Global Courant 2023-05-13 04:09:36
Litang Liang, 63, of Boston, is accused of informing the Chinese government about dissident activities in the US, including reporting the whereabouts of democracy activists and pro-Hong Kong protesters. Liang is charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and acting as an agent of a foreign government without notice to the US Attorney General. Liang’s goal was to “secretly advance the goals and agenda of the PRC government within the United States,” according to prosecutors.
A Boston man worked with Chinese government officials for about four years to monitor Chinese activists and dissidents in the area calling for pro-democracy reform in the communist nation, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Litang Liang, 63, a US citizen living in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and acting as an agent of a foreign government without notice to the US Attorney General, the office of the US Attorney in Boston said.
Liang, who was arrested Tuesday, was released Thursday on $25,000 bail with electronic monitoring after pleading not guilty, according to court documents. He also surrendered his passport and was ordered not to leave Massachusetts or have contact with Chinese government officials.
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An email requesting comment was left with his lawyer.
Liang is charged with “providing information to the PRC government about individuals and organizations in the Boston area; organizing a counter-protest in the United States against pro-democracy dissidents; providing photos of and information about in the US-based dissidents to PRC government officials; and providing the names of potential recruits to the PRC Ministry of Public Security,” court documents said.
PRC is the People’s Republic of China.
Its purpose was to “secretly advance the goals and agenda of the PRC government within the United States,” the indictment said.
China has been accused in other instances of interfering with activists in the US critical of Beijing.
A Chinese flag hangs between American flags in Chinatown on February 17, 2021 in New York City. A Boston man is accused of providing the Chinese government with information about US-based activists (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Last month, two men were charged by US authorities with helping set up a secret police station in New York City on behalf of the Chinese government, and about three dozen Chinese National Police officers were accused of using social media to harass dissidents within the United States. harassing states. States.
Liang’s cooperation with the Chinese government began in 2018 and lasted until at least last year, prosecutors said.
In one case, according to prosecutors, Liang sent official photos and videos from the Chinese government of a student activist he believes was responsible for vandalizing Chinese flags during a 2018 protest in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood.
Liang hosted an event in Boston in 2018 that was attended by at least two Chinese government officials, one of whom asked Liang for the name of a person who attended and worked for an elected official in Boston. Liang gave the name as requested, authorities said. Court documents did not name the elected official.
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Liang also provided video of a dissident attending the “Boston Stands with Hong Kong” march in August 2019, and the following month sent photos of dissidents in front of the Boston Public Library to a Chinese government official, who tried to make them a “bunch of clowns.” nuisance,” the prosecutors said.
Liang had contacts with senior Chinese diplomats in the United States, the Ministry of Public Security and the United Front Work Department, which reports directly to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to advance party goals, prosecutors said. He also visited China in September, attending events marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the modern Chinese state.
The Boston man is also accused of providing Chinese government officials with the names and professional affiliations of two people in the Boston area for possible recruitment by China’s Ministry of Public Security, prosecutors said.
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Liang is due back in court on July 6.