US detains Chinese researcher who sheltered in consulate

Bloomberg

US officials said they now have custody of a Chinese researcher who had taken shelter at the country’s consulate in San Francisco after she was charged with trying to hide her military background.
Officials briefing reporters declined to discuss the circumstances of the arrest of Juan Tang, a researcher at the University of California at Davis who was accused of lying on her US visa application.
Tang became a flash point in deteriorating US-China relations when federal prosecutors declared her a fugitive and spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry called her a victim of “political persecution.” She is set to appear in federal court in Sacramento on Monday.
As the countries have sparred publicly by closing each other’s consular offices in Houston and Chengdu, the Justice Department is investigating universities across the US in an attempt to uncover members of China’s military forces who it says are hiding in plain sight.
“These members of China’s People Liberation Army applied for research visas while hiding their true affiliation with the PLA,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C Demers said in a statement. “This is another part of the Chinese Communist Party’s plan to take advantage of our open society and exploit academic institutions. We will continue to conduct this investigation together with the FBI.”
Days after US agents interviewed Tang last month, prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against her in federal court, under seal.
Prosecutors said in a court filing this month that the Chinese consulate in San Francisco provides “a potential safe harbor for a PLA official intent on avoiding prosecution in the US” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stopped short of saying whether Tang was being sheltered by diplomats.
“We urge the US to stop using any excuse to limit, harass and crack down on Chinese scholars and Chinese students in the US,” he told a regular news briefing in Beijing.