A Chinese man detained in the Czech Republic on suspicion of spying for China is on trial for "engaging in unauthorised activities on behalf of a foreign power," the Municipal Court in Prague confirmed on Wednesday.
Yang Yimin is the first person in the Czech Republic to be prosecuted under this specific legal provision. He has been held in pre-trial detention since his arrest in January.
Yang spent at least two years in Czechia as the Prague correspondent for the Guangming Daily. The publication is not an independent media outlet, but an official CCP mouthpiece whose editor-in-chief, Wang Huimin, is an active member of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and served as a delegate to the 20th National Congress of the CCP.
Yang had interviewed numerous Czech political and business figures before his arrest.
According to the Czech Security Information Service, he was actively cooperating with Chinese intelligence.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Yang had attempted to collect damaging information on pro-Taiwanese politicians, including Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil and former Chamber of Deputies President Markéta Pekarová Adamová.
Yang's press credentials were issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had been renewed multiple times. In response to the incident, the Czech government plans to review the accreditation process for foreign journalists.
The offense of “unauthorized activity on behalf of a foreign power” was added to the Czech Criminal Code by the previous government, and President Petr Pavel approved the amendment last February.
Tang Jingyuan, a U.S.-based current affairs commentator, believes this prosecution is highly significant, marking the first case brought forward since the Czech Republic's newly enacted national security offenses took effect.
Tang said the new Czech law is similar to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, with an expanded capacity to counter the CCP's increasingly covert modes of intelligence gathering.
"Traditionally, the crime of espionage carried a very strict and narrow definition. The CCP has fully exploited these loopholes by operating in these grey zones to conduct intelligence work on its behalf," he said.
Shen Ming-shih, a research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told NTD that the Czech Republic's move is very brave in confronting China's infiltration and unlawful intelligence activities, adding: "The Czech Republic has taken an excellent first step."