Der Fall chinesischer Agenten in New York ist laut Experten ein „klassischer“ Spionageversuch Pekings

Beijing’s “broader strategy” involves targeting local and state officials in hopes of securing more support for China and gaining insight into political decision making, officials say.

As Covid-19 was spreading across New York in March 2020, state officials held a private conference call to discuss their response to the pandemic. But there was someone else listening in who had no business being on the call: a Chinese government official. 

The official, according to federal prosecutors, had been surreptitiously added to the call by [Linda Sun](https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/fbi-arrests-former-top-aide-ny-gov-kathy-hochul-rcna169311), who was then an officer in the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

“Keep your phone muted,” Sun admonished the Chinese official in a written message during the call, according to prosecutors. 

At the close of the 32-minute discussion, prosecutors say, the official sent Sun a two-word review: “[v]ery useful.”

The call was one of the episodes highlighted in a 64-page indictment accusing Sun of using her positions in New York state government to benefit the Chinese government. In return for shaping government messages to align with Chinese priorities and freezing out Taiwanese officials, she and her family received a range of benefits including millions in kickbacks, free travel and [more than a dozen Nanjing-style salted ducks](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lavish-life-ex-top-aide-ny-gov-accused-secret-chinese-agent-rcna169430). 

Sun, 41, who worked under Cuomo and his successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, has pleaded not guilty.

U.S. counterintelligence officials have long harbored concerns, publicly and privately, about China’s elaborate efforts to try to spy and exert influence across American society, including bribing members of the military and the tech industry. 

Part of Beijing’s long-term strategy has also involved targeting local and state officials with the hope of securing more support for China and gaining insights into political decision making as those officials rise to higher office, officials say.

The case involving Sun is typical of China’s tactics, according to Dennis Wilder, a former senior CIA official who focused on China at the agency.

“This is a classic Ministry of State Security operation,” Wilder said, referring to China’s main intelligence agency. “You go after naturalized American citizens with large connections to China. They speak Chinese. They have family back in China. They want business opportunities in China.”

A top priority for the Chinese intelligence services is to “disrupt Taiwan” in any location, including in Chinatowns in U.S. cities or state legislatures, Wilder said.

“Somebody working for Hochul would be very useful in that regard. She would be in a position to press the pro-Beijing case and to muzzle the Taiwan case,” said Wilder, now an assistant professor at Georgetown University.

Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, said the case illustrated how China tries to use covert actors to shape political decisions at all levels of government in the United States.

“Just as TikTok has raised concerns about data collection and influence operations, this situation underscores the lengths to which China is willing to go to infiltrate and manipulate American institutions from within,” Singleton said.

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China is our biggest threat, and they play dirty, never trust a dictatorship.

We should make an example of these cases so that others think twice before colluding with our adversaries

So is China now going to detain an American in their soil and negotiate a swap?

Honestly fooling Hocul is probably very easy.

The china bots who got triggered to respond to this headline are deleting their comments when you call them out so they don’t out their good karma accounts.