Chinese Consulate in San Francisco Harboring Wanted Criminal: FBI
RESEARCHER ON THE RUN
The Chinese consulate in San Francisco is harboring a researcher who lied on her visa application about her military affiliation, the FBI alleged in court filings made public Monday. Tang Juan came to the United States on a J-1 visa and worked as a researcher at the University of California San Diego, allegedly without disclosing that she was considered active military personnel in the People’s Liberation Army. She allegedly failed to note that she had worked at the Air Force Military Medical University in China, a military university. The FBI searched her apartment and interviewed her about the visa application on June 20, and she was charged with visa fraud June 26, according to the filings. In between the interview and the charges, according to the FBI, the researcher sought refuge at the consulate and has stayed there since. The day after the FBI filed the July documents with in Northern California District Court, the State Department informed Chinese diplomats they had 72 hours to close the country’s consulate in Houston, a move intended to “protect American intellectual property and American’s private information,” according to a State Department spokesman. The State Department has begun a crackdown in recent years on alleged Chinese intellectual property theft and undisclosed ties in American academia.