The trial of Wang Shujun, the former secretary general of the Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang Memorial Foundation, who is charged with acting as a foreign agent, has entered its third day of proceedings. On July 31, the court replayed a secret recording made by undercover FBI agent Chen in July 2021 of Wang Shujun, which was then subjected to questioning by the defense lawyers.
In the recording, Wang Shujun explained to Agent Chen about the two diaries he had written: the “Wang Diary” was intended for the director of the Qingdao Public Security Bureau, while the “William Diary” was for He Feng, the director of the Guangdong Public Security Bureau, with updates two to three times a month.
Wang Shujun mentioned that if he were caught and questioned, he would claim that the contents of these diaries had been published in newspapers. He explained that he typically sent out previews of his activities to newspapers two days in advance for early release, akin to advertising.
Starting from 2015, he began sharing the “William Diary” with He Feng, stating that the content of the two diaries was essentially the same, with the “William Diary” including information about Hong Kong due to He Feng’s responsibilities in Guangzhou, which oversaw Hong Kong affairs. Additionally, about 90% of the content in the two diaries was similar.
Wang Shujun also mentioned that he was friends with a candidate for Chief Executive of Hong Kong, and He Feng requested him to have dinner with the candidate, gather information, and report back. He would record the conversations in his diary.
The defense lawyers raised issues regarding the recording evidence, including Wang Shujun’s reaction when asked about deleting emails and his view that there was “nothing secret” about the diary contents, mentioning that the purpose of writing the diary was to potentially write a book for the Hu-Zhao Foundation in the future.
The next witness to testify in court was FBI agent Garrett, who mentioned that prior to Wang Shujun’s arrest on March 16, 2022, he had three meetings with him.
The first meeting took place in a restaurant in Flushing in August 2017, with a Chinese translator present. When asked about any contacts with the Chinese consulate or Ministry of State Security, Wang Shujun categorically denied any such connections, stating that he avoided contact with any Chinese officials unless necessary for a visa to return to China. He also mentioned that while the Hu-Zhao Foundation supported democracy, it was not openly against the communist party. Therefore, he would often visit China every year, either to Hong Kong to see his daughter and son-in-law, or back to his hometown in Qingdao.
The second meeting occurred on April 12, 2019, at JFK Airport. Wang Shujun had just returned from China and was intercepted by customs officials at the airport. Officials found contact information for several Chinese officials in his pocketbook, including Dong Hairong, director of the consulate general’s office, Chen Chunlei from the Qingdao Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, and He Feng and Li Ming from the Guangdong State Security Bureau, as well as officials from Qingdao State Security Bureau. When warned that making false statements could lead to charges, Wang Shujun said he didn’t care.
During the search of his belongings, officials found a handwritten document listing approximately 64 names and contact information of democracy activists, many in the US, and information about former Hong Kong Federation of Students chairman Alex Chow.
The third meeting took place on August 11, 2021, two weeks after Agent Chen conducted a “sting operation,” at Wang Shujun’s residence in Connecticut. Agent Garrett informed Wang Shujun that they recently “caught a little spy” who had visited Wang’s residence, leading to the FBI’s inquiry. Initially denying, Wang Shujun changed his statement after seeing a photo, claiming he only had a brief conversation with the individual and later changed it again, stating the person came to help with renovations at his home.
Despite the six-and-a-half-hour meeting, Agent Garrett stated that Wang Shujun was evasive and non-committal, denying knowledge of He Feng, citing “really don’t know, not familiar,” until contact information was shown on a list, prompting him to admit acquaintance with He Feng and acknowledging they had traveled together.
Wang Shujun stated that he was introduced to He Feng through a friend who does business in Guangzhou. They initially had dinner in Hong Kong, and later when he and his daughter visited Guangzhou, He Feng and Li Ming drove them to Heyuan City. When He Feng visited Hong Kong, Wang’s daughter would also give him a red envelope.
When asked about the “Director” listed in his contacts, Wang Shujun described him as “just a junior officer in an office. Calling him director was just to please him, they are actually just employees.” He explained that the Director was his nephew’s classmate and had been his neighbor when he was a student at Qingdao No. 2 High School.
He mentioned that he started sharing diaries with the Director in 2006, the same year when the Hu-Zhao Foundation was established. The Director was interested in the Foundation’s meeting information and hoped for detailed meeting arrangements.
Segments of the “Wang Diary” were once again shown in court, including an entry on November 21, 2016, mentioning that the board of the Hu-Zhao Foundation planned to hold a summary of the work in 2016 and deployment for the next year on November 26, 2016.
In a reply on WeChat, the Director said to Wang: “This meeting is crucial. First, make sure you contact the Taiwanese surname Zhao and try to participate in their affairs, then we may be able to accomplish the task arranged by Boss Lu. Next, we need to focus and implement several tasks communicated via WeChat earlier…It is important to investigate Mr. Zhao’s detailed capital utilization and the relationships between A-Tao and Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongolians. Wishing you fruitful results so we can request more support from the boss.”
Agent Garrett confirmed with Wang that the “Boss Lu” mentioned in the communication stands for Keqing Lu, as noted in Wang’s notebook, who is Ji Jie’s superior. They, along with He Feng and Li Ming from the Guangdong State Security Bureau, are co-defendants in the case, currently fugitives.
The last witness to testify yesterday, July 31, was Hong Kong human rights activist, Yang Jinxia. She mentioned that during the 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella Movement, she founded the NY4HK organization and had indirect cooperation with the Hu-Zhao Foundation.
In 2014, she attended the “Spirit of Hu-Zhao and Reform of Chinese Constitution International Academic Symposium” hosted by the Hu-Zhao Foundation. The FBI showed the attendance register with signatures and contact details of participants, including Yang Jinxia, and others like Lee Cheuk-yan and Alex Chow from the Hong Kong Alliance. The register also contained signatures of Situ Hua, Martin Lee, Wang Shujun, and Alex Chow. Situ Hua passed away in 2011, Lee and Alex are currently in a Hong Kong prison due to charges related to the national security law. Yang Jinxia has been sanctioned by the Hong Kong government for founding the Hong Kong Democracy Council, thus unable to return to Hong Kong.
During her testimony, Yang Jinxia mainly expressed her surprise and concern upon seeing the list being collected, particularly highlighting her nervousness upon seeing her name labeled as “Hong Kong female” on the list.
All witnesses in the case are expected to finish testifying by the end of this week, following which the jury will commence deliberations from next Monday.