The U.S. Attorney’s Office accuses five people of spying and harassing Chinese dissidents in America. In one case, it has been suggested that a dissident be forcibly prevented from running for the House of Representatives.
Beat him until he can no longer run for office. A car accident, (he) is completely broken, right?” Lin Qiming, a Chinese citizen living in China, allegedly used those words against an American private investigator he hired to keep the dissident from running for election.
According to the Americans, Lin Qiming works for the Chinese Ministry of State Security. He would initially have asked the detective to fabricate private scandals about the dissident, for example that he was involved in abuses with a prostitute.
Classic Chinese Tactics
That sounds like a classic Chinese tactic: even within China, dissidents are often tackled by accusing them of immorality, corruption or tax evasion. Like this got the dissident artist Ai Weiwei in 2011 a politically motivated tax arrears assessment. And Xu Zhangrun, an outspoken professor who dared to criticize Xi Jinping and China’s corona policy, was fired in 2020. accused of visiting prostitutes.
The American authorities have not released the name of the dissident in question, but the description of the person in the documents for the trial indicates that he is Xiong Yan. Xiong is alleged to have been involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square riots in Beijing.
In total, this concerns three separate cases in which dissidents were harassed. Five people have been charged with this. They are said to have been guilty of espionage and harassing and persecuting dissidents of Chinese descent. They allegedly acted on behalf of the Chinese secret police. In all three cases, it would be what the Justice Department calls ‘transnational plans for repression’.
Hong Kong Watch
Also in the United Kingdom, China recently reached beyond its own national borders in the repression of political opponents. Which reported Hong Kong Watch, a UK-based group opposing the curtailment of freedom of expression in Hong Kong.
The organization published a letter from the Hong Kong authorities in which they ordered it to close its website. If they did not comply, Benedict Rogers, head of the group, would be convicted of violating the so-called National Security Act that was introduced in Hong Kong in 2020. Under that law, it is, among other things, forbidden to collude with foreign powers and to call for the secession of China.
Rogers could face a sentence of between three years and life in prison if he did not comply with the Hong Kong order.
Every citizen worldwide
It is the first time the law has been used to indict a Brit who does not have dual citizenship and who also does not reside in Hong Kong. The Security Act contains a striking provision that it also applies outside Hong Kong, and also for people without Chinese nationality. This potentially makes every citizen worldwide punishable if they endanger the national security of China.
In practice, it will not immediately lead to people like Rogers being lifted from their beds in the UK to end up in a Hong Kong or Chinese cell. But the legal basis to do so at any time is there. For the time being, China will mainly threaten international application of the law. China also wants to prevent anyone outside the country from turning against China’s policy on Hong Kong.
Also read: First person found guilty under controversial Hong Kong security law