Feds slap 5 in ‘spy’ plot vs. Beijing foes in US
Five men were charged Wednesday with spying on Chinese dissidents living in the US — with one of the alleged government agents accused of planning to sabotage a veteran’s congressional run, the feds said.
The defendants, three of whom are in custody and facing significant prison time, participated in “transnational repression schemes to silence critics of the People’s Republic of China,” the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Among those charged is Qiming Lin, 59, who allegedly tried to sabotage the New York congressional campaign of a Tiananmen Square protester and vocal critic of China — and even considered physically harming him, prosecutors said.
Between September 2021 and March, Lin tried to sink the candidate’s chances by hiring a private investigator in the US to do his dirty work.
The PI contacted the FBI about Lin’s plans, which led authorities to the alleged spy, who is not currently in US custody and is believed to be in China.
Lin ordered the PI to dig up dirt on the unnamed candidate or “manufacture something” damaging, according to federal prosecutors. Lin also allegedly planned to hire a sex worker to strike up a relationship with the man — and then come forward and ruin his reputation.
“Go find a girl . . . Or see how he goes for prostitution, take some photos, something of that nature,” he told the PI in messages obtained by the feds.
In December, Lin also allegedly proposed physically attacking the candidate, saying in a voice message to the PI: “In the end, violence would be fine, too. Huh?
“Beat him, beat him until he cannot run for election. Heh, that’s the-the last resort. You-you think about it. Car accident, will be completely wrecked, right? Don’t know, eh, whatever ways from all different angles. Or, on the day of the election, he cannot make it there himself, right?”
The complaint only refers to the candidate as “the victim,” saying they fled to America and served time in the US military. It is likely Xiong Yan, a Tiananmen protester and Chinese dissident who served as a chaplain for the US Army in Iraq and is running for Congress in the 2022 midterm elections in New York’s 1st District on Long Island.
When reached by The Post, Yan, a father of seven, said he was out of the country the past week and didn’t know about the scheme until contacted by reporters.
“That’s horrible, that surprise me, I get mad,” he said. “I am American citizen, and US Army veteran for 27 years and I am Christian pastor. I have nothing to do with them.”
In the end, violence would be fine, too . . . Beat him, beat him until he cannot run for election. — Suspect Qiming Lin (left), allegedly targeting a House candidate in New York