Chinese officer charged with harassing candidate

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have charged a man believed to be a member of China's secret police service with trying to undermine the campaign of a Chinese American candidate for Congress on Long Island.

Four other men were also accused of acting on behalf of the Chinese government and have been charged with schemes to stalk and harass Chinese dissidents living in the United States, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors say Qiming Lin — identified in the court filings as a member of a Chinese security apparatus that is based in China — tried to gather damaging information on the congressional candidate, who had been a student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and who has continued to criticize the Chinese government.

The candidate was not named in the complaint but matches the description of Yan Xiong, who in fall 2021 announced his candidacy for a U.S. House of Representatives seat from Long Island.

The person familiar with the cases confirmed Yan's identity. Yan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, served in the U.S. military and in 2015 took part in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, according to the complaint.

A representative of Yan's campaign did not immediately provide comment on the charges.

Prosecutors say that Lin engaged a private investigator in the fall to dig up — or, failing that, to manufacture — compromising information about Yan, such as an affair or unpaid taxes, before the June primary election.

The private investigator, however, was an FBI source and, according to the complaint, kept authorities apprised of the efforts.