'Agent of influence' Huang Jing and wife depart Singapore for US
'Agent of influence' Huang Jing and wife have left Singapore said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sept 8). Photo: LKYSPP
SINGAPORE – Academic Huang Jing, identified by the Singapore Government as an "agent of influence", has returned to the United States together with his wife, Ms Yang Xiuping.
Dr Huang said in an email response to TODAY on Saturday (Sept 9) that he and his wife left Singapore for Vienna, in the US state of Virginia, on Thursday.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) first confirmed on Friday that the couple, US citizens who were born in China, had left Singapore.
This came about a month after the ministry revoked the couple’s permanent residency, and permanently banned them from returning to Singapore.
MHA said Dr Huang had used his position to “deliberately and covertly advance the agenda of a foreign country at Singapore’s expense”. He has denied the allegations.
Asked about his future plans, the former professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) said: “I will first fly to Berlin (on Saturday) to attend the Richard von Weizsaker Forum. I will then sort out the options available to me.”
The couple had appealed against the Government's decision but their application was rejected.
The MHA said in a statement on Aug 23 that the couple had to leave Singapore "within a stipulated grace period" after Home Affairs Minister K Shamugam rejected their appeal, which was filed on Aug 7.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) – which the LKYSPP is part of – subsequently terminated Dr Huang’s employment as the director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the school, on grounds that he no longer had the necessary immigration permits to work in Singapore.
Dr Huang, an expert on Chinese elite politics as well as US-China relations, said he enjoyed his time working in Singapore.
“I never expected that I would have worked in Singapore for 9 years when I was invited to Singapore in 2008. I enjoyed my work and had lived happily in Singapore for 9 years,” he told TODAY in his written reply.
