The US arrested 63-year-old Litang Liang on charges of acting as an agent of the Chinese government, the Justice Department (DoJ) said on Monday.
On the same day, a court in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou said it had sentenced a 78-year-old US citizen, John Shing-wan Leung, to life in prison for espionage.
US Arrests Chinese Government Agent
Liang, a resident of Brighton, Massachusetts, was arrested on 9 May for providing information about Chinese dissidents in the US to China’s government.
According to the DoJ, Liang passed information about “Boston-area residents, organisations and dissidents to PRC (People’s Republic of China) government officials” between 2018 and 2022, “potentially placing people at risk here in Massachusetts and abroad. ”
Among other activities, Liang organised a counter-protest against pro-democracy dissidents, provided photographs of, and information about, dissidents to Beijing, and provided the names of potential recruits to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
“We will not tolerate the PRC’s efforts to interfere with public discourse and threaten civic participation in the United States,” Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General of the DoJ’s National Security Division, said.
“This case demonstrates, once again, the lengths that the PRC government, including its Ministry of Public Security, will go to target people in the US who exercise their rights to speak out against the PRC,” he added.
#UPDATE China sentences US citizen to life in prison for espionage, court says.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 15, 2023
John Shing-Wan Leung, an American passport holder and Hong Kong permanent resident, "was found guilty of espionage, sentenced to life imprisonment, deprived of political rights for life", a Suzhou… pic.twitter.com/dwaqOtuxvR
If convicted, Liang could face up to 10 years in prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government, and an additional five years if convicted of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government.
Tit for Tat Move?
A court in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou said it had sentenced 78-year-old Leung to life in prison for espionage on the same day that Liang’s arrest was announced in the US.
Leung, a permanent resident in Hong Kong, “was found guilty of espionage, sentenced to life imprisonment [and] deprived of political rights for life,” a statement from the Intermediate People’s Court, posted on the WeChat social media platform said.
It is unclear where Leung was residing at the time of his arrest.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Beijing said the embassy was aware of the situation and stressed that the State Department “has no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas.”
Meanwhile, at a news conference in Washington DC on Monday, the State Department declined to comment on the case citing privacy concerns.