"Yuanjun Tang, 68, had long been an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party, joining monthly protests outside the country's Manhattan consulate and founding a pro-democracy nonprofit in Flushing, Queens, where he has lived since 2002. But as he publicly advocated against his homeland's government, Tang was quietly acting on orders from Beijing's intelligence service to collect information on his fellow Chinese American activists, according to a guilty plea entered Tuesday."
"Federal prosecutors, who brought charges against Tang last August, believe he accepted the tasks in order to gain approval to visit family members in China. An emailed inquiry to his attorney was not returned. "Tang's betrayal of the ideals of the US to help the Chinese government repress pro-democracy activists goes against the very values he claimed to promote," FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia said in a statement."
Yuanjun Tang, 68, pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of China's intelligence service by collecting information on fellow Chinese American activists in New York. Tang publicly criticized the Chinese Communist Party and founded a Flushing pro-democracy nonprofit while allegedly taking orders from Beijing to photograph and record local protests and to provide lists of immigration attorneys assisting dissidents. Federal prosecutors allege he accepted assignments to secure permission to visit family in China. Tang was granted asylum in the U.S. in 2002 after escaping a Chinese prison where he had been held for 12 years for Tiananmen-related protests.
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