The flag of the People’s Republic of China flutters in the wind above the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco, California on July 23, 2020.
Philip Pacheco | AFP via Getty Images
WASHINGTON – An investigator who fled to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco after allegedly lying to investigators about her Chinese military service was arrested and will appear in court on Monday, according to a senior Justice Department official.
According to court documents released earlier this week in the Eastern District of California, Juan Tang, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, applied for a J1 nonimmigrant visa in October 2019. The visa was issued in November 2019 and Tang entered to the United States. States one month later.
Tang allegedly made fraudulent statements on her visa application by hiding that she served in the Chinese military. The FBI concluded that Tang was a uniformed officer of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force after photographs of her were discovered in electronic media confiscated pursuant to a search warrant.
“I will not discuss the circumstances of the arrest,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding that the individual had no diplomatic immunity. The person said the details of the arrest could be revealed when the defendant appears in court for the Eastern District of California on Monday.
“The problem here is that his true status was not disclosed by the visa application,” the official said, adding that the arrest was not an eye-for-an-eye move as tensions between Washington and Beijing heat up.
On Thursday night, the FBI arrested Tang, who had avoided the arrest by taking refuge in the Chinese consulate in San Francisco. If convicted, Tang faces a maximum legal sentence of 10 years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine.
Tang’s arrest for visa fraud follows the arrests of three other Chinese investigators in California and Indiana. The arrests were described as “a microcosm of a broader network of people in more than 25 cities,” said the Justice Department official.
“By their very nature, consulates are a base of operations for foreign governments in the United States, including their intelligence services, and it is understood that those services will have some activity here,” the person said.
“But because of their location within the United States and their status as the sovereign territory of a foreign country, they can be exploited, and the espionage and influence activities carried out in a consulate may ultimately increase to a level that threatens our national security. ” the added person.
A person passes in front of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco, California on July 23, 2020.
Philip Pacheco | AFP | fake pictures
The arrests come as tensions between the United States and China skyrocket after a series of eye-for-eye responses between the world’s two largest economies.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas. Authorities said the move was made to secure United States’ intellectual property and curb Chinese espionage. On Friday, Beijing ordered Washington to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu, in southwest China’s Sichuan province.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said part of Chengdu consulate staff in the United States was “carrying out activities that were not in line with their identities” and had harmed China’s security interests, but gave no further details.
A senior State Department official said the arrests and closure of the Houston consulate focus on targeting grim Chinese activity within the United States.
“In their decision to close Chengdu, they will have to ask them, the MFA, how they chose that,” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official added that the Trump administration was prepared to deal with second and third order effects following the closure of the consulate.
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