A former adviser to New York governor Kathy Hochul was charged with acting as an unregistered agent for China, allegedly using her position to prevent senior state politicians from meeting Taiwanese officials and helping visiting Chinese delegations fraudulently obtain visas.

Linda Sun, a 41-year-old Chinese-born American citizen who also worked in former governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration, is accused in a federal criminal indictment of attempting to make her bosses’ public statements more favourable to the Chinese at Beijing’s behest; of arranging visits for Chinese officials; and sidelining diplomatic approaches to the governor’s office from Taiwanese representatives in the US.

She is further accused of removing references to “Republic of China”, Taiwan’s official name, from a statement made by Cuomo saluting US and Taiwanese troops, and obtaining fake letters from Hochul’s office inviting Chinese government officials to New York, which were allegedly fraudulently used by a visiting delegation to obtain US visas.