The United States has charged seven Chinese nationals with carrying out a campaign of surveillance and harassment against a US resident and his family as part of an attempt by Beijing to forcibly repatriate one of them to China.
The eight-count indictment, unsealed Thursday in a US district court in Brooklyn, New York, is the latest Justice Department case against China’s global campaign abroad, known as “Operation Fox Hunt.” ”.
“As alleged, the defendants engaged in unilateral and uncoordinated law enforcement action on U.S. soil on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China, in an effort to cause the forcible repatriation of a U.S. resident to China,” said Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “The United States will vigorously counter such outrageous violations of national sovereignty and prosecute individuals who act as illegal agents of foreign states.”
Michael Driscoll, deputy director in charge of the FBI’s New York office, said: “The victims in this case sought to flee an authoritarian government, leaving their lives and family behind, for a better life here. That same government sent agents to the United States to harass them, threaten them, and forcibly return them to the People’s Republic of China.”
The seven people charged are Quanzhong An, 55, of Roslyn, New York, his daughter Guangyang An, 34, and five others still in China: Tian Peng, Chenghua Chen, Chunde Ming, Xuexin Hou and Weidong. Yuan.
The main accused, Quanzhong An, and his daughter were arrested on Thursday morning. The rest of the accused remain at large. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with China.
According to the indictment, Quanzhong An is accused of working at the behest of the China Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection to harass and intimidate a Chinese man and his son living in the US. The man and his son identify themselves only as John Doe-1 and John Doe-2.
As part of the plot, the defendants allegedly forced a relative of the family, identified as John Doe 3, to travel from China to the United States in an attempt to convince John Doe-1 to return to the country.
At a restaurant meeting in September 2018, the relative explained to John Doe-2 that the government had forced him to travel there as part of a plan to repatriate the 100 Most Wanted fugitives, the indictment alleges. John Doe-1 was told that “the leadership in China would like to encourage the overseas Chinese elite to return.”
Other examples of harassment the family endured included a letter-writing campaign, with one letter warning that “going back and turning yourself in is the only way out.”
The Chinese government also filed a lawsuit against the father and son in a New York state court, alleging that the father had stolen money from a Chinese employer and that his son had illegally profited from the scheme.
