Sep 16: Yuanjun Tang (唐元雋), a naturalized citizen of the US and resident of Flushing, Queens, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act in the US as an unregistered agent of China.
Tang is a former 
citizen who was imprisoned in China for his activities as a dissident opposing the one-party authoritarian political system controlled by the CCP, including during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. In 2002, Tang defected to Taiwan, and he was subsequently granted political asylum in the US. He has since resided continuously in New York City, where he has regularly participated in events with fellow Chinese dissidents and leads a nonprofit dedicated to promoting democracy in China.
Between at least 2018 and June 2023, Tang acted in the US as an agent of China by gathering information and completing tasks at the direction of Ministry of State Security (MSS). The MSS is responsible for, among other things, the PRC’s foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, espionage, and political security functions.
Specifically, Tang regularly received instructions from and reported to an MSS intelligence officer regarding individuals and groups viewed by China as potentially adverse to China’s interests, including prominent US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents. This included providing the MSS information about specific individuals identified by the MSS as persons of interest, as well as naming, photographing, and recording individuals participating in pro-democracy activities in the US. Tang provided the MSS a range of additional information, such as contact information belonging to immigration lawyers based in New York City and details about the process for gaining political asylum in the US.
Tang accepted monetary payments for his work and traveled at least three times to Macau and mainland China for face-to-face meetings with MSS intelligence officers, during which he submitted to polygraphs and questioning. During one of these meetings, he allowed the MSS to install an application on one of his cellphones to facilitate the instantaneous transmission of photographs and other information from his phone to the MSS and accepted a laptop for use in communicating with the MSS.
Tang used a large number of electronic devices and online services to collect or transmit information on behalf of the MSS. Law enforcement agents recovered specific instructions Tang received from the MSS, including via encrypted methods, as well as photographs, videos, and documents that Tang collected or created for transmission to the MSS. Tang not only provided the MSS information about specific individuals and events but also helped the MSS infiltrate a group chat on an encrypted messaging application used by numerous US-based Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy activists to communicate about pro-democracy issues and express criticism of the government.
Tang pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan 29, 2026.
justice.gov/opa/pr/man-ple
citizen who was imprisoned in China for his activities as a dissident opposing the one-party authoritarian political system controlled by the CCP, including during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. In 2002, Tang defected to Taiwan, and he was subsequently granted political asylum in the US. He has since resided continuously in New York City, where he has regularly participated in events with fellow Chinese dissidents and leads a nonprofit dedicated to promoting democracy in China.
Between at least 2018 and June 2023, Tang acted in the US as an agent of China by gathering information and completing tasks at the direction of Ministry of State Security (MSS). The MSS is responsible for, among other things, the PRC’s foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, espionage, and political security functions.
Specifically, Tang regularly received instructions from and reported to an MSS intelligence officer regarding individuals and groups viewed by China as potentially adverse to China’s interests, including prominent US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents. This included providing the MSS information about specific individuals identified by the MSS as persons of interest, as well as naming, photographing, and recording individuals participating in pro-democracy activities in the US. Tang provided the MSS a range of additional information, such as contact information belonging to immigration lawyers based in New York City and details about the process for gaining political asylum in the US.
Tang accepted monetary payments for his work and traveled at least three times to Macau and mainland China for face-to-face meetings with MSS intelligence officers, during which he submitted to polygraphs and questioning. During one of these meetings, he allowed the MSS to install an application on one of his cellphones to facilitate the instantaneous transmission of photographs and other information from his phone to the MSS and accepted a laptop for use in communicating with the MSS.
Tang used a large number of electronic devices and online services to collect or transmit information on behalf of the MSS. Law enforcement agents recovered specific instructions Tang received from the MSS, including via encrypted methods, as well as photographs, videos, and documents that Tang collected or created for transmission to the MSS. Tang not only provided the MSS information about specific individuals and events but also helped the MSS infiltrate a group chat on an encrypted messaging application used by numerous US-based Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy activists to communicate about pro-democracy issues and express criticism of the government.
Tang pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan 29, 2026.
justice.gov/opa/pr/man-ple
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Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
Jen Salen, Yuanjun Tang’s wife from March 2012 to June 2024, has been working for the Congressional Executive Committee on China (CECC) throughout their marriage. The commission organizes hearings and publishes annual reports advising Congress and the White House on human rights x.com/Byron_Wan/stat…
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