The Secretary-General of the Hu Yaobang Zha ZiYang Memorial Fund, Wang Shujun, was convicted of four charges by the Federal Grand Jury in the Eastern District of New York on Friday. The charges include concealing his role as an agent for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and conspiring to act as one, illegal use of identity information, and providing false statements to law enforcement.
This verdict follows a seven-day trial presided over by Judge Denny Chin of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States. Wang Shujun, 75 years old, and his four accomplices from the Ministry of State Security (MSS) of the CCP – He Feng, 51 years old, Ji Jie, 52, Li Ming, 42, and Lu Keqing, 63, are accused of engaging in espionage activities and transnational suppression operations and are currently fugitives.
The sentencing for Wang Shujun is scheduled for January 9 next year, and he faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.
The Eastern District of New York federal prosecutor, Breon Peace, stated after the ruling, “The plot in this indictment reads like a spy novel, but what is shocking is that the evidence conclusively shows that the defendant was a clandestine agent of the CCP government.” Peace continued, “While posing as a renowned scholar and founder of a democratic organization, Wang Shujun betrayed those who respected and trusted him. When his shameful actions were exposed, he lied to law enforcement, but today’s ruling has revealed the truth of his crimes, and he will have to face the consequences.”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Matthew G. Olsen, remarked, “This defendant disguised himself as a democracy activist, infiltrated a New York advocacy group, and secretly collected and reported sensitive information about its members to the CCP’s intelligence agencies. Today’s ruling demonstrates that those who seek to advance the CCP’s transnational oppressive agenda will be held accountable.”
Robert Wells, Assistant Director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, emphasized, “This conviction highlights the FBI’s commitment to countering espionage activities and bringing to justice those who collect information on American activists for the benefit of China (CCP). Any form of support for transnational oppression is unacceptable, and the FBI will work closely with partners to investigate and prosecute individuals engaged in such activities.”
Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Wang Shujun became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2003 and co-founded the “Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang Memorial Fund” in Flushing, Queens in 2006. The organization’s members primarily consisted of prominent democratic dissidents who were anti-CCP. However, instead of genuinely advocating for democracy in China, Wang Shujun, under the direction of CCP officials, used his position in the memorial fund and influence in the Chinese expatriate community to gather information about well-known activists, scholars, and dissidents and then reported this intelligence to the CCP government.
It was proven during the trial that since 2006, Wang Shujun had been acting under the command and control of his four accomplices from the MSS of the CCP, responsible for foreign intelligence collection. At the instruction of national security, Wang Shujun collected information on individuals and groups deemed subversive by the CCP, including pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, supporters of Taiwan independence, as well as Uighur and Tibetan activists in the U.S. and abroad.
The evidence indicated that during trips to China, Wang Shujun met with national security officials and received instructions through WeChat from his accomplices, and exchanged text messages and documents.
Wang Shujun often recorded the information he gathered in his “diary” emails for the CCP national security’s access. These “diary” entries detailed private conversations with prominent dissenters, as well as the activities of democracy supporters and human rights organizations.
At his residence, law enforcement officers found diary entries written by Wang Shujun for national security officials such as He Feng, Ji Jie, Li Ming, and Lu Keqing. Furthermore, during his work for the CCP national security, Wang Shujun possessed phone numbers and contact information of Chinese dissidents.
Wang Shujun made significant false statements to federal law enforcement agencies, denying any contact with CCP officials or involvement with national security. During three separate interviews between 2017 and 2021, Wang Shujun repeatedly denied or downplayed his interactions with CCP intelligence personnel.
In a 2019 interview at Kennedy International Airport in New York with an FBI special agent upon his return from China, Wang Shujun falsely claimed that he had never contacted anyone from the CCP government or had any contact information from the CCP government.
The case of Wang Shujun raises questions about the thin line between democracy activists and spies, shedding light on the complexities of international espionage and the CCP’s efforts to infiltrate dissident groups worldwide.