Singaporean man pleads guilty in US to acting as Chinese intelligence agent

Jun Wei Yeo has pleaded guilty in the US to being an agent of China.

G7 leaders have discussed how to come up with a unified position on China. Source: AP

A Singaporean man who set up a fake consulting site to solicit information from US government and military workers has pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of Chinese intelligence, the Justice Department said on Friday.

Sentencing for Jun Wei Yeo, also known as Dickson Yeo, will be in October, according to the department.

“The Chinese Government uses an array of duplicity to obtain sensitive information from unsuspecting Americans,” John C. Demers, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's National Security Division, said in a statement.

“This is yet another example of the Chinese government’s exploitation of the openness of American society.”

The United States is cracking down on Chinese spying, with the FBI having interviewed dozens of visa holders about their possible ties to Chinese intelligence.

On Friday a Chinese researcher who took refuge in the San Francisco consulate was expected to appear in court on allegations she lied about her Chinese military service, while the US counterintelligence agency chief warned China and other nations could interfere with November elections.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.