Delegate Taken to FBI Office : Spying Admission Stuns Chinese Dissident Group

A delegate to the convention of a dissident Chinese group in Monterey Park last week shocked his colleagues when he declared himself a spy who wants to sever ties with the Chinese government, spokesmen for the group said Tuesday.

Leaders of the Chinese Alliance for Democracy said they immediately contacted the FBI and drove the man, Shou Huaqiang, to the agency’s West Covina office. They said that although Shou has telephoned leaders of the group since the weekend, they do not know his whereabouts.

FBI officials declined to comment. “We just don’t address that sort of question for the media,” said Fred Reagan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles branch of the FBI.

Shou’s emotional confession Friday afternoon at the alliance’s fourth worldwide convention caused a stir during opening ceremonies, said Hu Ping, chairman of the alliance.

Members of the alliance, formed seven years ago by overseas Chinese scholars, favor democratic reforms in China. The group, which claims 3,000 members worldwide, publishes China Spring, a Chinese-language magazine critical of the Communist government.

Shou told the convention that his assignment was to infiltrate the alliance, disrupt its work and obtain evidence of a financial link between the alliance and the government of Taiwan.

Shou, believed to be in his 30s, moved to Missouri from Shanghai about two years ago to attend Washington University in St. Louis.

No one is certain what Shou did in China, but alliance leaders said he soon began befriending dissident Chinese in this country. He called Hu, telling him he was friends with other alliance members and began writing for China Spring.

“His articles are excellent,” Hu said, adding that Shou used a different pen name each time. Last October, he sponsored Shou to become an alliance member.

Some of the 110 convention delegates, from countries including the United States, France, Japan and Canada, said they were not surprised by Shou’s remarks.

“If there weren’t any (spies), then that would be strange,” said Chris Wu, a Monterey Park engineer.

Wu said Shou told him that he decided to publicly announce his activities as a spy “because of the June 4 massacre.” Shou said the killings of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing that day left him shaken, Wu said. “He said he cried for several days. He was determined to change his life.”

Shou told alliance members that he had been reluctant to become a spy, said Liu Xinhua, president of the alliance’s Los Angeles chapter. Shou said that in 1986, shortly after he applied for permission to study in the United States, two National Security Department officials tried to recruit him, Liu said.

“He felt he couldn’t refuse,” Liu said. “He said, ‘If I refuse, then I can’t go overseas.’ ” Not even Shou’s wife knew of his work as a spy, said Bang-tai Xu, an alliance member from Albany, Calif. “He said after he told his wife, she cried for several days.”