June Fourth pro-democracy activist confessed to being a "communist spy in the United States" and Tang Yuanjun was given a suspended sentence

According to the Associated Press, Tang Yuanjun, a pro-democracy activist who received political asylum in the United States, admitted to engaging in espionage activities on behalf of the Chinese government and monitoring Chinese pro-democracy activists in New York for five years. He was sentenced to three years in prison in Manhattan Federal Court on the 12th, but received probation.

Tang Yuanjun, 69, has publicly criticized the Chinese Communist Party for many years. He pleaded guilty in September 2025, admitting that he failed to register as an "agent of the People's Republic of China" with the U.S. Attorney General's Office as required; he also admitted that he was instructed by the Chinese government to conduct surveillance on other dissidents for five years.

Tang Yuanjun won the trust of people in overseas pro-democracy circles by participating in monthly protests outside the Chinese Consulate in Manhattan, and in 2002 he founded a non-profit organization in Flushing, Queens, where he lives.

Prosecutors pointed out that Tang Yuanjun provided relevant information about dozens of people to the Chinese authorities from at least 2018 to 2023; he even let a Chinese contact infiltrate an online group called "Friends of the China Democracy Party," which was initiated by Tang Yuanjun and included 140 Chinese-American members.

Tang Yuanjun's defense lawyer said that Tang Yuanjun was a democracy advocate, writer and activist. He was very eager to return to China to visit his sick parents and brothers, and therefore established a relationship with a person who claimed to help him realize this wish.

Tang Yuanjun told the judge through an interpreter that he went to China to "see his parents again" against his political beliefs. He said: "I deeply regret everything I did" and admitted that "my actions have caused some harm to others."

Tang Yuanjun participated in the student-led June Fourth Movement in 1989 and was imprisoned in China for 12 years. In 2002, he fled to Taiwan, then went to the United States and obtained political asylum. In July 2018, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

After that, Tang Yuanjun began to provide intelligence to the Ministry of National Security of China, receiving approximately US$4,200 per year, and was arrested in October 2024. The move follows multiple U.S. investigations into China's attempts to harass and silence dissidents abroad, part of what federal officials call a "transnational crackdown."