Five people were accused of spying for the Chinese regime on Americans critical of Beijing

Five singled out Chinese regime agents were accused of spying, stalking and harassing Chinese dissidents living in the United States, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

One of the victims is a congressional candidate in New York whose election candidacy was sabotaged by Beijing in which false information about the candidate was shared.

In another case, they are charged with crimes that include planning to destroy the artwork of a Chinese citizen living in Los Angeles and who has criticized the Chinese government. In a third case, a former Chinese academic who helped start a pro-democracy organization in Queens is accused of using his position within the Chinese community in New York City to gather information about prominent activists, dissidents and human rights leaders.

Fan “Frank” Liu and Matthew Ziburis were arrested yesterday in the Eastern District of New York, while Shujun Wang was arrested this morning in the Eastern District of New York. The other two defendants remain at large.

One of the spies, identified as Qiming Lin, is accused in a federal complaint of having contacted a private investigator seeking information about the candidate's phone number, address and vehicle. He later asked the investigator to “dig things up from 1989 until now” in search of flaws against the candidate, as evidence of crimes or other misconduct.

The effort is part of what U.S. officials have identified as a broader strategy by the Chinese regime to locate, silence and threaten dissidents living abroad. In 2020, the Justice Department accused eight people of working on behalf of the Chinese regime in a lobbying campaign aimed at forcing a New Jersey man wanted by Beijing to return to China to face charges.

The investigator Lin is accused of contacting was actually an FBI source, who reported the initial communication to the agents and said he believed Lin was a retired agent from the Chinese Ministry of State Security. In an affidavit, the FBI agent conducting the investigation wrote that, “based on the conduct summarized in this document and my experience and training, I assess that LIN continued to act on behalf of the MSS, even if he ostensibly withdrew.”

The candidate is described in court documents as a Chinese dissident and student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Although the candidate's name is not identified in the complaint, the biographical details in the document match those of Yan Xiong, who announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party for a seat in the New York City Congress in this year's elections.

A phone call to a number listed on their campaign website was answered by a man who identified himself as a friend and said he would pass the message to Yan. An email sent to an address on their website was not immediately returned.

Lin is still at large, authorities said. He faces charges that include conspiracy to commit interstate harassment.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, said the allegations revealed Wednesday “reveal the scandalous and dangerous extremes” that the Chinese secret police have reached to “silence, harass, discredit and spy on US residents their freedom of expression.”

(With information from AP)

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