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Chinese Scientist Wanted for Visa Fraud Hiding in San Francisco Consulate, US
Prosecutors Say

VOA News

   U.S. prosecutors say the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco is
   harboring a scientist who hid her affiliation with the Chinese
   military.

   Prosecutors charged Tang Juan, a researcher with the University of
   California in Davis, with one count of visa fraud on June 26. According
   to court papers, Tang claimed on her visa application that she had no
   ties with the People's Liberation Army. However, FBI agents later found
   photos of Tang in a Chinese military uniform in a search of her home,
   as well as information that she had worked as a researcher at China's
   Air Force Military Medical University.

   The court filing says Tang denied the allegations when she was
   interviewed by FBI agents June 20, after which she sought refuge in the
   San Francisco consulate.

   Prosecutors' claim about Tang Juan was first reported by the news
   website Axios Wednesday, hours after the U.S. State Department ordered
   the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, to shut down because of what
   Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said was the persistent problem of
   Beijing's theft of U.S. intellectual property.

   Prosecutors say Tang is part of a program conducted by the PLA to send
   scientists to the United States on "false pretenses with false covers
   or false statements about their true employment" with the intention to
   steal intellectual property from U.S. colleges and research institutes.

   Chinese researcher Chen Song, who worked at Stanford University, was
   arrested last month on a similar charge of visa fraud.

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