The Justice Department and FBI today took a praiseworthy step in finally cracking down on espionage and other nefarious behavior by the People’s Republic of China.
After two years of disappointing or downright abusive behavior on multiple fronts, Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray got this one right. Kudos to them.
US INDICTMENTS AND HU JINTAO PURGE PROVE COMMUNIST CHINA’S OBSESSION WITH CONTROL
Garland and Wray this afternoon unsealed charges against 13 people, 10 of them Chinese officials, related to three cases involving spy recruitment, major harassment of U.S.-based critics of the Communist government, and interference in an investigation of misdeeds by Chinese tech company Huawei. One target also has been accused of engaging in bribery and money laundering.
In the harassment case, seven people are charged with carrying out a multiyear campaign to force a U.S. resident to return to the PRC. “The attorney general said the campaign included harassment, threats, surveillance, and intimidation aimed at coercing the individual to return to China,” CBS News reported. “Those involved also allegedly harassed the victim’s family members.”
Wray called the Chinese actions “flagrant attempts” at action in violation of U.S. laws. He described a consistent effort “to lie, cheat, and steal their way into domination” of technology companies. He said then “they try to silence anyone who fights back against their theft.”
As the Washington Post colorfully reported, “Parts of the unsealed complaint read like a spy novel, describing efforts by the alleged intelligence officers … offering bribes in bitcoin and assigning code names such as ‘Marilyn Monroe’ and ‘Cary Grant’ to purported witnesses.”
But even though it read like a comedy of Chinese errors, it was deadly serious. As my colleague Tom Rogan regularly reports, China has long used Huawei as a mechanism for espionage and ruthlessly punished or terrorized critics of the regime. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, just confirmed for a third term as PRC president, is a thuggish totalitarian bent on world dominion. The PRC’s malevolent actions must be countered at every opportunity.
The Biden administration should go further by restarting the China Initiative, which it recently halted, against malicious Chinese practices related to U.S. universities. Still, today’s announcements are a significant move to deter at least a few of China’s aggressive misconduct. Good. More, please. Much more.
