Information
On Tuesday, a Chinese-American academic, Wang Shujun, was convicted in the U.S. of illegally gathering information for the Chinese government. Wang, 76, was found guilty on four counts, including acting as a foreign agent without notifying the U.S. attorney general and lying to authorities. He faces up to 25 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for January next year. Wang, who had emigrated to New York in 1994 and later became a naturalised citizen, had portrayed himself as a proponent of democracy in China and an opponent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to gain the trust of dissidents.
Federal prosecutors revealed that Wang had been corresponding with Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, Taiwan independence supporters, and campaigners for the Uyghur and Tibetan minority groups in western China. He spied on these activists and shared information with China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS). Wang saved email drafts containing information on conversations, meetings, and plans of various Chinese government critics. Chinese intelligence officials accessed these drafts using a shared password. He also sent encrypted messages detailing upcoming pro-democracy events and meetings with prominent Hong Kong dissidents. Despite initially denying contact with the MSS, Wang later admitted to providing information to intelligence officials, insisting it was public domain information. His defence lawyer argued that Wang was trying to win support for the pro-democracy movement, not acting as a foreign agent.
Source: AP, Reuters
So what
For a long time, western intelligence seemed to be hesitant to publicly charge Chinese spies over fears of it causing a strain on diplomatic relations. However, now that relations are already strained, the US and other Western nations are more willing to publicly call out China for their aggressive intelligence operations, particularly targeting dissidents. Regardless, it is unlikely that China will slow down in its efforts, as it is likely very willing to sacrifice sources and agents to gain intelligence.
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