Wellington: A senior analyst for the New Zealand government has been accused of providing privileged information to the Chinese government by the country’s Security Intelligence Service. Yuan Zhao, who also goes by the name Jason, says 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. Yuan 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. He said he felt threatened by the SIS, compelled to participate in a voluntary interview in another room while his wife and three children were “hostage”, and told not to talk about the matter as the SIS could find him anywhere.

Source: Stuff March 09, 2023 04:53 UTC