By Simon Lewis, David Brunnstrom and Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's consul general in New York left his post as scheduled after completing his posting last month, the State Department said on Wednesday, hours after New York's governor said she asked for his expulsion in the aftermath of an aide's arrest for secretly acting as a Chinese agent.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that Consul General Huang Ping "was not expelled."
"Our understanding is that the consul general reached the end of a regular scheduled rotation in August, and so rotated out of the position, but was not expelled," Miller said.
"But of course, when it comes to the status of particular employees of a foreign mission, I would refer you to the foreign country to speak to it. But there was no expulsion action.”
China's embassy in Washington said Chinese diplomats do not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.
"Their normal performance of duties in the U.S. should not be interfered with or disrupted in any way," an embassy spokesperson said, adding that reports saying the Chinese envoy was expelled were false and making "malicious speculations."
Earlier on Wednesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul told an event that she spoke by phone at the request of Secretary of State Antony Blinken to a high-ranking State Department official "and I had conveyed my desire to have the consul general from the People's Republic of China in the New York mission expelled."
"And I've been informed that the consul general is no longer in the New York mission," she said.
Miller said Hochul had spoken on Wednesday to Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
Asked by an audience member if she had been interviewed by investigators, including the FBI, Hochul said: "They asked me one question."
"I'm not able to talk about it but it had something to do with identifying whether or not something was my signature and that was it," she said.
Linda Sun, 41, a former aide to Hochul, was charged on Tuesday with secretly acting as an agent of the Chinese government in exchange for millions of dollars in compensation and gifts, including meals of gourmet duck.
Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, 40, pleaded not guilty to criminal charges before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo in Brooklyn, after being arrested on Tuesday morning.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said that while working in state government, Sun blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from meeting with officials, and sought to arrange for a high-level New York state official to visit China. In exchange, Chinese government representatives allegedly arranged for millions of dollars in transactions for Hu, who had business activities in China.
Prosecutors said Sun and Hu used the money to buy a 2024 Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) Roma sports car, as well as property on New York's Long Island and in Honolulu worth about $6 million.
Hochul was not accused of any wrongdoing. Her office fired Sun in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct and reported Sun's actions immediately to authorities. Her office also has assisted law enforcement throughout the process, a spokesperson for the governor said.
According to the website of China’s consulate in New York, Huang Ping has been the consul general since November 2018. Prior to that, Huang, 61, served as a Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe and did stints as an official at the embassy in Washington and China’s consulate in Chicago.