A U.S. citizen from Boston, Litang Liang, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with working as an agent of a foreign government, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), without notifying the United States Attorney General as required by law.
Liang was accused of working as an agent for the People’s Republic of China since or around 2018 and continued to work for the foreign government through at least 2022. He had been secretly working with the CCP to compile a “black list” of Chinese people and organizations who participated in protests supporting pro-democracy dissidents in China, according to the Boston Globe.
The indictment states that Liang communicated with PRC government officials through various means, including telephone calls and the social media application WeChat, all of which are stored on servers outside the United States.
Liang was also a co-founder of the New England Alliance for the Peaceful Unification of China, a pro-PRC, anti-Taiwanese independence organization, according to Fox News.
Congressman Rich McCormick tweeted, “The Chinese Communist Party has no business sending operatives to America to harass, surveil, and threaten dissidents and refugees. Glad we caught this guy!”
This arrest comes as tensions continue to escalate between the United States and China, particularly in regards to issues such as trade, human rights and cybersecurity. The U.S. government has accused the Chinese government of engaging in a wide range of tactics to steal intellectual property and sensitive information from American companies and institutions.
Pentagon leaders recently admitted that the U.S. is not keeping up with China in development of hypersonic missiles and defenses. The revelations come after a leaked document indicated China’s military is on the cusp of completing a high-altitude spy drone that can fly at three times the speed of sound.
