One American and four Chinese intelligence officers have been charged with spying and conspiring to silence critics of the Chinese government on American soil.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging one U.S. and four Chinese citizens with conspiracy and espionage, and transnational repression charges.
Spying On American Soil
On May 18, the Justice Department charged and identified the American asset and four Chinese intelligence officers.
According to the Department of Justice, the five men participated in an espionage and transnational repression program in the U.S. and abroad.
The five men are: Wang Shujun, of Queens, New York; Feng He, also known as “Boss He,” of Guangdong; Jie Ji, of Qingdao; Ming Li, also known as “Elder Tang and Little Li,” of Guangdong; and Keqing Lu, also known as “Boss Lu,” of Qingdao.
Wang, the American citizen, wasn’t an intelligence officer but rather an asset that was working with the four Chinese intelligence officers.
“We will not tolerate efforts by the PRC or any authoritarian government to export repressive measures to our country,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, who is assigned to the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a press statement.
“These charges demonstrate the Justice Department’s unwavering commitment to hold accountable all those who violate our laws in seeking to suppress dissenting voices within the United States and to prevent our residents from exercising their lawful rights,” Olsen added.
Out of the five individuals, only Wang has been arrested. The four Chinese intelligence officers remain at large—most likely safe in China.
“As alleged, Wang acted as a covert intelligence asset in his own community, spying on and reporting sensitive information on prominent pro-democracy activists and organizations to his co-defendants, who are members of the Chinese government’s Ministry of State Security,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said.
“Today’s indictment exposes and disrupts an operation by the PRC that threatens the safety and freedom of Chinese nationals residing in the United States on account of their pro-democracy beliefs and speech. Our office and our law enforcement partners will remain vigilant to thwart foreign espionage activities aimed at our citizens and residents,” Peace added.
The indictment was unsealed in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York City.
Targeting Dissidents and Activists
According to the Justice Department, Wang was using his position as a reputable academic and author who advocated for a pro-democracy organization to actually collect information on members of the Chinese diaspora who were supporting activism and human rights in China. Wang then passed the information to the Ministry of State Security (MSS), China’s main intelligence agency.
“If anyone doubts how serious the Chinese government is about silencing its critics, this case should eliminate any uncertainty. The Chinese government’s aggressive tactics were once confined to its borders. Now, the PRC is targeting people in the United States and around the world. The FBI and its partners remain committed to combatting transnational repression,” Acting Executive Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. from the FBI’s National Security Branch stated.
1945’s New Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
GhostTomahawk
May 31, 2022 at 12:54 am
They’ve been doing this. Their influence in our media and entertainment has been going on for years. Can’t stop them from doing it if our companies keep gobbling up their money.
Martin
July 1, 2022 at 4:30 pm
The Chinese method of infiltrating Western societies, and above all the economy, is by buying huge amounts of Western companies. Subsequently, very generous bonus programs are offered to important officers and employees of these companies. Everything is kept as a secret as possible, which is safeguarded at every step. This is how China seizes the Western economy “from below”. The purchased companies do not openly show their belonging to the Chinese owner, and the “bought” officers and employees remain confidential, fearing for their profits. The western world is driven by individual profit and no one looks at “the whole picture”. Meanwhile, China is only interested in “the whole picture”. Everything else is the means to achieve the planned goal. Domination.
Him
May 31, 2022 at 1:48 am
The essence of the New Testament gospel message of Jesus Christ is “freedom”. Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 states: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Hence, any form of society that outright rejects the God of the Bible will, in some way, clamp down on freedom.
This is also how to identify false-Christianity, organised-religion masquerading as the gospel, because those false forms too will remove freedom.
Hence, Communist countries like China will fight against freedoms because its root is anti-Christian. China has a state-sanctioned churches, but clamps down on freedoms of all other churches. And you see what China is doing to other religions such as the Uigurs in the West.
Similarly, countries that are rooted in false or man-made-Christianity – as opposed to the gospel of Jesus – will obliterate freedoms.
To clarify: freedom is not the same as anarchy (unbridled ability to do evil). Freedom is the freedom to live a righteous life. For instance, it’s not “freedom” to say a married man is free to sleep around with as many women as he wants. That is anarchy.
That is why the American system cannot operate if the population becomes lawless. The system is not designed to operate where the majority are lawless. Democratic systems were designed to operate for a law-abiding upright people.
This is not to say that American is a fully Christian-government. Instead, it’s more accurate to say that its heritage draws from Judeo-Christian roots, among other influences. And as we are seeing, the further America gets away from its Christian roots, America too will start clamping down on freedoms i.e. cancel-culture will become the norm.
Every form of tyranny that clamps down on freedoms will also clamp down on Christianity. For example, in Russia, you have the government-sanctioned Orthodox Church, but there are terrible sanctions against Protestants and other denominations that are not sanctioned by the Russian rulership. For example, see the Christianity Today article entitled “Russian Evangelicals Penalized Most Under Anti-Evangelism Law”.
Similarly in China you have the government-sanctioned Church, where Xi can control what the pastors preach. But free churches are stamped out.