US accuses two US citizens of spying in New York
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Two US-Chinese nationals are accused of allegedly being foreign actors on US soil.
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A six-story glass facade building, center, is alleged to be the site of a foreign police outpost for China in New York's Chinatown, Monday, April 17, 2023. (AP)
Two men have been arrested and charged for allegedly conspiring to act as foreign agents and obstructing justice according to an announcement by the US Department of Justice, after having unsealed the complaint on Monday.
The two men, the US DoJ claimed, played a significant role in running, on behalf of the Chinese government, a secret police station in Manhattan. While Canada, the UK, and the Netherlands have also accused China of operating foreign police stations in their countries, Beijing has strongly denied the accusations.
The two men who were arrested, “Harry” Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping, aged 61 and 59 respectively, are both US citizens. The DoJ has accused the pair of setting up shop in Manhattan's Chinatown "to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government.”
The Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's National Security Division, Matthew G. Olsen, claimed “The PRC, through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government,” adding, “The PRC’s actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression.”
The complaint claims that the office closed down after members of the organization were informed of the FBI investigation following a raid on the facility this past fall.
The outposts were previously presented by China as volunteer-run businesses created to assist Chinese people living overseas with administrative procedures, including renewing their Chinese driver's licenses.
The Fuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, a division of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, is alleged to have given the two individuals instructions on how to set up the office, according to the DOJ.
China tracks US warship through Taiwan Strait, maintains 'high alert'
While worried about alleged foreign actors on US soil, Washington, in yet another deliberate provocation, sent a naval cruiser through the Taiwan Strait under the pretext of "freedom of navigation."
The USS Milius guided-missile destroyer "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit" on April 17, the US Navy said, in the first US operation in the waters separating Taiwan from mainland China since January.
The US Navy said the Milius had sailed "through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law."
Simultaneously, China confirmed it had tracked an American warship that sailed through the Taiwan Strait, adding that the United States had "publicly hyped up" its transit.
Colonel Shi Yi, a PLA spokesperson, said, "Theater troops remain on a high level of alert at all times and will resolutely defend national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability."
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