Nigeria, June 5 -- An American journalist has admitted to working as an agent for China, illegally gathering US state security information for the rival power.

The journalist, identified as Thomas Weir Pauken II, pleaded guilty on Thursday before a US court to conspiring to obtain sensitive information from the US government for China, according to the BBC.

The paper reports that the court document showed that Mr Pauken had been living and working in China since 2010. He has previously worked for several Chinese media organisations there, including CCTV and Xinhua News.

But from "at least 2019 until February this year, Mr Pauken worked at the direction and control of people he knew worked for the PRC," according to the documents.

The ...