Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Act as Illegal Agent of the Chinese Government

BEIJING, CHINA - MARCH 11: The National Emblem is seen as delegates and security stand in the entranceway to the auditorium before the closing session of the NPC, or National Peoples Congress at the Great Hall of the People on March 11, 2024 in Beijing, China. China's annual political gathering known as the Two Sessions convenes leaders and lawmakers to set the government's agenda for domestic economic and social development for the year. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Yuanjun Tang, a 68-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen and Flushing, Queens resident, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Tang has a history as a former PRC dissident who received U.S. political asylum in 2002 after imprisonment for opposing the Chinese Communist Party.
From at least 2018 to June 2023, Tang gathered intelligence and performed tasks for the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), including surveilling U.S.-based Chinese democracy activists, providing contact information for immigration lawyers, and infiltrating dissident group chats on encrypted apps. He received payments, traveled to Macau and mainland China for MSS meetings and polygraphs, and transmitted information via electronic devices.
This case highlights MSS-directed espionage targeting Chinese dissidents in the U.S., prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Yumi Chong and Trial Attorney Sean O’Dowd, with investigation led by the FBI New York Field Office.
Tang faces a maximum of five years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for January 29, 2026.