On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a series of charges against Chinese nationals who allegedly tried to “unlawfully exert influence in the United States” for the Chinese government.
“In three separate cases in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Eastern District of New York and the District of New Jersey, the Justice Department has charged 13 individuals, including members of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) security and intelligence apparatus and their agents, for alleged efforts to unlawfully exert influence in the United States for the benefit of the government of the PRC,” the DOJ said in a press release.
Seven of the Chinese nationals have been accused of “conducting surveillance of and engaging in a campaign to harass and coerce a U.S. resident to return to the PRC as part of an international extralegal repatriation effort known as ‘Operation Fox Hunt.’”
Two Chinese intelligence officers have been charged with “attempting to obstruct a criminal prosecution in the Eastern District of New York.”
In the District of New Jersey, four Chinese nationals, including three Ministry of State Security (MSS) intelligence officers were charged with participating in “a long-running intelligence campaign targeting individuals in the United States to act as agents of the PRC.”
“As these cases demonstrate, the government of China sought to interfere with the rights and freedoms of individuals in the United States and to undermine our judicial system that protects those rights. They did not succeed,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. “The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by any foreign power to undermine the Rule of Law upon which our democracy is based. We will continue to fiercely protect the rights guaranteed to everyone in our country. And we will defend the integrity of our institutions.”
