On Trial: Monitoring Pro-Democracy Activists for China | China In Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. The U.S. government is suing a naturalized U.S. citizen for acting as a foreign agent of China. The latest evidence reveals the defendant admitted some critical details that could send him behind bars for up to two decades. NTD was in the courtroom. Officials say Chinese nationals posing as tourists and delivery drivers are breaching U.S. military sites. Is law enforcement well-equipped enough to detect them? A push to make sure American flags flown in Washington are born in the U.S. instead of China. Congress passing a bill to restrict foreign-made flags. And a new congressional report says that the U.S. military is not prepared for another global conflict and that America could lose a future war to Russia or China if nothing changes. Emails, phone calls, text messages, even audio recordings. U.S. prosecutors have presented the evidence against defendant Wang Shijun. They say it shows that Wang's close ties to Chinese intelligence officers date back two decades. The trial is ongoing in the Eastern District Court of New York in Brooklyn. NTD's Flora Hua was in the courtroom. On Wednesday afternoon, Judge Danny Chen ordered the courtroom to shift from public to private because the prosecutors had brought in a special witness in the case of Wang Shijun. The witness, undercover FBI agent Chen. The FBI has had his eye on Wang for years. They suspected him of spying on pro-democracy activists for China. Chen is fluent in both Chinese and English. He showed up at Wang's residence in 2021 and pretended to work under a Chinese spy that Wang knew. Wang soon welcomed him in. What Wang didn't know is that everything he said to Chen was being recorded and would become critical evidence against him three years later. Wang believed Chen was sent by China to help him delete his records saved as so-called diaries in email drafts. Wang said he wrote two or three diary entries every month at the instruction of two Chinese spies. Details recorded in them included information on events he attended, conversations he had with people there, plus their names and phone numbers. Wang said he started one diary in 2003 and the other sometime in 2015 or 2016. U.S. government attorneys described Wang as having lived a double life. The 76-year-old is facing four charges, conspiring to and acting as a foreign agent, making false statements to the FBI, and illegally possessing other people's information. If convicted, Wang could face up to 20 years behind bars. He's pleading not guilty to all charges. Wang first came to the U.S. as a visiting scholar and became a naturalized American citizen in 2003. He later became a leading member in a pro-democracy organization. In the indictment, Wang is accused of having close ties with the Chinese spy agency. It's called the Ministry of State Security or MSS. Three government witnesses testify in the trial. One of them, a China expert, explained how the Chinese Ministry of State Security operates inside and outside of China. China expert Alex Javsky said the MSS has both law enforcement and intelligence gathering functions. He said the agency is most interested in five groups, pro-democracy supporters, the Falun Gong faith group, supporters of Taiwan independence, Tibetans, and Uyghurs. These groups face severe suppression inside China. Outside China, the MSS tries to gather information from members of these groups, as well as recruit them and price them to publicly discredit their groups. The expert witness said he interviewed an American student who was approached by an MSS officer in China. The officer asked the student to keep diaries in a shared email account, like Wang, but the American student rejected. In 2019, when Wang landed at New York's JFK airport from China, FBI agents seized his personal phone book. In it, they found handwritten contact information of Chinese MSS officers. Wang is accused of lying to the FBI by saying he never contacted those officers. I asked Mr. Wang Shijun what he thinks about the evidence provided by the U.S. government. Here's what he told me earlier. Watch. Albert Ho is a pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong. In his diary, Wang recorded Ho's criticism against a then-chief executive of Hong Kong and his dissatisfaction with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. After Wang handed that intelligence to China, Ho was arrested and still in prison through today. My source told me that the attorney of Hong Kong's jailed activist Albert Ho is also asking about the latest on the case. Flora Hua, NTD News. U.S. lawmakers say some Chinese nationals have posed as tourists or delivery drivers in order to enter U.S. military bases and facilities. House oversight leaders are concerned about whether the FBI is equipped to detect them. They say Chinese nationals have trespassed or have tried to trespass U.S. military bases hundreds of times. The oversight committee chairman and the foreign affairs subcommittee chairman are calling for a review of the FBI investigation process. The lawmakers sent a letter to the government accountability office yesterday. They asked if the FBI has specific procedures for investigating this kind of unconventional spying and whether cultural barriers at the FBI undermine these efforts. The U.S. on its way to cutting imports of American flags made in China. Congress passed a new bill Monday. It would ban the federal government from flying American flags that were made in China. Senator Susan Collins in Maine introduced the bill. She said the American flag serves as a symbol of U.S. identity, resolve and values as one people. To honor its significance, the federal government should only use flags entirely manufactured in the United States. Right now, only half of the flags that federal agencies fly on their properties are made in the U.S. Millions of American flags are imported every year, most of them from China. The bill is now headed to President Biden's desk. The U.S. Treasury Department has issued sanctions to several people and businesses with ties to Iran's weapons programs. The group includes a pair of tech firms based in China. The Treasury Department says Beijing's Shiny Knights Technology Development and Shenzhen Ryan Technology acted as front companies for Iran. Both firms are accused of providing materials for Iran's missile and drone weapons systems. A Treasury official says Iran's continued development of missile and drone weapons is a danger to civilians around the globe. He said of today's sanctions, quote, the United States will continue to impose costs on those that facilitate Iran's ability to produce these deadly weapons. The sanctioned individuals and companies are blocked from doing business or having any financial interests in the U.S. The Treasury is also warning any person or businesses from engaging with anyone on the sanctions list. The office notes financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action. China adjusting export controls on drones. Its Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday that some important drone components would face stricter export restrictions. These include infrared imaging equipment, lasers for identifying targets and high-precision measurement equipment. Chinese authorities also lifted export bans on civilian drones. Officials said those drones should not be used for the proliferation of mass destruction weapons. The changes would The move comes after the Ukrainian foreign minister's visit to China. He said Ukraine supports China's stance on Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party sees Taiwan as part of China despite never having ruled it. It has pledged to take the island under control by force if necessary. Drones have played important roles in the Russia-Ukraine war. China's DJI is the world's largest drone maker. The country is the world's fourth largest weapons exporter. Washington said China has been sending Russia machine tools and microelectronics to help Russia's war on Ukraine. These goods can also be used for military purposes. To discuss more about China adjusting export restrictions on unregulated civilian drones and the impact on the Russia-Ukraine war, we spoke to Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. Rick Fisher, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. China says it will restrict the export of unregulated civilian drones that can be used in military settings. This comes amid Western criticism over China's stance in the Russia-Ukraine war. What is the message or signal from China here? China restricting the export of drone technology is like China restricting the export of plastic knives and forks and spoons. It's just an empty gesture because the global market is just so saturated with Chinese drones and Chinese drone parts. All the ones that are now outside of China could be flying, be sold probably for the next year. So in a sense, this will have no impact on Russia's prosecution of its Ukraine war with Chinese drones. Ukraine seems to be switching stances here. It is now supporting China's stance on Taiwan. What do you make of this? Russia is receiving assistance from China, weapons from North Korea, drones from Iran. The Ukrainians are desperate and they are looking for a way to bring leverage against Russia to stop this war, come to the negotiating table. Hopefully, Ukraine probably hopes in a way that it can negotiate Russia off of its territory. Unfortunately for Ukraine, China's goals in the Ukraine war do not include the survival of a free Ukraine. China's goal in this war is to help Russia achieve victory. Craig Fisher, thank you so much for your time. Tiffany, thank you. The intelligence community has a warning for the American public. Communist China, Russia and Iran will recruit Americans to influence the U.S. elections in November. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says foreign actors working on behalf of the Chinese regime use social media to sow disvision in the U.S. They seek to portray democracies as chaotic. The agency said the CCP partnered with a China-based tech company to fuel online influence operations. Those include efforts to create content that connects with American audiences. Intelligence officials said Beijing used the same tactics to target candidates from both parties in a handful of the 2022 midterm elections. A new congressional report says the U.S. could lose a potential war to China. The report released Tuesday by the Commission on the National Defense Strategy says the U.S. defense industrial base can't meet the U.S. and its allies' needs for technology, equipment and munitions. The commission's vice chair told the Senate committee the Chinese regime is outpacing the U.S. in military development. Adding, while the U.S. still has the strongest military in the world with the farthest global reach, when it gets to within 1,000 miles of China's shore, the U.S. would lose or start to lose its military dominance. He said, quote, there is potential for a near-term war and a potential that we might lose such a conflict. He also sounded the alarm about growing ties between China, Iran, North Korea and Russia. He said if those countries work together against the U.S., Washington could find itself in a global war that's on the scale of the Second World War. The report calls on Congress to cut red tape in boosting deterrence and increase taxes to expand U.S. defense spending to Cold War levels. A move that could tone down tensions in the Taiwan Strait, China and Taiwan reaching a deal Tuesday over two fishermen's deaths. The settlement includes compensating their families and sending the men's bodies to China. The incident happened in February. Taiwan said the Chinese boat trespassed into its waters near Kinmen, a Taiwanese island that sits just two miles from mainland China. The Chinese boat refused a request from Taiwanese authorities to inspect it. And while fleeing from Taiwan's coast guard, the boat turned over and the crew on board fell into the water. Two fishermen died, another two were rescued. China started patrolling in the waters near Kinmen following the incident. Taiwan says Chinese civilian ships regularly breach Taiwan's waters, noting that it's part of China's gray zone tactics. The term refers to irregular strategies that aim to exhaust an enemy without launching open combat. Germany has summoned China's ambassador over a 2021 cyber attack on Germany's national office for cartography. German officials said the cyber attack came from China's state-backed actors and was used for espionage purposes. Its interior minister called on China to refrain from such cyber attacks. Cyber attacks from China are a growing headache for the West. Just this May, the Environmental Protection Agency alerted water facilities across the U.S., asking them to immediately beef up security against cyber attacks from China, Iran and Russia. Officials say hackers are taking aim at water systems across the U.S. And the frequency and severity of their attacks have reached a point where the EPA said more action is critical. Over 70 percent of the water utilities inspected last year didn't meet safety standards to prevent breaches. Some of them are still using default passwords and failed to cut off former employees' access to the systems. That's all for today's China InFocus on YouTube. We're now sharing a short version of our program here after being demonetized for three years. If you'd like to support us, consider donating. Find us at donorbox.org slash china-in-focus. Or subscribe to our partner platform, EpicTV, where you can watch our full episodes. Just click the link down below. Here's what to look out for in our second half. Coming up, a Chinese doping scandal looms over the Olympic Games in Paris. U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation to hold the Chinese regime accountable for its athletes who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs. These positive tests were hidden from the public and remained secret for three years. Olympic ideals, China's doping scandals and details on the 2024 Paris Games. We share exclusive insight from a three-time Olympian and gold medalist for Team USA. Chinese leaders shifting gears to save the country's economy now signal a shift to stimulus measures aimed at consumers instead of infrastructure projects. More on that after the break, here on China In Focus. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you tomorrow.