Chinese Americans: In the Crosshairs of Two Governments

The victims of the “China Initiative,” their families, friends, and the public at large deserve the truth in the matter.n the nearly two‐​and‐​a‐​half centuries the American Republic has existed, a nearly countless number of individuals and groups have been the targets of federal domestic surveillance, political repression, or both. In many cases, the victims were non-white–Blacks, Native Americans, Arab or Muslim Americans, or different segments of the Asian American community. And in the post‐​World War II era, Chinese Americans have all too often been the targets of not only the U.S. government, but of the agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as well. Just over 25 years ago, I witnessed exactly how PRC operatives attempt to silence those opposed to its policies, even on American soil.The event was a Holocaust remembrance conference at Purdue University in early April 1997, the theme of which was individual guilt and collective responsibility. I’d been invited to speak because of my recent CIA whistleblowing activities, and to my amazement I was privileged to share the stage with one of the bravest men I’ve ever met: Chinese dissident Harry Wu.Wu’s life story was an amazing one: escaping a PRC political prison after 19 years of brutal treatment, coming to the United States, founding a nonprofit in 1992 to expose the PRC political prison‐​industrial system, and returning undercover to the PRC periodically at enormous personal risk to smuggle out other prisoners and dissidents. His speech at the Purdue event quickly turned ugly when a number of Chinese students in the audience began heckling him and trying to shout him down. I asked the event organizer if I could be recognized to address the audience, and he agreed.“I’d like to thank the members of the Chinese intelligence service for joining us here today,” I began. That silenced Wu’s hecklers. I then explained to the audience the kinds of tactics the PRC uses to intimidate dissidents living abroad and made it clear to the ones who’d harassed Wu that this was not the PRC, and that Wu was going to be heard.I’ll never forget two things about that event: shaking Wu’s hand when it was over and the kind words he offered for my intervention, and the reminder about the long arm of PRC repression that had been allowed to reach directly into an American university in the heartland.The PRC dissident intimidation program I described above is known alternatively as “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Skynet” according to an October 28, 2020, Justice Department announcement regarding indictments and arrests of a number of PRC nationals who attempted to do far worse than heckle their targets. A superseding indictment in the same case on July 22, 2021, noted that PRC Hanyang People’s Procuratorate prosecutor, Tu Lan, “traveled to the United States, directed the harassment campaign and ordered a coconspirator to destroy evidence to obstruct the criminal investigation.”I am absolutely delighted the Justice Department is pursuing these and related “Operation Fox Hunt” cases. It’s exactly the kind of legal approach needed to protect Chinese dissidents and asylum seekers in the U.S. Unfortunately, the federal government itself has been wrongfully targeting Chinese Americans researchers and scientists accused of acting as spies or otherwise working on behalf of the PRC in ways that are almost as bad as the PRC’s “Operation Fox Hunt.”