A senior analyst for the New Zealand Government has been accused of providing privileged information to the Chinese Government.
Yuan Zhao, who also goes by the name of Jason, said he and his family were “detained” at Wellington Airport in October by New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (SIS) as they were returning from a holiday in Australia.
His phone was seized, and his son’s laptop was searched.
Mr Zhao works as a senior analyst at New Zealand’s Public Service Commission and has been accused of passing information to the Chinese Government, an allegation he denies.
The Chinese-born New Zealand citizen said on a fund-raising website, which has since been removed, that he was then accused of being an “insider threat risk”.
Mr Zhao said this was because he provided “privileged insights” and reported to the Chinese Government and held “close personal relationships” with officials of a foreign Government in New Zealand.
He has been suspended from his job at the Public Service Commission. His colleagues at the Commission noticed he disappeared from the workplace late in 2022.
Mr Zhao, when approached, denied he had provided the Chinese Government with information and said the SIS had no evidence to substantiate the accusation.
“I’m innocent. Someone framed me up,” Mr Zhao said.
An SIS spokesperson said the Agency had “a long-standing approach of not discussing what may or may not be specific areas of operational focus or individuals”.
A Commission spokesperson said that due to “standard security intelligence practice, we do not comment on individual security matters”.
Wellington, 10 March 2023
