US charges Chinese spies with targeting case into telecoms company, likely Huawei
- Intelligence officers Guochun He and Zheng Wang are accused of bribing a law enforcement employee for information in a pending case against a telecoms giant
- The case was one of three US Attorney General Merrick Garland discussed on Monday involving 13 individuals the US contends acted illegally on behalf of Beijing
The US Justice Department on Monday charged two men it said were Chinese intelligence agents with trying to obstruct a criminal investigation into a China-based global telecommunications company that, while not identified in the charging documents, aligns with the Chinese giant Huawei Technologies.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland also announced another criminal case he said concerned efforts by Beijing to interfere in US affairs, and discussed a third from last week – in all, involving 13 individuals the US contends were acting illegally on behalf of the Chinese government.
Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Bloomberg and Reuters reported that a person familiar with the case identified the company as Huawei, which was indicted in New York in 2019 on fraud charges and in 2020 with federal racketeering and conspiracy charges for allegedly stealing trade secrets from US companies.
In its indictment, the Justice Department identified the two men, Guochun He and Zheng Wang, as intelligence officers from the People’s Republic of China.
“This was an egregious attempt by PRC intelligence officers to shield a PRC-based company from accountability and to undermine the integrity of our judicial system,” Garland said in announcing the case.
The complaint charges that in 2019, He and Wang repeatedly asked an an employee at a US law enforcement agency to steal confidential information about the criminal prosecution of the company, ultimately paying a bribe of US$61,000. According to Garland, the employee was a double agent working for the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Garland said that the two men sought the prosecution strategy memo, trial evidence, witness information and information about potential new charges against the company – but that any information provided them was fabricated by the US government.
The second indictment Garland announced came from New Jersey, charging four people, including three PRC intelligence officers, with conspiring to act in the United States as illegal foreign agents.
China says release of Huawei executive was top priority in US talks
The indictment charged that between 2008 and 2018 the defendants used the cover of a purported academic institute based in Qingdao, China, to recruit individuals in the US to “further the PRC’s intelligence mission”.
Attempts were made to gain access to sensitive fingerprint technology and seek assistance in stopping protests criticising the Chinese government in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics.
Garland also discussed the criminal charges brought on Thursday against seven individuals – six Chinese nationals and one US citizen – for trying to forcibly repatriate a Chinese national living in the US as part of the Chinese government’s “Operation Fox Hunt”, which targets overseas citizens facing prosecution in China. The Chinese government has accused the individual of embezzling funds.
Today’s cases make clear that Chinese agents will not hesitate to break the law and violate international norms
The lead defendant, Quanzhong An, who is both a Chinese citizen and US permanent resident, allegedly acted at the direction of various officials within China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the Chinese Communist Party’s top disciplinary watchdog.
Speaking at the news briefing on Monday, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said: “The cases unsealed today take place against a backdrop of malign activity from the People’s Republic of China that includes espionage, harassment, obstruction of our justice system, and unceasing efforts to steal sensitive US technology.”
China-US animosity frustrates Beijing’s ‘Fox Hunt’ for overseas fugitives
“China seeks to be a major power on the world stage and to challenge the United States in multiple arenas, and today’s cases make clear that Chinese agents will not hesitate to break the law and violate international norms in the process,” she added.
The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment concerning the two cases announced on Monday.
But in response to the indictment on Thursday, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that “Chinese law enforcement authorities strictly abide by international law” in its efforts to repatriate fugitives and fight crimes and that “the US has been stonewalling China’s requests in recent years for cooperation on repatriating fugitives.”
