http://syn2.thecanadianpress.com:8080/mrss/feed/fcf7391a2f354311807f0501c16bde6a MSN - AP World Copyright © 2010-2018 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved. http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Sun, 11 May 2025 13:21:58 +0000 http://syn2.thecanadianpress.com:8080/mrss/feed/fcf7391a2f354311807f0501c16bde6a/3344dd7e21a74d59a342144ac690f5e4 3344dd7e21a74d59a342144ac690f5e4 Thu, 09 Feb 2023 06:42:30 +0000 SHOTLIST:RESTRICTION SUMMARY:ASSOCIATED PRESSNew York- 19 January 20231.  Baimadajie Angwang walking out of court after charges where dropped against himANNOTATION:  Two years before NYPD officer Baimadajie Angwang walked free last month, he was arrested by the FBI for allegedly being a "foreign agent."ASSOCIATED PRESSNew York- 1 February 20232. SOUNDBITE (English) Baimadajie Angwang, NYPD officer accused of being a foreign agent:"I would use the word kind of like hopeless, really hopeless, because you are going to work. Then you've got five or six agents come out with rifles pointing in you're facing at very close distance."3. Various of Angwang and his lawyer John CarmanANNOTATION: Angwang had gone from an asylum seeker, a U.S. Marine and an NYPD officer to an accused foreign agent seemingly overnight.ANNOTATION: The Justice Department claimed Angwang was acting on behalf of China and spying on the American Tibetan community. 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Baimadajie Angwang, NYPD officer accused of being a foreign agent:"They made me a three-way traitor, because the way they did it. So I'm a traitor of my birth place, right? I'm a traitor of America. I'm a traitor of the Tibetan community, which I was never a traitor. I never betrayed anyone. My fellow Tibetans, my fellow Americans, anybody."5. Various of Angwang and his lawyer John CarmanANNOTATION: He spent six months in prison, where he was only allowed to see his wife and child once. ANNOTATION: Angwang's lawyer, John Carman, says his client was caught up in the Trump era 'China Initiative' which sought to stop Chinese espionage.++WHITE FLASH++ASSOCIATED PRESSNew York- 19 January 20237. Angwang talking with reporters after his case was dismissedUPSOUND (English) ) Baimadajie Angwang:"I just want to say thank you for coming. Thanks for all the people who trusted me, who believed me since the beginning. My family, my friends, my Marine Corps brothers, my NYPD colleagues. Thank you."ANNOTATION: Then on Jan. 19th, the Justice Department dropped all charges against the man they once described as "the definition of an insider threat." ANNOTATION: Angwang is free, but he now wants answers. 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Baimadajie Angwang, NYPD officer accused of being a foreign agent:"Why did you start the investigation on me? Why did you drop all the charges? We want to know. Because you can't just go after an American citizen, ruin his life. Put him in jail for six month. Frame him as a spy. All these damage is we can never go back. We want the answer to. Why did you start and why did you end it? We want an explanation, and we are demanding that."ASSOCIATED PRESS New York - December 20179. Various exteriors of Brooklyn federal courtANNOTATION: The U.S. attorney's office wouldn't comment on Angwang's case. His lawyer says prosecutors could bring charges again, but it is unlikely.STORYLINE:On a September day in 2020, New York City Police Officer Baimadajie Angwang kissed his toddler goodbye and was about to drive to work when he was surrounded by rifle-toting FBI agents.You're under arrest, the bewildered cop was told. The charge: Being a secret agent for China.Angwang, a former U.S. Marine, spent six months in a federal detention center before he was freed on bail while awaiting trial on charges that he fed information about New York's Tibetan community to officials at the Chinese consulate in New York.Then, just as suddenly, it was over. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn dropped the charges Jan. 19, saying only that they were acting "in the interest of justice." They didn't explain further.Now, Angwang says he wants to be reinstated to the police force, which suspended him with pay while the case was pending. But more than that, he wants answers."Why did you start the investigation on me? Why did you drop all the charges?" said Angwang, who was born in Tibet but was granted political asylum in the U.S. as a teenager."We want an explanation. We're demanding it because you owe me," he said during an interview at his attorney's office. China's Communist Party has ruled over Tibet for seven decades, and China has claimed a vast stretch of the Himalayas as part of its territory since the 13th century. But the relationship has been fraught with tension, with many Tibetans — some in exile — seeking independence.The original charge against Angwang was that he began supplying information to Chinese officials on Tibetan independence groups in New York in 2018.In court documents, prosecutors said Angwang was a threat to national security. He was charged with being an unregistered foreign agent, making false statements to federal investigators, obstruction of justice and wire fraud. There were no allegations of espionage, a more serious accusation.In building its initial case against Angwang, prosecutors argued that he provided intelligence on ethnic Tibetans who might cooperate with Chinese officials and advised them on how to expand China's "soft power" in New York.Specifically, the government said, he sought a tit-for-tat arrangement that would give him a 10-year visa to his homeland in return for surveillance information and access to the Police Department.The case was built partly on recorded phone calls, including some in which authorities said Angwang called a consular official "big brother" and "boss."Angwang told the AP his words were either mistranslated from Mandarin or taken out of context. He said he became superficially friendly with Chinese officials because he needed the visa to visit his homeland, so his parents and other relatives could finally meet his daughter.The judge presiding over the case sought answers about why the charges were dismissed, but federal prosecutors declined to divulge classified information that might have given clues.The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment.The judge agreed to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning the government could press charges again — a possibility that hangs over Angwang but that his lawyer suggests is unlikely.The attorney, John Carman, surmised his client became caught up in the Trump administration's effort to root out Chinese espionage across U.S. institutions, including the economy, academics and other facets of public life. Angwang contends there were shades of racism targeting people with Chinese links."I think our criminal justice system sometimes goes off the track when it has a publicity aspect to it and when it has a political aspect to it. And this case had both," Carman said.===========================================================Clients are reminded: (i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: info@aparchive.com(ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service (iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory. The spy who wasn't? NYPD officer wants answers