Yesterday, the Department of Justice brought indictments against 10 Chinese intelligence personnel and officials for allegedly participating in espionage operations in the US to advance communist China’s strategic objectives.
Three distinct cases allege that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents conspired to forcefully return Chinese dissidents who were living in the United States, obstructed a Chinese telecommunications firm’s criminal investigation, planted pro-China spies in the country, and improperly served as CCP intelligence and security agents. 13 people in total were charged.
“As these cases demonstrate, the government of China sought to interfere with the rights and freedoms of individuals in the United States and to undermine our judicial system that protects those rights,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
“They did not succeed.
“The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by any foreign power to undermine the Rule of Law upon which our democracy is based. We will continue to fiercely protect the rights guaranteed to everyone in our country. And we will defend the integrity of our institutions.”
On October 20, the DOJ disclosed the indictment of seven individuals who were allegedly complicit in a scheme to surveil, harass, and threaten a Chinese national who was a permanent resident of the United States into returning to China. The government released information on two other cases on October 24—one in New York and one in New Jersey.
Tanking A Federal Prosecution
The first case that was made public on October 24 was the purported attempts by two Chinese intelligence agents to thwart a criminal investigation by the United States into a significant Chinese telecommunications firm.
According to the complaint, He Guochen and Wang Zheng are intelligence operatives conducting foreign intelligence activities against the United States upon the direction of the CCP and the telecom firm. It asserts that the attempt has been ongoing since at least 2019.
According to court documents, He and Wang attempted to thwart the prosecution of the firm by bribing a U.S. government employee to steal top-secret documents, including witness lists, information on staff affiliated with the case, and prosecutors’ notes, which “were expected to cause serious damage to the national security of the United States.” According to investigators, these documents were then given to Chinese intelligence agents with higher ranks.
He and Wang compensated the federal worker with more than $41,000 in bitcoin, jewelry, and cash, and directed them to a Las Vegas address that allowed them to exchange the assets into U.S. dollars.
Recruitment Agents
Three more intelligence agents from China’s Ministry of State Security, the government’s top intelligence service, were indicted in the second case that was made public on October 24. They were accused of participating in an initiative to encourage people in the United States to work as CCP agents, including at American universities and the Department of Homeland Security.
The campaign, which began in 2008, is said to be a part of a coordinated campaign to find and enlist Americans to work for the CCP. The agents attempted to bribe or coerce people into providing information, materials, equipment, and assistance to the CCP in ways that would advance China’s intelligence goals and jeopardize U.S. national security, according to the DOJ. They did this by posing as educators with the Institute for International Studies. Prosecutors claimed that the agents also intended to steal fingerprint technology and data and to put an end to civil rights demonstrations that opposed the CCP.
“These indictments of PRC intelligence officers and government officials—for trying to obstruct a U.S. trial of a Chinese company, masquerading as university professors to steal sensitive information, and trying to strong-arm a victim into returning to China—again expose the PRC’s outrageous behavior within our own borders,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
“The FBI, working with our partners and allies, will continue to throw the full weight of our counterintelligence and law enforcement authorities into stopping the Chinese government’s crimes against our businesses, universities, and Chinese-American communities.”
