Dinner, presents and invitations to visit China: Yang Ye Myung's case opened up the Prague network of Party media journalists

In 2024, Jan Zahradir, a former member of the Czech European Parliament, received a request for an interview from a Chinese journalist abroad. The other is Yang Ye Ming, journalist in Prague for the Daily Light newspaper, who holds a press accreditation issued by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and extended several times. Zahadeir stated that he had been interviewed publicly by Yang Ye Myung in

1. The Czech security agencies subsequently reminded him that the journalist might pose a security risk and he suspended his contact in the summer of 2024.

This publicly acknowledged interaction explains the most noteworthy part of the Yang Yeung case: infiltration may not necessarily start with a request for confidentiality, but may also start with a press card, a meal and a seemingly ordinary comment.Czech public radio station iROZHLASYeming Yang was also accused of having had many contacts with Helena Kochova, editor of the Czech Communist Party weekly Naše Pravda. Atul Bakmashov, adviser to the Prime Minister of Slovakia, also admitted to having been in contact with Yeming Yang, but indicated that the parties had not talked about information outside the public domain.

Yang Yeung entered the Czech Republic in 2022 and has been officially accredited as a journalist for the Daily Light since at least January

1. On 14 October, Prosecutor Martin Billy charged him with gathering political and economic information from the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries, in accordance with instructions from the Chinese intelligence services, and with approaching politicians, academics and business people, and maintaining relations with hospitality, small gifts and invitations to visit China. Defence counsel Mikhar Sikola denied the charges and stated that these activities were regular interviews; The case is pending.

Czech TV quotes the chargesAt least 38 documents were found by investigators at Yang Yeung ' s computer and at different data storage locations. The prosecution claims that these materials are not simply the preservation of information: Yang Yeung combines the information gathered with his own observations, produces risk assessments and recommendations, then sends them to a designated location at the agreed time and delivers them to another recipient. Once the public information has been re-organized by the person, position, relationship and accessibility, the value goes from “readable for all” to an operational map of “who deserves to be reached, who can influence decision-making and where to influence”.

The key to this operation is not how much secrecy has been gained from a meeting, but rather the fact that professional identity has lowered the threshold of exposure. Journalists have already made sense by asking about foreign policy, Taiwan relations or the views within political parties. The invitation to visit China may bring local contacts to the Chinese-organized area. If the public chain of conduct of the prosecution is supported by evidence, the work of the journalist provides an entry point, and the final product is the ongoing collation of the relationship between the person and the policy.

The government has also been making a big effort to raise awareness of the issue.Central Society relays the investigation of the Czech weekly RespectAccording to the Czech Security Intelligence Service, the members of Parliament were informed in secret that Yang Ye Minh had gathered information on the subject of Miloš Westerchir, President of the Senate, Marcetta Pecarova Adamova, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Olga Lomová, a Hane on China. The three men are closely connected to Czech counter-offices. It was also reported that Yang Ye Minh went to the Chinese Embassy in Prague twice a month to submit his materials. These elements are replicas of the media’s investigation of the security sector, but they place “political economic information” on one of the most sensitive policy axes in Beijing: who supports Taiwan, who is involved in shaping Czech policy towards China, and who can influence the judgement within the EU and NATO member states.

The Daily Light is under the authority of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Its foreign journalistic status is also linked to the credibility of the press profession and the organization of the party media. The risks exposed by Yang Yeung are the ones that can be used in a superimposed manner: open doors for public interviews, private contacts to maintain contact, analytical documents to process sporadic conversations into political resources that can be passed on. All Chinese journalists cannot be considered intelligence agents for this case; What is really a matter of vigilance is that State organs use the press identity as a low-cost relationship pass, which ultimately undermines the professional trust of all journalists stationed abroad.

On January 17, the Czech police arrested Yang Ye Ming. He was hooded and handcuffed during the October hearing and was brought into court by armed guards.iDNES updated at 1444 on October 16th.The court was unable to complete its trial within the scheduled three days, and the hearing was postponed to November, and closing arguments are expected to take place in early November; The defence also applied for the release of Yang Ye Minh from custody, without a public decision.

The question of whether Yang Ye Minh is guilty of a crime remains for the courts to decide, but a specific network has been seen in Prague: former European parliamentarians, Slovak government advisers, Communist media editors, pro-Taiwan Czech dignitaries and Chinese scholars, were colluded with the same party media correspondent ' s contact trajectory. For Beijing, these people are not abstract “European public opinion”, but rather capable of influencing policies, explaining China and connecting Taiwan. The political significance of 38 materials is also being presented here — once and for all as an interview and engagement, and is being consolidated into a map of the characters who can be brought back to the China Power System.