among
four Hong Kong pro-democracy activists sentenced for their roles in an
unauthorized protest in
Hong Kong on Oct. 1, 2019.
Wang
wrote in one undated diary about the Hong Kong politician’s views on whether
the city’s chief executive would be reelected.
The
complaint noted that Wang’s effort to provide the MSS information on the Hong
Kong politician “likely represented only a portion of a multifaceted effort by
the PRC [People’s Republic of China] government to track [Ho].”
Disbelief
Wu
Zuolai, a U.S.-based Chinese scholar who survived the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre,
believed Wang made an unwise decision when he allegedly agreed to become a CCP
agent.
“You
have already moved to the United States, enjoying the many benefits of living
in a free society. Yet you are still working for the CCP,” Wu told The Epoch
Times, referring to Wang.
“If the
United States is brought down, and the United States becomes like China, what
would this world become?”
The MSS
looks for certain types of individuals in their hunt for possible agents.
According to Wu, the agency would look for people who enjoy a certain social
status in Europe or the United States, and offer them certain benefits such as
the willingness to take care of their troubles back in mainland China.
For
example, if a targeted individual is on the verge of losing his house in China
due to forceful demolition, the MSS might intervene and have the local security
bureau stop the house from being torn down, Wu said. By doing the individual a
favor, the person is likely to reciprocate and provide the information that the
MSS is seeking, he added.
According
to Wu, the MSS also sees Chinese nationals taking up positions abroad as
potential agents.
Justin
Yu, former president of the New York-based community group Chinese Consolidated
Benevolent Association, echoed Wu’s assessment, saying those who have chosen to
live American should not do what Wang has allegedly done.
“We
must defend America and refuse to be the pawn of foreign political parties to
disrupt America,” Yu told The Epoch Times.
Wu has
been charged with acting as an agent of the PRC government, criminal use of
means of identification, and making materially false statements in connection
with his participation in a transnational repression scheme orchestrated by the
MSS, according to the DOJ.
If
convicted, Wang could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Chang Chun and Cai Rong contributed to this
report.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/prominent-nyc-chinese-democracy-activist-spied-for-communist-china-doj_4349444.html
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