Assistant Attorney General John Demers (L) and FBI Director Christopher Wray announced the arrests of five Chinese agents for their roles in an operation targeting Chinese government opponents in the US. ©GETTY IMAGES/AFP Sarah Silbiger
Washington (AFP) – Five Chinese agents have been arrested for their roles in an operation targeting opponents of the Chinese government in the United States, US officials announced on Wednesday.Assistant Attorney General John Demers said charges had been filed against eight people involved in an “illegal Chinese law enforcement operation known as Fox Hunt.”

“Since 2014, at the direction of Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping, China has been engaged in a global operation known as Fox Hunt,” Demers said at a press conference with FBI Director Christopher Wray.

“China describes Fox Hunt as an international anti-corruption campaign in which it seeks to locate legitimate fugitives around the world and bring them to China to face genuine criminal charges,” Demers said.

“But in many instances the hunted are opponents of Communist Party Chairman Xi — political rivals, dissidents, and critics,” he said. “In either event, the operation is a clear violation of the rule of law and international norms.”

Demers said five Chinese agents had been arrested in the United States on Wednesday and the other three are believed to be in China.

They face charges of “conspiring to act in the United States as illegal agents of the People’s Republic of China.”

The Justice Department announcement comes at a time of rising tensions between the US and China over the coronavirus pandemic, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed on Beijing.

The Justice Department said three of those charged — Zhu Yong, Hongru Jin and Michael McMahon — were arrested in New York. The other two — Rong Jing and Zheng Congying — were arrested in California.

The other three facing charges — Zhu Feng, Hu Ji, and Li Minjun — remain at large.

“The Chinese government’s brazen attempts to surveil, threaten, and harass our own citizens and lawful permanent residents, while on American soil, are part of China’s diverse campaign of theft and malign influence in our country and around the world,” FBI Director Wray said.

– Threatening note –

The Justice Department did not identify any of the individuals allegedly targeted in the operation but it provided details of some of the methods the suspects used.

In the case of a man identified only as “John Doe-1,” a resident of New Jersey, the Chinese agents used a visit to the United States by the man’s elderly father in an attempt to persuade him and his family to return to China.

They also conducted a campaign of surveillance and online harassment of John Doe-1’s adult daughter as part of a campaign to exert pressure on John Doe-1, the Justice Department said.

In September 2018, the department said, a threatening note was affixed to the door of John Doe-1’s residence stating: “If you are willing to go back to mainland and spend 10 years in prison, your wife and children will be all right. That’s the end of this matter!”

The Justice Department said the charges of conspiracy to act as an agent of China carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.