Chinese Consul General in NY Expelled After Ex-NY Official Charged With Working for Beijing, Hochul Says

Hochul said this was meant to send a message to CCP officials who worked with Linda Sun, who was yesterday charged as a spy. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a press conference Wednesday that the Chinese consul general Huang Ping in New York has been expelled at her request, after a former top-level aide of hers was charged with spying for the Chinese Communist Party.Hochul said she reached out to the White House and U.S. Secretary of State on Sept. 3 after the arrest and indictment of Linda Sun, who was hired before Hochul’s tenure. She asked that the Chinese consul general be removed from their position immediately, and ahead of a press conference Sept. 4, a high level state department official called Hochul to let her know it was done.“I have conveyed my desire to have the counsel general from the People’s Republic of China and the New York mission expelled, and I’ve been informed that the counsel general is no longer in the New York mission,” Hochul said at the press conference.She said her request was meant to send a message.“I believe that the Chinese government with their behavior in doing this and working with Linda Sun is not acceptable,” Hochul said. “It’s a statement by us, that we’re not tolerating this, and anybody who that represented that government needs to move on. That was what we made clear.”Sun was charged with acting on behalf of the CCP, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Her husband and codefendant, Christopher Hu, was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, bank fraud, and misuse of means of identification.Related StoriesSun was dismissed from Hochul’s office in March 2023 for alleged misconduct, and the governor’s office is cooperating with the investigation.Hochul said Wednesday that Sun’s arrest showed that governments at all levels “certainly” should be more vigilant.“This is an individual who started way before my time, was put in the position of liaison to the Asian community and global trade issues,” Hochul said.Sun held state government roles from 2012 to 2023 and allegedly forged Hochul’s signature on invitations that would allow Chinese officials to illegally enter the United States and meet with government officials. She also allegedly used her position to block Taiwanese representatives from meeting government officials and edit Cuomo’s statements to remove references to Taiwan as a country.According to the indictment, Sun received millions of dollars in return for her work for the CCP, and never declared her role as a foreign agent or the benefits she received. Sun and Hu pleaded not guilty during their initial court appearance in Brooklyn on Sept. 3 and will be released on bond.Hochul said at a separate Semafor fireside chat Sept. 4 that Sun had no access to security or government documents “so there was a limit to it,” but Sun used her position to promote CCP views in official proclamations while “diminishing any involvement” with Taiwan.She said Sun had also been able to use her position to obtain visas for CCP officials, and that her office had alerted law enforcement of some “evidence that didn’t look right to us ... and hence we have this outcome.”“To think that any foreign agent, any foreign government to infiltrate a government organization like the state of New York ahs to be addressed with,” she said.