US pro-democracy activist convicted of spying for Beijing

Shujun Wang, a 75-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen and scholar with deep connections to New York’s dissident Chinese community, was convicted of acting as a foreign agent for Beijing without notifying the attorney general. Convicted in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday, Wang faces up to 25 years in prison.

Found guilty: Arrested in 2022 as part of a Justice Department initiative to curb Chinese surveillance and harassment of critics abroad, Wang was found guilty of gathering detailed information on U.S.-based activists, including dissidents’ contact information, for China’s Ministry of State Security since 2006. Prosecutors presented evidence, including encrypted messages and detailed diaries, that Wang had been a double agent for over a decade. Despite admitting to communication with these agents, Wang’s defense claimed it was benign and did not harm the U.S. Wang’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 9.
Chinese community in shock: Wang’s indictment is part of a broader Justice Department effort against transnational repression by Beijing, which has included other high-profile cases. The case shocked the Chinese community, who had long trusted Wang, a founder of a prominent pro-democracy group. “The indictment could have been the plot of a spy novel, but the evidence is shockingly real. Wang was willing to betray those who respected and trusted him,” Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.

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