US denies expulsion of Chinese diplomat in New York

This photo shows a general view of China’s and USA’s flags | FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK — The US State Department denied on Wednesday that China’s consul general in New York had been expelled amid a spying row with Beijing, after the state governor asserted that he had been removed.

“There was no expulsion action,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters, adding that the consul Huang Ping’s regularly scheduled diplomatic rotation had happened in August.

Hochul had said she had “been informed that the consul general is no longer in the New York mission.”

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Prosecutors on Tuesday announced that a former official who worked as an aide to Hochul was arrested and charged with working as an agent of China in return for millions of dollars.

The woman, Linda Sun, allegedly sought to broker meetings between Chinese and New York officials, while working to thwart such meetings with Taiwanese officials.

In return, Sun allegedly received “substantial” economic incentives with which she funded a lavish lifestyle, tickets to a visiting Chinese orchestra and Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a visiting Chinese official’s chef.

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Sun’s husband Christopher Hu allegedly facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks.

Both pleaded not guilty to the charges and were released on bail with a proviso that they must not contact any Chinese diplomatic mission.

China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday said that it was not aware of the situation concerning Sun, but that it opposed “any malicious association or slander against China.”