US charges 67-year-old with acting as unregistered agent for China

ISTANBUL

A 67-year-old US citizen has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent for China and making false statements to the FBI, the US Justice Department announced on Wednesday.

According to a criminal complaint, Yuanjun Tang allegedly worked for China's State Security Ministry between 2018 and June 2023, reporting on individuals and groups considered potentially adverse to Chinese interests, including US-based Chinese "democracy activists and dissidents." The ministry is the China's principal civilian intelligence agency.

“As alleged, for years, Yuanjun Tang used his position as a leader among pro-democracy activists in the U.S. to collect information for the Chinese government," said Damian Williams, United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.

As of 1000GMT, China has not commented on the news.

The Justice Department said Tang falsely claimed to the FBI that he could no longer access an email account used to communicate with his ministry handler.

Tang faces charges of conspiring to act as a foreign agent without notification, acting as an unregistered foreign agent, and making false statements, with maximum prison sentences of 5-10 years.

Court documents said Tang, a former Chinese citizen, was previously imprisoned in China for dissident activities. He is also said to have taken part in Tiananmen Square protests, a student-led democracy movement in China in 1989 that later turned bloody.

He defected to Taiwan in 2002 before being granted political asylum in the US. Tang has since lived in New York City, taking part in dissident events and leading a nonprofit focused on promoting democracy in China.