Government analyst Yuan Jason Zhao denies spying for China, wants apology for ‘mistake’

A China-born senior government analyst accused of being a “national security risk” wants the Security Intelligence Service to be held accountable for, he claims, wrongly alleging he spied for China.

“I was described like a China James Bond,” Yuan Zhao said.

Stuff revealed last week that Zhao, who also goes by the first name Jason, was “detained” at Wellington Airport in October by the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) when returning from a holiday in Australia with his wife and three children.

The senior analyst at the Public Service Commission (PSC) was subsequently suspended from his job, with pay, for being an “insider threat risk”, as he provided “privileged insights” to the Chinese government, and held “close personal relationships” with officials of a foreign government in New Zealand.

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The SIS defines an “insider threat” as a person who uses their access to an organisation’s assets to “harm the security of their organisation or New Zealand”. An insider threat could do this “knowingly or unknowingly”, including through spying or the “unauthorised disclosure of information”.

But Zhao, speaking to Stuff at the Johnsonville library on Tuesday, said this was a “mistake”.

“Someone must account for this action, no matter this person’s position, no matter how high this person’s position.”

Zhao said he had connected on WeChat with Chinese embassy staffers, friends of friends he met at social events. But he talked to them only about general matters – not work.

He said he did not believe he had been exploited by the Chinese government, either. Nor had he mistakenly shared information.

“Why me? I left China … I’m not a nuclear scientist.”

The questions he said he faced were wide-ranging: What information did he share? He didn’t know. Who did he meet while in Australia? He was on a cruise ship; there were lots of people. Was he also working for another government – the Taiwanese? He said he wasn’t.

“Who in the Chinese government was my boss? How did I report it?” he said.

Zhao said SIS should have searched his chat messages and investigated him “quietly” before confronting him. And he took issue with the way he was approached by the SIS, intimidated in front of his family by a “secret agent”.

His wife and teenage sons’ phones were searched. Their luggage, including his 8-year-old daughter’s, was searched. His phone was seized and returned to him a month later. He still uses the phone, “because, yes, I’m innocent”.

He said he was separated from his family in a room, where the SIS agent placed two pieces of paper in front of him, both signed by then SIS director-general Rebecca Kitteridge. It was demanded he sign them to consent to a voluntary interview.

It was “totalitarian”, he said. He was told not to speak to anyone about the interview, and that he could be found “anywhere”.

He said he was also told the SIS would show up at his house with the authorities – he presumed that meant the police – next week. No-one ever came.

But, that evening at home, he was suspended from his job. A PSC deputy chief executive sent his wife a text message asking to speak with Zhao, presumably knowing he did not have access to his phone. He was told not to use his work computer.

He said the accusation was racist, due to him being a Chinese-New Zealander and because “some countries are against China”.

He said he left behind hardship in China in 1996 to work as a chef in Singapore. He then arrived in New Zealand in 2000 on a study visa and learnt English. He became a citizen in 2006 and found work in data analysis in government. He had been back to China “two or three times” for his family to meet relatives.

Zhao was fundraising to fight the case against him and wanted a public apology for himself and his family.

He has complained to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security about his treatment, and the watchdog has confirmed an investigation is underway.

A SIS spokesperson declined to comment on Tuesday, beyond saying the intelligence agencies “welcome the independent oversight of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security on all aspects of our work”.

The spokesperson previously said the agency had “a long-standing approach of not discussing what may or may not be specific areas of operational focus or individuals”.

Both the SIS and Government Communications and Security Bureau will appear before Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee on Wednesday.