Boston man charged with acting as a spy for China to keep tabs on pro-democracy dissidents

A Boston man was arrested and accused of acting as a spy for the Chinese government for years by providing information on local pro-democracy dissidents, federal prosecutors said.

Between about 2018 and 2022, 63-year-old Litang Liang allegedly worked with Chinese officials to spy on dissidents in the Boston area, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement on Friday.

Prosecutors said Liang, who is described in an indictment as a U.S. citizen living in Boston's Brighton neighborhood, organized a counter-protest against pro-democracy dissidents and gave "photographs of and information about dissidents" to Chinese government officials.

Liang was indicted on one count of acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General and one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General.

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Boston man kept tabs on dissidents in the US, charges say

Liang allegedly gave information on Boston-area people and organizations with "pro-Taiwan leanings." He is accused in charging documents of alerting Chinese officials of the identity of a person Liang claimed had "sabotaged” Chinese flags during an October 2018 protest in Boston’s Chinatown. He also allegedly provided video of a dissident who attended a “Boston Stands with Hong Kong” rally in August 2019 and photographs of other dissidents in front of Boston Public Library in September 2019.

Liang called the people he took pictures of in front of the library "a bunch of clowns trying to cause trouble" in a message to a Chinese official, according to an indictment obtained by USA TODAY.

Liang used phone calls and the app WeChat to communicate with Chinese officials that included diplomats in the United States, the Ministry of Public Security and other bodies reporting to the Chinese Communist Party, the indictment said.

The purpose of Liang's actions, the indictment alleges, was "to act at the direction or control of the (People's Republic of China) government in order to covertly advance the PRC government's goals and agenda within the United States."

He was arrested Tuesday and released Thursday on $25,000 bond and the condition that he not travel outside the state or have contact with any Chinese officials.

An attorney representing Liang did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

China accused of recent attempts to obstruct activists

China has been accused of interfering with pro-democracy activists in the United States previously this year.

Last month, the Justice Department announced charges against Chinese security officials allegedly operating as agents for Beijing to censor dissidents in the United States. Two people were accused of operating an illegal overseas police station of the Chinese government in lower Manhattan.

According to United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace, the police station provided illegal government services. Peace said in one instance, officials with China's national police were "using the station to track a U.S. resident on U.S. soil." 

Another 40 officers of the Chinese government's Ministry of Public Security were accused of a creating a task force to commit crimes targeting Chinese democracy activists and censoring speech of Chinese dissidents. Dozens allegedly created an "internet troll farm" and set up thousands of accounts to harass activists.