US charges one American, four Chinese officials with spying on dissidents, human rights leaders, pro-democracy activists

Indictment says the intelligence officers carried out campaign in collaboration with US citizen accused of using status within Chinese diaspora and dissident communities

The four officials from China’s Ministry of State Security, named as Feng He, Jie Ji, Ming Li and Keqing Lu, are still at large

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Chinese and US flags flutter outside a building in Shanghai in November. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:57am, 19 May 2022Updated: 9:15am, 19 May 2022

American prosecutors have charged four members of China’s Ministry of State Security with spying on US-based human rights activists, the US Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

An indictment unsealed on Tuesday said the intelligence officers carried out the campaign in collaboration with a US citizen, directing him to interact with human rights activists and dissidents, report on their statements and beliefs, and pass along their personal information.

The charges build on the case against that US citizen, Wang Shujun, who was arrested in March and charged with acting as an agent of China and making false statements to US authorities. While that earlier criminal complaint described the actions of Wang’s handlers, it did not name them, nor did it include them as defendants.

Tuesday’s indictment identified the four state security officers as Feng He, Jie Ji, Ming Li, and Keqing Lu, all of whom remain at large. Li and He were based at Guangdong’s State Security Bureau, while Ji and Lu operated out of Qingdao in Shandong province, according to the indictment.

Clockwise from top left: Feng He, Jie Ji, Keqing Lu and Ming Li were identified on Wednesday May 18, 2022 as four Chinese state security officers alleged to have spied on Chinese dissidents, human rights advocates and pro-democracy campaigners in the US. Also named in the case, but not pictured here, is American citizen Wang Shujun. Photos: US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York

Wang is alleged by prosecutors to have operated “under the direction and control” of China’s Ministry of State Security from 2005 to 2022, communicating with his handlers via a messaging app, in face-to-face conversations during visits to China, and through “diaries” of his interactions with pro-democracy advocates.

US charges one American, four Chinese officials with spying on dissidents, human rights leaders, pro-democracy activists

Indictment says the intelligence officers carried out campaign in collaboration with US citizen accused of using status within Chinese diaspora and dissident communities The four officials from China’s Ministry of State Security, named as Feng He, Jie Ji, Ming Li and Keqing Lu, are still at large