Chinese Dissident Who Led US Pro-Democracy Group Pleads Guilty To Spying For Beijing

Last Updated:September 18, 2025, 23:42 IST

Tang, a New York-based Chinese dissident, pleaded guilty to spying for China and faces up to five years in prison. Sentencing is January 29, 2026.

The law enforcement agents have recovered the specific instructions that Tang received from the MSS, including via encrypted methods, as well as photographs, videos, and documents that Tang collected or created for transmission to the MSS

A 68-year-old man from New York’s Chinese dissident community on Tuesday pleaded guilty to spying on his fellow activists on behalf of the Chinese government.

US Department of Justice cited court documents as saying that Tang is a former PRC citizen who was imprisoned in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for his activities as a dissident opposing the one-party authoritarian political system controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations.

In 2002, Tang defected to Taiwan, and he was subsequently granted political asylum in the United States. Since then, he has been residing in New York City, where he has regularly participated in events with fellow PRC dissidents and leads a nonprofit dedicated to promoting democracy in China.

However, between 2018 and June 2023 Tang acted as Chinese agent by gathering information and completing tasks at the direction of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), which is the PRC’s principal civilian intelligence agency.

The Justice Department further said that Tang accepted monetary payments for his work and traveled at least three times to Macau and mainland China for face-to-face meetings with MSS intelligence officers, during which he submitted to polygraphs and questioning.

“During one of these meetings, he allowed the MSS to install an application on one of his cellphones to facilitate the instantaneous transmission of photographs and other information from his phone to the MSS and accepted a laptop for use in communicating with the MSS," it said.

It further said that the law enforcement agents have recovered the specific instructions that Tang received from the MSS, including via encrypted methods, as well as photographs, videos, and documents that Tang collected or created for transmission to the MSS.

“Tang not only provided the MSS information about specific individuals and events but also helped the MSS infiltrate a group chat on an encrypted messaging application used by numerous U.S.-based PRC dissidents and pro-democracy activists to communicate about pro-democracy issues and express criticism of the PRC government," the department said.

They further said that Tang has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The sentencing will be announced on January 29, 2026.

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