The US government announced Monday the arrest of a man accused of being a Beijing agent who spied on Chinese dissidents in the Boston area, AFP and News.ro reported.

Litan Liang, 63, was arrested on May 9 and charged with working as an undeclared agent of the People’s Republic of China, according to a statement from the Ministry of Justice.

The Chinese man is suspected of providing information to Chinese authorities about members of the Chinese community in Boston who support democracy in Taiwan between 2018 and 2022. In particular, he is accused of passing on to Beijing the name of a person suspected of damaging the Chinese flag, a video of an activist taken during a pro-Hong Kong demonstration, or photos of Chinese dissidents.

“We will not tolerate China’s attempts to influence public discourse and threaten civic participation in the United States,” said Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department’s national security adviser.

Litang Liang faces up to ten years in prison.

The US often arrests people accused of Chinese espionage. In April, two Chinese, who also had American citizenship, were accused of setting up a “secret police station” in New York to monitor dissidents.

Beijing, which denies any allegations of espionage, is not letting itself down. On Monday, China sentenced a 78-year-old American resident of Hong Kong to life imprisonment for “espionage”. These incidents have increasingly strained relations between the two countries, which are in fierce competition at the diplomatic, military, technological and economic levels.