Shujun Wang (Chinese: 王书君; born 1949)[1] is a Chinese-American historian.[2] He was arrested in 2022 suspected of espionage and convicted on August 6, 2024, for acting as a foreign agent on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).[3]
| Shujun Wang | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 王书君 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 王書君 | ||||||
| |||||||
Career and espionage investigation
editWang was born in Qingdao, Shandong, China, and became a professor at Qingdao College of Social Sciences, where he authored works on Chinese military history.[4]
In 1994, Wang moved to New York to become a teacher after having taught at Chinese universities, and became a U.S. citizen.[5] Beginning in September 1994, Wang was a visiting scholar at Columbia University for two years.[4] He later was one of the founders of the Hu Yaobang Zhao Ziyang Memorial Foundation based in Queens, an organization that commemorated the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and was named after two Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials.[5]
Wang was arrested in 2022 and charged with acting as a foreign agent for the MSS. Four other Chinese officials were charged alongside him, but remain at large. According to U.S. officials, Wang posed as a pro-democracy, anti-CCP activist to gain information on dissidents which were then relayed to the Chinese government.[6] Federal prosecutors described Wang as having a persona which was tailored to appeal to advocates of Hong Kong independence, Taiwanese independence, and sympathizers of Uyghur and Tibetan rights.[2] Wang acknowledged that he gathered information on pro-democracy advocates at the request of the MSS, but claimed that he did not provide valuable, non-public information.[6] Wang passed information to officials at the Chinese consulate and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.[7] In August 2024, Wang was convicted by a New York jury on four counts of acting and conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government; he had pleaded not guilty.[8][9]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Zraick, Karen (2024-07-30). "Who Is Shujun Wang, the Queens Man Accused of Spying for China?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2024-08-07. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- ^ a b Cohen, Luc (August 7, 2024). "Chinese academic convicted of acting as foreign agent in US". Reuters. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
- ^ Cadell, Cate (2024-08-07). "Chinese American scholar convicted of spying on dissidents for Beijing". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2024-08-07. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- ^ a b McKelvey, Tara; Tang, Jane (May 9, 2024). "Historian. Activist. Spy?". Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on May 18, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
- ^ a b "Chinese American man convicted in US of spying on dissidents for China". The Guardian. Associated Press. 2024-08-06. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2024-08-13. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- ^ a b Peltz, Jennifer (August 6, 2024). "Man known as pro-democracy activist convicted in US of giving China intel on dissidents". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2024-08-07. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- ^ Tang, Jane; McKelvey, Tara (August 13, 2024). "Five things the Shujun Wang trial revealed about Chinese espionage". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
- ^ "Man known as pro-democracy activist convicted in U.S. of giving China intel on dissidents". NBC News. 2024-08-07. Archived from the original on 2024-08-07. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- ^ "Chinese-born academic convicted in US of acting as covert Chinese agent". The Business Times. 2024-08-07. Archived from the original on 2024-08-13. Retrieved 2024-08-07.