Chinese Dissident In New York Admits Spying For Beijing

Yuanjun Tang, a 68-year-old naturalised U.S. citizen and prominent figure in New York's Chinese dissident community, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government. The plea, entered in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, marks a stunning reversal for Tang, who had publicly criticised the Chinese Communist Party for decades while leading pro-democracy efforts in the U.S. Federal prosecutors allege that Tang's covert activities were motivated by a desire to secure approval for visiting family members in China, compromising the very activists he once championed.

Tang's journey to the U.S. began with his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, where he was imprisoned for 12 years before escaping to Taiwan and eventually gaining asylum in America in 2002. Settling in Flushing, Queens, he founded the Chinese Democracy Party Eastern U.S. Headquarters Inc., organising monthly protests outside China's Manhattan consulate and advocating for human rights.

However, according to court documents, Tang began collaborating with China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) around 2018, receiving instructions via email, encrypted chats, and in-person meetings to monitor dissidents. He photographed and recorded events, including a 2023 Manhattan vigil for Tiananmen victims, compiled lists of immigration attorneys aiding asylum seekers, and even infiltrated a private group chat used by pro-democracy activists to share criticisms of Beijing.

The case underscores the U.S. Justice Department's crackdown on China's "transnational repression" campaign, which targets overseas dissidents through harassment, surveillance, and infiltration. Tang's guilty plea follows a series of high-profile prosecutions: In 2023, Chinese American scholar Shujun Wang was convicted for spying on Hong Kong protesters, Taiwanese independence supporters, and Uyghur and Tibetan activists. The year before, two men were charged with operating a secret Chinese police outpost in Manhattan's Chinatown.

These efforts aim to protect free speech and association from foreign interference, as FBI Assistant Director Christopher G. Raia emphasised, stating Tang's actions "violated our nation's sovereignty." Tang faces up to five years in prison at his January sentencing, with no response from his attorney to enquiries.

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Tang's duplicity has reverberated through the dissident community, evoking shock and betrayal among those who viewed him as a mentor. In a 2018 New York Times interview, Tang himself hinted at the disillusionment of exile, remarking that bold words fade over time: "In the first year you speak brave, bold words. In the second, nonsense. By the third, you have nothing to say at all."

His arrest in August 2024, following an FBI investigation, prompted the China Democracy Party to expel him and sparked discussions about trust within activist circles. As U.S. authorities continue probing Beijing's global reach, Tang's case serves as a stark reminder of the personal costs and vulnerabilities faced by those fleeing authoritarian regimes.

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