U.S. Historian Living In New York Was Really Secret Spy For China

A New York historian was found guilty of spying for China.

One top official said it felt like "the plot of a spy novel.

Queens Resident Convicted of Acting as a Covert Chinese Agent

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Shujun Wang, an academic and author who helped start a pro-democracy organization in Queens that opposes the current communist regime in China, was convicted by a federal jury in Brooklyn on all four counts of an indictment charging him with acting and conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the U.S. Attorney General, criminal possession identification and making false statements to law enforcement.

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“The indictment could have been the plot of a spy novel, but the evidence is shockingly real that the defendant was a secret agent for the Chinese government,” United States Attorney Peace stated. “Posing as a well-known academic and founder of a pro-democracy organization, Wang was willing to betray those who respected and trusted him. When confronted with his shameful conduct, the defendant lied to law enforcement, but today’s verdict revealed the truth of his crimes and now he will face the consequences.”

Officials said Wang posed as a pro-democracy advocate in New York but was really working for China's Ministry of State Security since 2006, collecting information on critics of the Chinese government.

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“This defendant infiltrated a New York-based advocacy group by masquerading as a pro-democracy activist all while covertly collecting and reporting sensitive information about its members to the PRC’s intelligence service,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said. “Today’s verdict demonstrates that those who would seek to advance the Chinese government’s agenda of transnational repression will be held accountable.”

4 Co-Defendants Remain At Large

Wang’s alleged co-defendants in the espionage and transnational repression scheme, Feng He, Jie Ji, Ming Li and Keqing Lu are officials from China’s Ministry of State Security. All four remain at large. Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call police.

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The FBI says this case shows the FBI's dedication to finding spies and protecting U.S. citizens.

“This conviction underscores the FBI’s commitment to countering espionage schemes by holding those accountable who collect US activist information for the benefit of China,” Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI’s National Security Branch said. “Any support for transnational repression is unacceptable, and the FBI works diligently with its partners to seek out and bring to justice those who support such activities.”