The US Department of State has denied that China’s consul general in New York has been expelled, amid a swirling crisis around New York governor Kathy Hochul’s former aide, who has been charged with acting as a secret agent for the Chinese government.
CNN reported on Wednesday that Hochul had broken the news about the apparent expulsion of Huang Ping, the consul general, at an unrelated event. She told reporters that she told the Chinese consulate she wanted Ping expelled after she had been in touch with the US state department at the request of the secretary of state, Antony Blinken.
“I have conveyed my desire to have the consul general from the People’s Republic of China and the New York mission expelled, and I’ve been informed that the consul general is no longer in the New York mission,” she said.
Later on Wednesday, the state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, appeared to contradict the governor’s account of an expulsion. At a regular press briefing, he said that Ping had not been expelled, but had ended his stint at the consulate in August at the “end of a regular scheduled rotation”.
Miller added: “There was no expulsion action. This individual was not expelled. That said, foreign interference, including attempts to influence through covert activity, are things that we take very seriously.”
The reported removal of a top Chinese diplomat comes 24 hours after Linda Sun was charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, money-laundering conspiracy, visa fraud and alien smuggling. Sun had risen to the rank of deputy chief of staff to Hochul having also worked for the previous New York governor, Andrew Cuomo.
She worked for state government for about 15 years until she was fired by Hochul after the governor’s office said it had discovered “evidence of misconduct”. Hochul said that her former aide had demonstrated an “absolute betrayal of the trust of two administrations in state government”.
Sun’s husband, Chris Hu, was also charged with money-laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. They have both pleaded not guilty to all charges and are out on bond.
Sun had promoted policies favored by the Chinese government while working for New York state, including turning away Taiwanese government officials from the governor’s office, according to prosecutors. In return, Hu was allegedly granted preferable treatment for his China-based businesses and the couple received gifts such as “Nanjing-style salted ducks”.
