Singapore academic Dickson Yeo, who spied on the US for China, detained by island nation’s authorities

The 40-year-old, who had completed a 14-month jail term in the US, was taken into custody under Singapore’s Internal Security Act in January

Yeo had been tasked with sourcing information and providing reports on issues of interest to Chinese intelligence, including material relating to the city state

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Dickson Yeo was detained under Singapore’s Internal Security Act on January 29. Photo: Facebook

Published: 2:32pm, 15 Jun 2021Updated: 3:59pm, 15 Jun 2021

A Singaporean academic who had previously been jailed in the United States on charges of spying for China has been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) since January, the city state’s government has said, stressing that it took a “very serious view” of individuals acting at the behest of foreign powers.

Dickson Yeo, 40, was arrested in Singapore in December last year, according to a Tuesday statement from the island nation’s Internal Security Department (ISD), following his deportation from the US, where he had served a 14-month prison term. He was then detained under the ISA from January 29.

The ISA gives the home affairs minister the power to detain individuals without trial for two-year terms that can be renewed at the minister’s discretion. In recent years, the colonial-era law has been used against suspected militants.

The ISD said investigations were ongoing and “continued detention” was necessary to facilitate probes into the full extent of Yeo’s activities. “The Singapore government takes a very serious view of anyone who enters into a clandestine relationship with a foreign government and engages in activities at the behest of the foreign power that are inimical to our national security and interests, including bilateral relations,” it added.

Yeo, a former PhD student at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, in July last year pleaded guilty to operating illegally as a foreign agent for the Chinese government and soliciting non-public information in the US.

His work with Chinese intelligence began in early 2015, when he travelled to Beijing to give a presentation on the political situation in Southeast Asia, and was recruited by Chinese agents who claimed to represent think tanks.