Chinese-American academic Huang Jing ‘glad’ Singaporean Dickson Yeo was caught spying for China

Huang was Yeo’s PhD adviser when both were at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Yeo’s case has led to renewed interest in Huang’s 2017 expulsion from Singapore, where he had been a visiting professor at the school

Reading Time:2 minutes

Chinese-American academic Huang Jing was the PhD adviser of Singaporean Dickson Yeo. Photo: Handout

Published: 4:30pm, 27 Jul 2020Updated: 3:35pm, 28 Jul 2020

A Chinese academic linked to Yeo Jun Wei, the Singaporean consultant who pleaded guilty to spying for Beijing, said he was happy that his former student was apprehended by US authorities.

Huang Jing confirmed to Bloomberg Television that he served as a PhD adviser a few years ago to the man, also known as Dickson Yeo, when both were at National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Yeo admitted on Friday that he provided information to Chinese intelligence and knowingly recruited others in the US to do the same, according to a US Department of Justice statement.

Huang Jing was expelled from Singapore in 2017 after he was accused of being an ‘agent of influence’ for a foreign government. Photo: AFP

“I was really surprised, but I’m glad that he was caught,” said Huang, who’s now a distinguished professor and dean at Beijing Language and Culture University’s Institute of National and Regional Studies.

“He impressed me as someone who is shy, but also humble,” he said. “But he has this kind of hunger for being somebody. You know self-imposed importance – after that I don’t have much impression of him.”

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x