Tang Yuanjun was well known among exiled Chinese dissidents. He took part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and was imprisoned as a result. He then defected to Taiwan and swam from a fishing boat to one of its remote islands. The United States granted him asylum, and he settled in New York and became a leader of a pro-democracy group in China. However, in August 2024, he was arrested by the FBI. He admitted that he used his position to gather information for the Chinese government and report on fellow activists. He did this so the government would allow him to return to China to see his sick parents.
China’s hacking of U.S. computer networks and efforts to steal Western military and business secrets have made headlines in recent years. But China is also pursuing more sophisticated campaigns involving bribes, extortion, and secret deals, using people like Mr. Tang and other Chinese diaspora to conduct surveillance, intelligence gathering, and They are conducting operations to exert influence. . British authorities recently got a taste of all this when they accused Chinese businessman Yang Tengbo of forging a relationship with the king’s younger brother, Prince Andrew, as part of an influence operation.
However, the United States is China’s most important target. This type of activity falls under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). This is a U.S. law that requires anyone working on a political project on behalf of a foreign agent to register and disclose their activities. In recent years, the Department of Justice has stepped up enforcement of this law. The department conducted 25 FARA inspections in 2023, the most since 1985. This year there have been several high-profile cases involving China. Experts say that by making these investigations public, the U.S. government is sending a warning to would-be agents.
One of the major cases involves former New York state governor’s aide Linda Sun, who was arrested in September for acting as a “private agent” of China and its Communist Party (CCP). Son is accused of disrupting meetings between Taiwanese officials and national leaders. , removed references to Taiwan from state news agencies and thwarted efforts to promote China’s persecution of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, in return for which she allegedly received millions of dollars in kickbacks and kickbacks. . Gifts were also given, including several deliveries of Nanjing-style salted duck to her parents’ home.
The accusations against Mr. Son are simple and clear. However, Chinese influence operations often operate in a gray area. Take, for example, diaspora groups called doxiang-kai (hometown associations) that bring together immigrants from specific regions of China. They are ubiquitous in American cities and are increasingly under scrutiny by the Justice Department. In the United States, association leaders often mobilize voters and build relationships with local officials before elections. Some visit China and meet with leaders of the United Front Work Department, the Communist Party branch tasked with increasing China’s influence abroad. Association leaders organize political activities in the United States, including rallies in support of Xi Jinping and protests against visits by Taiwanese officials.
These activities are legal as long as the organizers act independently. However, the line between voluntary action and agentic work is blurred. Many overseas Chinese are true supporters of the Communist Party, or at least happy to promote its interests. Because the Communist Party helps businesses back home and protects the safety of their families in China. They only cross the line as foreign agents if they receive covert funding, direction, or supervision from Chinese authorities. For example, in 2022 the FBI arrested the chairman of the Shandong hometown association, not for his frequent trips to China or his friendship with Chinese officials, but for deporting another immigrant. This was because he was suspected of collaborating with Chinese police. Similarly, in 2023, two Chinese men were indicted for allegedly working with Chinese police to run a “secret police station” within the Fujian Hometown Association in New York. One of them pleaded guilty on Dec. 18.
U.S. authorities have struggled to combat these efforts without alienating the Chinese diaspora. A counter-espionage program called the China Initiative, launched in 2018, aims to stop China from using “non-traditional collectors” such as academics and scientists to steal U.S. trade and technology secrets. The purpose was to. Nearly 90% of defendants were charged with this crime. The initiative is a Chinese legacy, with many of the lawsuits questioning the “integrity of the research” and accusing academics of failing to provide full disclosure, according to a database compiled by MIT Technology Review. There is. their affiliation with China (whether that was intentional or not is highly debatable); Only a quarter of all cases brought under this initiative resulted in a conviction.
Former officials who worked on the China Initiative say U.S. counterintelligence efforts are aimed at making the Chinese diaspora feel safe. “You’re signaling to them that we’re rooting for you. What you don’t want to do is spin too far into a situation where being Chinese is equivalent to being a spy.” ” he says. But Gan Chen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the initiative left many academics feeling like the government viewed them with suspicion simply because they were of Chinese descent. He was indicted in 2021 for failing to disclose his ties to Chinese education programs when submitting federal grant applications. This indictment was heavily criticized (no such disclosure was actually required). A year later, the charges were dropped.
According to a 2022 survey, more than 60% of Chinese American academics have considered leaving the United States. More than 70% said they felt unsafe there. “You’re not just shooting yourself in the foot; you’re shooting yourself in the brain,” said Chen, who quit applying for government grants and working in potentially sensitive fields. says.
Other members of the Chinese diaspora have welcomed efforts to thwart Communist Party influence. Zhou Fengxao of the New York activist group China Human Rights praised the arrest of people like Sun. But he warns that the high-handedness and inconsistency of the US approach has led to distrust of the government among the diaspora. And exiled Chinese dissidents have complained that they receive little protection from authorities and are easy targets for Chinese coercion.
In 2022, the Justice Department ended the China Initiative, acknowledging that it had led to “harmful perceptions” of racial profiling. But in September, the House of Representatives passed a bill with the support of all Republicans to reinstate the China Initiative under a new name, the Communist Party of China Initiative. These efforts are likely to intensify under President-elect Donald Trump, who has given important jobs to China hawks. America is forcing more and more people from the diaspora into its hands.
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