House select committee on China Chairman Mike Gallagher is warning of a widespread, mafia-like crackdown by the Chinese Communist Party on Chinese expatriates around the globe including on U.S. soil.
Speaking in front of an unauthorized CCP “police station” in New York City’s Chinatown that was recently raided by the FBI on Saturday, the Wisconsin Republican, said Beijing is carrying out a global campaign to harass and surveil those who go against the party.
“I’ve spoken to dozens of dissidents from China and human rights activists,” he said. “It’s rare to find someone who hasn’t experienced at least some low-level form of digital harassment from CCP agents.”
“How, how have we allowed this to happen on American soil?” He said. “The answer, in my opinion, is that we have been blind.”
Last year, the human rights organization Safeguard Defenders exposed more than 100 unauthorized CCP “police stations” in cities around the globe used to harass and surveil dissidents living in exile.
The group claimed that China used undercover agents posted in overseas “police stations” to coerce dissidents into returning home.
Beijing has denied that it operates “police stations” outside of China.
In October, the Department of Justice arrested and charged 13 people, including Chinese security and intelligence agents, for allegedly coercing U.S. residents to return to the People’s Republic of China as part of an international repatriation effort known as Operation Fox Hunt.
The charges were part of three separate cases brought on by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Eastern District of New York and the District of New Jersey.
On Saturday, Mr. Gallagher accused the CCP of exerting mafia-like influence around the globe, employing “muscle and threats” to persuade dissidents to bend to its will.
“But there’s one important difference,” he said. “Unlike the mafia, the CCP has a much more powerful arsenal at their disposal to back up their strong-arm intimidation tactics: advanced technology, weaponry [and] artificial intelligence.”
“We in Congress need to make sure that the FBI has the training and the resources to deal with this threat,” he said. “Not just the FBI headquarters in DC, but at every local field office across the country.”
Mr. Gallagher said he has asked the FBI to appear before his panel to describe how it intends to deal with the threat.
The Republican-led House established the select committee last month to assess the wide-ranging military, economic and technological threats posed by China as bipartisan fears over Beijing’s global influence grow in Congress.
The panel will host its first hearing on Tuesday titled “The Chinese Communist Party’s Threat to America.”
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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