US, Chinese dissidents accuse Beijing of intimidation campaigns against them

2024-05-07 18:36:16, Kosova & Bota CNA

US officials say foreign countries like China intimidate, pressure and sometimes orchestrate violence against political opponents and activists living in the United States. A series of cases filed by the Justice Department attest to the dire consequences geopolitical tensions can have on ordinary citizens, as governments that have historically suppressed dissent within their borders increasingly surveil those who speak thousands. kilometers away.

The tendency of governments to pursue dissidents in other countries is known as repression across borders, and US officials say there has been an alarming increase in such cases. One of the main countries doing so, according to officials and activists, is China.

Bob Fu, a Chinese-American Christian pastor whose organization, ChinaAid, advocates for religious freedom in China, says he has been targeted for years by such a campaign.

For months, large crowds of demonstrators gathered outside his West Texas home in well-coordinated actions that he believes may be linked to the Chinese government.

"Every day from 9:00 to 4:00, threatening me and my family to the point that the FBI and local law enforcement had to evacuate us and several of our friends who were visiting from Taiwan , in a safe house for three months," he says.

False hotel reservations were made in his name, and the police were contacted to report bomb threats falsely attributed to Mr. Fu. Neighbors have been handed out flyers with false accusations about him. Mr. Fu now takes protective precautions when traveling.

"I don't feel safe, I think the agents of the Communist Party of China are being encouraged. Look at what happened during the last meeting between President Biden and President Xi Jinping in the context of APEC, in San Francisco. Many protesters from Hong Kong, Tibetans , Uighurs, were violently treated by thugs organized by the Chinese consulate or embassy," he says to the Associated Press agency.

In 2020 Wu Jianmin, a former leader of student groups in China's 1989 pro-democracy movement, was targeted by a group of protesters outside his home in Irvine, California.

"They took pictures and videos every day in front of my house and shared our address on the Internet. All of this seriously affected the personal safety of all members of my family," he says to the Associated Press agency.

This trend is all the more worrisome at a time of US tensions with China on many fronts, from trade and intellectual property theft to election interference.

The Chinese embassy in Washington denied that Beijing had engaged in the practices and said in a statement that the government "strictly adheres to international law."

"We vehemently reject the allegation of foreign interference," the statement said.

However, U.S. officials say China created a program called "Operation Fox Hunt" specifically to track down Chinese immigrants wanted by Beijing for prosecution, forcing them to return to the country to face charges. .

Last year, the Justice Department charged more than 35 Chinese national police officers with using social media to target dissidents inside the United States and arrested two people it says helped set up a secret Chinese police center in Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood.

A year ago, federal prosecutors charged five people, including a retired New York police detective, with widening conspiracies to silence dissidents./ VOA