Operation Fox Hunt

[Randy W]

This is in the Guardian (UK) and Al Jazeera

 

 

China blackmailing dissenters in US to return home – FBI chief

• Christopher Wray condemns campaign against ex-pats and says Beijing espionage is ‘greatest threat to US economic vitality’

Fox Hunt was launched six years ago by President Xi Jinping, ostensibly to pursue corrupt officials and business executives who had fled abroad. Beijing has celebrated its claimed successes, publicising the return of hundreds of economic fugitives, and issuing wanted lists of those still at large. The Obama administration complained about the activities of undercover agents in 2015.

Wray said the operation’s principal aim now was to suppress dissent among the diaspora.

He told the Hudson Institute in Washington: “China describes Fox Hunt as some kind of international anti-corruption campaign. It is not. Instead, Fox Hunt is a sweeping bid by Xi to target Chinese nationals who he sees as threats and who live outside of China, across the world.

“We’re talking about political rivals, dissidents and critics seeking to expose China’s extensive human rights violations.”

Wray said that Fox Hunt operations, directed by China’s ministry of public security, were also under way in other countries, and the FBI had been cooperating with its partners to foil Chinese efforts at intimidation. He said Chinese nationals in the US were often coerced by thinly veiled threats against their families back in China.

Asked about other coercive tactics used, he replied: “Use your imagination. You’re not going to be far off.”

 

He appealed to anyone in the US who thought they were a Fox Hunt target to “please reach out to your local FBI field office”.

 

and Al Jazeera

 

FBI chief says China threatens families of overseas critics in US

[Randy W]

Here is the SCMP's version from 2015

 

Revealed: the team behind China's Operation Fox Hunt against graft suspects hiding abroad

Man leading hunt for corrupt officials overseas reveals the qualities that make his team tick

[Randy W]

. . . and TomoNews Funnies, also in 2015