The arrest of a former New York official for acting as a ‘Chinese agent’ has become the latest thorn in US-China relations, with prosecutors alleging Beijing plied Linda Sun with millions of dollars and, believe it or not, gourmet ducks.
While Sun and her husband Chris Hu have pleaded not guilty to the charges — and are released on bonds of over $500,000 — experts say the case is a “classic” example of how China spies on the US.
In a 65-page indictment, US prosecutors say Chinese government representatives allegedly arranged for millions of dollars in transactions for Hu, who had business activities in China.
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Sun and Hu used the money to buy a 2024 Ferrari Roma sports car, as well as property on New York’s Long Island and in Honolulu worth about $6 million, prosecutors said.
Other gifts included Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a Chinese government official’s personal chef and delivered to the home of Sun’s parents, prosecutors said.
In exchange, 41-year-old Sun — who worked for New York State agencies for about 15 years — allegedly used her position to push Chinese propaganda.
Sun blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from meeting with officials, and sought to arrange for a high-level New York state official to visit China, prosecutors say.
She also removed references to Taiwan and Uyghurs — whom China is accused of using as forced labour — from state communications, they allege.
“This is a classic Ministry of State Security operation,” a former CIA official, Dennis Wilder, told NBC news.
Wilder said Beijing tends to “go after naturalised American citizens with large connections to China.”
“They have family back in China. They want business opportunities in China,” he added.
Officials have now confiscated the couple’s mansions, vehicles and money they allegedly received from China.
‘First on radar in 2020’
According to a New York Times report, Sun was first approached by the FBI in 2020, months after she returned from a visit to China. Investigators wanted to know about the nature of her visit.
That was also the year when she allegedly found “ways for Chinese consular officials to gain access to New York leaders,” according to the BBC.
Sun was a low-level aide in former New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration at the time, but was bold enough to covertly add a Chinese official to a private state government call about the city’s response to Covid.
Sun’s ability to speak Mandarin helped put her on the state’s team working on securing Covid-related supplies — like PPE kits — from China.
As part of the team, Sun told a Chinese government official her husband’s company could “provide free shipping” for a US-based Chinese overseas association’s shipments to Covid-hit areas, according to the US indictment.
Officials who worked with Sun at the time told NYT that her “polished” appearance, with designer bags and dresses set her apart from most others in her position.
Forged signatures, unauthorised proclamations
Sun rose through the ranks in 2021, when she became current New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s deputy chief of staff after Cuomo’s resignation.
Hochul’s office ended up firing Sun in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct. It has not disclosed why Sun was fired.
But according to the indictment, in the weeks before she was fired, Sun presented an official Lunar New Year proclamation from Hochul to a Chinese official. The proclamation was produced without Hochul’s permission.
According to Hochul and the indictment, Sun also forged the governor’s signature to provide “unauthorised invitation letters” to “facilitate travel by PRC government officials into the United States for meetings with New York State government officials.”
Hochul’s office reported Sun’s actions immediately to authorities, and has assisted law enforcement throughout the process, a spokesperson for the governor said.
PRC General Consul leaves New York
China, meanwhile, has been tight-lipped on the charges. “I will not comment on domestic cases in the United States,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was quoted by AFP as saying.
But in true Beijing fashion Ning went on to suggest the case was an attempt by the US to defame China. “We oppose any malicious association or slander against China,” she said.
Similarly, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, said she didn’t know about Sun’s case but that the US government and media ‘frequently hype up the Chinese agents narrative’.
Hochul, meanwhile, said that charges against Sun compelled her to ask Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “have the consul general from the People’s Republic of China in the New York mission expelled.” The consul general, Huang Ping, had worked with Linda Sun.
But Hochul was “informed that the consul general is no longer in the New York mission.”
On Wednesday, the US State Department said Huang “was not expelled.”
“Our understanding is that the consul general reached the end of a regular scheduled rotation in August, and so rotated out of the position, but was not expelled.”
- Reuters, with additional inputs from Vishakha Saxena
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