The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has unsealed charges against two alleged DPRC spies who are accused of attempting to obstruct a federal prosecution against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

In a criminal complaint dated October 20 and made public on Monday, the U.S. claims that two Chinese intelligence officers, Guochun He (known as “Dong He”) and Zheng Wang (known as “Zen Wang”), attempted to bribe a U.S. law-enforcement official to obtain what they believed was inside information about the U.S. criminal case against a “global telecommunications company based in China.” The complaint doesn’t name the company, but the details match up with the known prosecution of the company. Huawei did not respond to a request for comment.

The complaint alleges that He and Wang “attempted to direct a person they believed they recruited as an asset” inside a U.S. government law enforcement agency “to obtain confidential information regarding potential new charges to be brought against [Huawei] for the purpose of obstructing justice.”

The government alleges He and Wang first cultivated their relationship with the law enforcement employee, who is not named, in February 2017, but that person “subsequently began working as a double agent for the U.S. government.”

The men are accused of attempting to extract confidential information about witnesses and trial evidence in the Huawei case and paid the double agent, referred to as “GE-1”, $61,000 in bitcoin, cash and jewelery for what they believed was insider information about the Justice Department’s pending prosecution of the China-based company.

At one point in October 2021, the indictment alleges, the undercover agent passed a single-page document to one of the Chinese intelligence officers, classified as “SECRET”, that detailed U.S. plans to arrest two principals from Huawei living in China. They paid the undercover agent $41,000 just for that single page.

“Far more than an effort to collect information or intelligence, the actions of the PRC intelligence officers charged in this case must be called out for what they are: an extraordinary intervention by agents of a foreign government to interfere with the integrity of the U.S. criminal justice system, compromise a U.S. government employee and obstruct the enforcement of U.S. law to benefit a PRC-based commercial enterprise,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen. “The Department of Justice will not abide nation-state actors meddling in U.S. criminal process and investigations, and will not tolerate foreign interference with the fair administration of justice.”

If convicted, He and Wang face up to 60 years and 20 years in prison, respectively.

The case was one of three unsealed on Monday relating to alleged Chinese interference in the U.S. justice system. One in New Jersey charges three Chinese intelligence agents with conspiring to act in the U.S. as illegal agents on behalf of a foreign government, while another in the Eastern District of New York accuses several people working on behalf of the Chinese government of “engaging in a multi-year campaign of threats and harassment to force a U.S. resident to return to China,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday.

Several Taiwan media outlets reported late on Monday that US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Taiwan on Tuesday and spend the night in Taipei though China has repeatedly warned that its military will take action if she does.

The Chinese Army “won’t sit idly by” if Pelosi visited Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Monday during a regular press briefing in Beijing.

Despite China’s threats over a possible Taiwan visit by Nancy Pelosi, “US military preparation” is still underway, Politico has reported.

The Liberty Times newspaper said Pelosi was scheduled to visit Taiwan’s parliament on Wednesday morning before continuing her Asia trip.

The United Daily News, also citing unnamed sources, said “related officials” were told to receive Pelosi, who is set to arrive in the capital Taipei on Tuesday evening at the soonest and spend the night there.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it has no comment on reports on Pelosi’s travel plan and no further information to share with media.

It would be a landmark move by a US official and raise the risk of a military confrontation given China views Taiwan as its territory. Pelosi would become the first sitting speaker since Newt Gingrich to go to the democratically-ruled island in 25 years. The Liberty Times is one of Taiwan’s pro-ruling party newspapers. 

Earlier on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it would be “a gross interference in China’s internal affairs” if Pelosi visits Taiwan, and warned that it would lead to “very serious developments and consequences.”

Nancy Pelosi might visit Taiwan during her Asia tour, according to a senior Taiwanese government official and a US official, despite warnings from Biden administration officials, who are worried about China’s response to such a high-profile visit amid intense speculation that she may risk the wrath of Beijing by visiting Taiwan.

Pelosi left Taiwan out of the itinerary in a statement on Sunday announcing the Asia trip, which will also includes stops in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi would be the most-senior US official to visit Taiwan since 1997.

US officials say China may be confusing Pelosi’s visit with an official administration visit, since she and Biden are both Democrats. Administration officials are concerned that China doesn’t separate Pelosi from Biden much, if at all.

Biden said last month that the US military opposed Pelosi visiting Taiwan, though since then has refused to elaborate on the warnings. The White House has said it is up to the House speaker where she travels, and that they have little say in her decision.

Many Democrats and Republicans in Congress said it was Pelosi’s right to travel to Taiwan. Other members appeared to be more cautious about the diplomatically sensitive trip, reports CNN. 

The administration takes extra care for Pelosi’s security when she travels overseas because she is in the presidential line of succession. Defense department officials are working around the clock on monitoring any Chinese movements in the region and securing a plan to keep her safe.

The Chinese embassy to the United States has objected to her expected trip, which was planned for April before Pelosi tested positive for Covid-19, urging members of Congress to tell the speaker not to make it.

Pelosi has long been a critic of the Chinese Communist Party. In recent years, she voiced support for the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

Administration officials are concerned Pelosi’s trip comes at a particularly tense moment, as President Xi Jinping is expected to seek an unprecedented third term at the upcoming Chinese Communist Party congress, increasing the political stakes.

The timing means Xi can’t afford to look weak in response to what Beijing views as foreign interference in its affairs, reports Bloomberg. 

Pelosi is accompanied by five fellow House Democrats, including Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks of New York.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen will hold a bilateral meeting with his US counterpart Secretary of State Antony J Blinken in Washington on Monday, the day of the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“We will discuss how we Bangladesh-US would further enhance our bilateral relations in the next 50 years,” Momen told the media before leaving for Washington DC on Saturday evening.

The half-century of bilateral ties with Washington after Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation amid a critical US stake led it towards a revitalized relation in a different geopolitical reality as the two countries chalked out a series of engagements this year.

Momen is going to meet his US counterpart for the first time since Washington imposed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and some of its current and former officials alleging violation of human rights on December 10 last year.

 Along with a wide range of bilateral issues, the foreign minister said he would urge the US to reconsider the sanction. “We will raise the sanction issue,” he said.

He hoped that there should be a positive response from the US side regarding the sanction as the RAB is efficient and effective in general, free from corruption.

The foreign minister said democracy is prevailing in Bangladesh while the country has made tremors in economic prosperity for more than a decade.

 “But our success stories were not echoed properly in the outer world sometimes, we will tell our success stories in the meeting,” he said.

 Momen said he would also raise the issue of handing over Rashed Chowdhury, a convicted killer of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who is now in the US, to Bangladesh for ensuring rule of law and justice.

Bangladesh is a peace-loving nation and for that Dhaka is less interested in defense procurement from the US, he said.

The foreign minister said Dhaka is examining the draft on the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), handed over by the US during the last partnership dialogue.

Washington wanted Dhaka to sign two defense agreements– General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and the Acquisition Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA)– which is the gateway to being able to do more on the security front between the two countries.

“Bangladesh wants to engage with the USA in economic cooperation, food security, blue economy, renewable energy and technology transfer which are related to welfare of the people,” he said, adding that Dhaka is willing to diversify trade with Washington while Bangladesh would invite US investments in special economic zones and hi-tech parks in the country.

The foreign minister said he will also discuss US support in commencing the early repatriation of displaced Rohingyas from Bangladesh to Myanmar.