The PhD candidature of Dickson Yeo Jun Wei at one of Singapore's most prestigious institutes of higher education has been terminated with immediate effect.
The termination was confirmed by a spokesperson from the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) on Sunday, July 26.
The LKYSPP statement noted that Yeo has pleaded guilty in the United States to one count of acting within the country as an illegal agent of a foreign power.
The termination, the statement said, comes after information released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Enrolled in 2015
Yeo enrolled in LKYSPP's Public Policy programme in 2015 as a PhD student.
He applied for, and was granted, a leave of absence in 2019, according to the spokesperson.
Yeo researched and wrote about China’s treatment of small states during his LKYSPP stint.
His thesis proposal was approved in principle by LKYSPP in August 2017, according to Yeo's profile on the Academia website.
He was also a visiting researcher at Peking University for International Relations and Public Policy, based on the collection of 29 papers and presentations uploaded online.
Last posted on Facebook in November 2019
Yeo's Facebook profile states that he was born on Feb. 22, 1981.
He is 39 years old.
Yeo last few posts on Facebook were in November 2019.
It showed he was travelling to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York on Nov. 6, 2019.
Yeo’s last posts on Facebook were on Nov. 7, 2019.
One post said “Stressful Day”.
The two responses to that post were, "You doing alright?", as well as, "Dickson, where are you?"
Background
Yeo pleaded guilty on July 24 to using a fake consultancy business in the U.S. as a front to collect non-public, sensitive information for Chinese intelligence.
He entered his plea in federal court in Washington to one charge of operating illegally as a foreign agent.
Yeo admitted to working for Chinese intelligence between 2015 and 2019.
He was involved in spotting and assessing Americans with access to “valuable non-public information”.
Former top Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan revealed on July 25 that Yeo’s PhD supervisor at LKYSPP was former LKYSPP Professor Huang Jing.
Huang was identified in 2017 as an “agent of influence for a foreign country” by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
What MHA said in response to arrest
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on July 26 that it was informed by the U.S. authorities of the arrest of Dickson Yeo Jun Wei in November 2019.
"Investigations have not revealed any direct threat to Singapore's security," the ministry said in response to media queries.
It added: "Singaporeans are expected to abide by the laws of the country which they visit or reside in. MFA is rendering the appropriate consular assistance, as required, to Yeo."