Unsealed files from U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has revealed that Chinese secret police have been involved in a plot aiming to stalk, harass and intimidate a U.S. military veteran running for Congress
The files, which were released on March 16, say the efforts also included a plan to arrest enemies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and surveillance operations to spy on anti-communist activists in the U.S.
The perpetrators went to “outrageous and dangerous” lengths to do so, the DOJ said, adding that three of the accused have been arrested, but two remain at large and are believed to have returned to China.
According to court documents, the three arrested agents are accused of “transnational repression schemes” to target American residents whose political views and actions were “disfavored by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government.”
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“These cases expose attempts by the government of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] to suppress dissenting voices within the United States,” said DOJ Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen during a press conference, The Epoch Times reported.
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Olsen added that the “conspiracy aimed to derail the congressional candidacy of an American citizen” and warned that the unveiled cases were examples of the “alarming rise in trans-national repression… authoritarian states around the world feel emboldened to reach beyond their borders to intimidate or exact reprisals against individuals who dare to speak out against oppression and corruption.”
“They demonstrate how the PRC seeks to stalk, intimidate, and silence those who oppose them,” Olsen said.
Chinese dissidents targeted
In another plot, the agents planned to destroy the work of a Chinese artist, living in Los Angeles, who had been critical of his home government, and allegedly planted spy equipment in the artist’s workplace and car.
Fan “Frank” Liu, Matthew Ziburis and Shujun Wang were all arrested in the Eastern District of New York earlier this week. Two other suspects, Qiang “Jason” Sun and Qiming Lin remain to be captured, prosecutors said.
Three of the accused agents lived in either Long Island or Queens — their activities centered on New York City, but some extended to other states. The three arrested agents appeared in a Brooklyn federal court in the evening of March 16 and remain to be formally charged.
Attempts to harm and derail a congressional candidate
The details of the allegations claim that Lin hired a private investigator in New York to disrupt the congressional campaign of Yan Xiong, who is currently seeking the Democratic nomination to run for Congress representing a district in Long Island.
Yan had been a student leader of the pro-democracy demonstrations that took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989. After becoming disillusioned with the Chinese regime, Yan immigrated to America, becoming a naturalized citizen and serving two tours in Iraq with the U.S. military.
According to The Epoch Times, Lin’s arrest warrant details his efforts to use a private investigator to implicate Yan in prostitution, tax evasion, and possession of child pornography. After those attempts failed, Lin encouraged a private investigator to “physically harm” Yan by either beating him or causing him to be involved in a car accident.
Authorities said Lin remains at large and faces two counts related to conspiracy to commit interstate harassment.
After Yan announced his intention to run for a U.S. congressional seat in 2021, Breon Peace, US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said the plots centered on campaigns to “silence, harass, discredit and spy” on U.S. residents for “simply exercising their freedom of speech.”
“The United States will not tolerate blatantly illegal actions that target US residents, on US soil, and undermine our treasured American values and rights,” Peace added.
