The United States’ (US) Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday charged seven Chinese nationals for conspiring to act as illegal agents of the Chinese government, revealing that they had plotted to forcefully repatriate a Chinese national residing in the US.
According to the eight-count indictment, unsealed in a federal court in Brooklyn, the individuals “acted at the direction and under the control of various officials with the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) government’s Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection.” It noted that the seven surveilled, harassed, and attempted to coerce the US resident to return to China, saying their efforts are part of an “international extra-legal repatriation effort” known as ‘Operation Fox Hunt.’
They warned him that “coming back and turning yourself in is the only way out.” and that “avoidance and wishful thinking will only result in severe legal punishments.”
The DOJ statement said the agents threatened the targeted person’s family as well and tried to force them to self-repatriate to China. “The PRC government has taken such law enforcement actions on US soil in a unilateral manner without approval, of or coordination with, the US government,” it noted.
The justice department said the individuals had plotted the forced repatriation of hundreds of Chinese nationals residing in the US since 2018.
Attorney Breon Peace said the individuals “engaged in a unilateral and uncoordinated law enforcement action” in the US. “The US will firmly counter such outrageous violations of national sovereignty and prosecute individuals who act as illegal agents of foreign states,” he underscored.
Furthermore, Michael Driscoll, an officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), said “the FBI will not allow adversaries to break laws designed to protect our nation and our freedom.” “The victims in this case sought to flee an authoritarian government, leaving behind their lives and family, for a better life here,” he noted.
The Chinese government has in recent years significantly stepped up efforts to both expand its security presence in the US and infiltrate government institutions and private companies. A 2020 report by CSIS noted that from 2000 to 2020, there were at least 160 reported cases of Chinese espionage against the US and over 1,000 cases of intellectual property theft committed by Chinese entities against US companies.
The report noted that 85% of cases involved Chinese agents trying to acquire US military and commercial technologies. In fact, in November last year, the DOJ convicted a Chinese spy for attempting to steal trade secrets from American aviation and aerospace companies.
Additionally, the Center for Strategic and International Studies has reported that while 32% of the people involved in spying for China are private Chinese citizens, 26% are non-Chinese actors, “usually US citizens recruited by Chinese officials.” For instance, in December 2021, the US convicted Harvard professor Charles Lieber for lying to the FBI regarding his work with the Chinese government and failing to disclose the salary paid to him by the Wuhan University of Technology.
Similarly, in March, the US charged five people for working on behalf of China’s secret police and stalking, spying on, and harassing Chinese dissidents. The Justice Department accused the five men of perpetrating “transnational repression schemes to target US residents whose political views and actions are disfavoured” by the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).
Two months later, the US Justice Department charged another four Chinese officials and an American for intimidating Chinese dissidents, including Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Hong Kongers.
A report by the United States China Commission in July claimed that China is also involved in “agricultural espionage.” It noted that China has been investing heavily in US agricultural land and that Chinese scientists have sometimes chosen to steal US agriculture IP and technology.
Thursday’s indictments build on mounting evidence of China’s international surveillance programme. Earlier this month, a report found that China has opened dozens of police stations worldwide to monitor its citizens living abroad, including Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia, Turkey, and Indonesia. The report, published by Safeguard Defenders, revealed that Chinese authorities have been persuading and pressuring Chinese nationals living abroad to return home and “face justice” in order to tackle the “growing issue of fraud and telecommunication fraud by Chinese nationals abroad.”
In a similar vein, an investigation by the Associated Press last year found that China has been operating a “black site” in Dubai to target dissidents. “Black sites” refer to secret jails where prisoners are generally not charged with a crime and have no access to a legal route, with no bail or court order.
Likewise, in April, the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States published a detailed report showing that the Chinese government is not just mistreating members of the Uyghur Muslim community within its borders but also abroad. The researchers posited that Beijing runs such operations in 44 countries, including running detainment facilities in the US, Japan, and across the European Union. The report claims that Beijing has targeted more than 5,500 Uyghurs outside of China through cyberattacks and threats to family members who remain in China. Moreover, over 1,500 Uyghurs have been detained or forced to return to China to face imprisonment and torture by police.
DOJ Charges 7 ‘Illegal’ Chinese Agents for Plotting Forced Repatriation of US Resident
The Department said the US will firmly counter such outrageous violations of national sovereignty and prosecute individuals who act as illegal agents of foreign states.
October 21, 2022
Flags of the US and China are seen in this illustration picture taken on August 2, 2022. IMAGE SOURCE: FLORENCE LO/REUTERS