The U.S. Department of Justice on May 18 indicted a Chinese-American citizen and four Chinese Ministry of State Security officials on suspicion of conspiracy to carry out espionage and transnational repression plans.
The defendants targeted well-known dissidents, pro-democracy activists, etc., including a well-known pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong who was not named.
The five defendants are Wang Shujun, 73, from Queens, New York, USA; Feng He, 49, and Ming Li, 40, from Guangdong, China, also known as "Boss He". , Jie Ji, 50, and Keqing Lu, 61, from Qingdao, Shandong, China.
The indictment alleges that Wang Shujun and four Chinese state security officials hatched a plan to spy on Chinese dissidents and human rights leaders in the United States and abroad at the direction of the Ministry of State Security.
Prosecutors said four Chinese state security officials sought information on specific individuals and groups the Chinese government deems subversive, including pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, advocates of Taiwan independence and Uighur and Tibetan activists.
The Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment on the incident.
However, in March 2022, in response to the news that Wang Shujun and others were accused by the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded to the incident. At that time, he accused the United States of slandering and smearing China for no reason.
Zhao Lijian said, "The allegations of a transnational suppression plan are completely fabricated, and the US's attempt to hype up the China threat theory and smear China's reputation is doomed to fail."
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