The FBI arrested 3 Chinese nationals linked to their army. A 4th is housed in a Chinese consulate
Washington:
U.S. federal prosecutors have charged four Chinese nationals with visa fraud for lying about their status as members of the Chinese military, while conducting research in the United States, the Justice Department said.
The FBI arrested three of them, while the fourth, who is a fugitive, is currently housed at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, he said.
Each defendant has been charged with visa fraud. If found guilty, they face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $ 250,000.
In addition to the arrests, the FBI recently conducted interviews with visa holders suspected of having undeclared affiliation with the Chinese military in more than 25 US cities.
“These members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have applied for search visas while hiding their true affiliation with the PLA,” said Deputy National Security Attorney General John C. Demers.
“This is another part of the Chinese Communist Party’s plan to take advantage of our open society and exploit academic institutions. We will continue to conduct this investigation with the FBI,” he said.
Noting that the United States is home to students, academics and researchers from around the world, John Brown, deputy executive director of the National Security branch of the FBI, said the announcement shows how far the Chinese government has gone to infiltrate and exploit the United States. benevolence.
According to a complaint that was unsealed in the Northern District of California on June 8 and court documents filed on June 11, Xin Wang entered the country on March 26, 2019, after receiving a J1 nonimmigrant visa in December. 2018.
Xin’s visa application said the purpose of his visit was to conduct scientific research at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
He allegedly made fraudulent statements on the visa application. Specifically, Wang said he had been an associate professor of medicine at the PLA from September 1, 2002 to September 1, 2016.
In fact, when interviewed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Los Angeles airport on June 7, Wang said he was, in fact, still currently a “level 9” technician in the area. ‘APL, employed by a military university laboratory. , which, according to CBP, roughly corresponds to the rank of major.
According to court documents, Wang was still employed by the PLA while studying in the United States and made false statements about his military service.
According to unsealed court documents in the Eastern District of California on July 20, Juan Tang, a researcher at the University of California at Davis, applied for a nonimmigrant J1 visa on or around October 28, 2019. The visa was issued in November 2019, and Juan arrived in the United States on December 27, 2019. She allegedly made fraudulent statements on her visa application. More specifically, to the question “have you ever served in the military?” Juan replied “No”
Juan is a uniformed officer in the PLA air force, the Justice Department said.
The FBI found a photo of Juan in military uniform and references to his employment at the Air Force Military Medical University, also known as the Fourth Military Medical University.
The FBI interviewed Juan on June 20. Although she denied being in the military, another photo of her in a different PLA uniform was found on electronic media.
The FBI is seeking to arrest Juan, who sought refuge at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, under an arrest warrant and complaint filed on June 26 and unsealed on July 20.
According to the affidavit, Chen Song, 38, a Chinese national, applied for a J1 nonimmigrant visa in November 2018 and entered the United States on December 23, 2018. In her visa application, in response to the question, “Have you ever served in the military,” Song said that she only served in the Chinese military from September 1 to June 30, 2011 and that her employer was “Xi Diaoyutai Hospital”.
Chen described herself in her visa application as a neurologist who came to the United States to conduct research at Stanford University on diseases of the brain.
Affidavit alleges that she was a member of the PLA when she entered and while in the United States and that the hospital that she listed on her visa as her employer was a cover for her real employer , PLA.
The affidavit identifies four research papers she co-authored, which describe her as affiliated with institutions subordinate to the PLA.
Specifically, the articles list Chen as affiliated with the Beijing Air Force General Hospital and the Fourth Military Medical University.
According to a complaint filed in the Southern District of Indiana on July 17, Kaikai Zhao, a graduate student studying machine learning and artificial intelligence at Indiana University, applied for an F1 nonimmigrant visa. in June 2018. In the visa application, Kaikai mentioned never serving in the military.
According to the complaint, Kaikai served at the National University of Defense Technology, the PLA’s first institution for scientific research and education, which is directly subordinate to the Central Military Commission of the PRC.
Kaikai also attended the Air Force Aviation University (AUAF), which is a Chinese military academy analogous to the US Air Force Academy. AUAF students are active members of military service who receive military training. Additionally, the FBI found an online photograph of Kaikai wearing a PLAAF uniform.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
