The U.S. Department of Justice charged 13 individuals on Monday in an alleged effort to disrupt Chinese espionage activity in the states. Only two were actually arrested since the rest are apparently overseas.
As ever, there is a New Jersey angle to consider.
Here’s an excerpt from the release issued by New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney announcing the charges:
MSS intelligence officers Wang Lin, Bi, Dong, and others, acting for and on behalf of the MSS and the Chinese government, systematically targeted United States persons, including but not limited to a coconspirator who was a resident of the state of New Jersey and a second individual who was a former federal law enforcement officer and state homeland security official and a professor at an American university.
[…]
The conspiracy also targeted the coconspirator in New Jersey by tasking the coconspirator to take specific action in the United States in furtherance of the MSS’ intelligence objective. Wang Qiang coordinated a meeting in 2016 between the coconspirator, Wang Lin, and Bi Hongwei in the Bahamas, at which time MSS intelligence officers Wang Lin and Bi directed the coconspirator to obtain United States currency and provide it to a designated individual in New Jersey. The coconspirator returned to New Jersey and did as Wang Lin and Bi instructed. Wang Qiang then visited the coconspirator in New Jersey, at which time Wang Qiang and the coconspirator discussed in detail their and others’ activities taken on behalf of the Chinese government in the United States.
[Emphasis added.]
“Wang Lin, 59, Bi, age unknown, Dong 40, and Wang Qiang, 55, all are nationals and residents of the People’s Republic of China,” according to the government.
This isn’t China’s only recent scam on New Jersey soil.
Recently, China attempted to purchase a Princeton-based music college and was met with alumni pushback. Infiltrating academia is a favorite tactic of the communist regime.
