US arrests Chinese-American on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Beijing
- Litang Liang, 63, of Massachusetts is accused of reporting to consulate officials on protests in the Boston area against China government actions since 2018
- ‘We will not tolerate the PRC’s efforts to interfere with public discourse and threaten civic participation in the United States,’ a federal prosecutor says
A Chinese-American man was arrested last week for allegedly serving as an agent of the Chinese government without notifying the US government, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.
Litang Liang, 63, of Brighton, Massachusetts, was accused of providing Chinese officials with information about Boston-area individuals and organisations; leading a counter-protest against anti-Beijing activists; and suggesting potential recruits to China’s Ministry of Public Security.
Liang was indicted on two counts related to acting as an agent of a foreign government. The charge of acting as an unregistered foreign agent carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to US$250,000.
“We will not tolerate the PRC’s efforts to interfere with public discourse and threaten civic participation in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s national security division.
According to the indictment, Liang, a US citizen, communicated with seven Chinese officials, including several from the Chinese consulate in New York, from 2018 to 2022.