Chinese Woman Admits to Gathering Intelligence in US for Beijing: FBI

A Chinese woman stopped at Detroit Metropolitan Airport has been charged after admitting to FBI agents that she came to the United States to gather intelligence for Chinese intelligence officers based in Shanghai.

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint by an FBI agent, Jin arrived at the airport on a Delta Airline flight from Shanghai on Sept. 8, saying she was visiting an 81-year-old friend in Washington.

During secondary inspection, customs agents found a business card identifying the friend as a “U.S. government official,” identified only as “Government Contact 1” in the affidavit. When contacted by phone, the official told customs agents he was “unaware of Jin’s travel” and said he believed she might be an “informer” for Beijing, according to the affidavit.

The FBI agent said that, based on a recording, Jin’s responses during the subsequent interview with customs agents were “disorganized” and that she “often failed to directly answer” their questions, according to the affidavit.

In one question, Jin admitted that a Beijing-linked “think tank” had asked her to take the September trip to Washington, and that she had reported her previous U.S. trip to the organization through a “Chinese contact who used a fake name,” the affidavit said.

According to the affidavit, Jin entered the United States at least seven times from 2013 to 2026 on a B1/B2 visitor visa. Before that, she held an F-1 nonimmigrant student visa which expired in July 2013.

In her visitor visa application, she identified herself as the general manager of a China-based company, Tianjin Smart City Technology, according to the affidavit.

During subsequent FBI interviews, Jin admitted that the “think tank” story was a cover story provided by Chinese intelligence officers based in Shanghai to use if she was questioned about her activities in the United States, according to the filing.

“Jin ultimately admitted that she had conducted intelligence gathering work in the United States on behalf of [People’s Republic of China] intelligence officials who, in turn, allegedly assisted her with her business interests in China,” the FBI agent wrote.

The Tianjian Bureau of China’s Ministry of State Security first contacted Jin in 2012, while she was participating in a pilot training program in Los Angeles, and asked her to “obtain information from a specific event in the United States,” according to the filing.

That affidavit stated that in February 2024, Jin said she got connected to Shanghai-based intelligence officers, who became interested in her “networks [in] several countries.”

On a subsequent U.S. trip, Jin met with “Government Contact 1” and another individual identified in the affidavit as “Government Contact 2.” Jin then “reported back to the Shanghai intelligence officers regarding information learned upon her return” to China, the filing said.

The U.S. government official, or “Government Contact 1,” appeared to have concerns about Jin in July 2024, it said.

In a text message sent to Jin after she arrived in the United States from Hong Kong that month, the official said it would be “great to see you,” but asked, “how can we be sure you aren’t being tracked, not only by Chinese intelligence … I want to find out more about how much surveillance you might be under from our side, if any,” according to the filing.

“I believe you are not an intel agent per se. But as a Chinese business person you have to work with Chinese Military Intel—normal course of business in China,” the U.S. government official added, according to the affidavit.

Before a June 2025 trip to the United States, Jin said she received instructions from Shanghai intelligence officers to obtain information “related to Chinese and U.S. relations.” She reported back to them after meeting the U.S. government official and “Government Contact 2,” the affidavit stated.

“Although Jin claimed that the purpose of her most recent trip, on September 8, 2026, to the United States was to again meet with Government Contact 1, Jin denied that this trip was at the behest of the Shanghai Intelligence Officers,” the affidavit stated. “However, Jin’s earlier statements to FBI agents were inconsistent with this denial.”

The Epoch Times was unable to contact Jin’s lawyer for comment.