Since 2014, China has forcibly repatriated 12,000 of its citizens from more than 120 countries and regions around the world. Behind every one of these rather large numbers lies a real story of life and fear. Evidently, the long arm of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) special agents who hunt dissidents overseas can reach into the privacy of any dissident and try to control their destinies. This is not a movie script — it is a world tour of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) anti-corruption show.
On Monday last week, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) program Four Corners broadcast an investigation in which it interviewed a man, going by the alias Eric, who fled from China to Australia last year. “Eric” is a former secret police officer who from 2008 to early last year worked for the Political Security Protection Bureau, a section of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. Having found a safe haven in Australia, “Eric” has now revealed his involvement in state terror activities in which he took on various identities ranging from a real-estate executive to a freedom fighter, all for the purpose of luring dissidents into traps set by the CCP.
The story of this former CCP agent might sound like a Hollywood script, but it is a true tale of global manhunts and suppression of freedom of speech.
The CCP is so keen to hunt down dissidents that it has invested heavily in infiltrating other countries’ political and economic systems. For example, in order to extradite Edwin Yin (尹科), a Chinese YouTuber who now lives in Australia, the authorities of Yin’s native Zhejiang Province have spared no expense to infiltrate Australia, because Yin’s scathing political commentaries have become a thorn in its side.
The CCP seems to regard “anti-corruption” as an excuse for hunting dissidents all over the world. Xi’s “anti-corruption” campaign is in fact a political tool to suppress any criticism of himself. From domestic corruption scandals in China to the pursuit of dissidents overseas, the CCP is playing and enjoying a one-man show.
Yin is just one among countless others who have been forced to endure extrajudicial sanctions imposed by the long arm of the CCP. This is not just persecution of individuals, but a blatant disregard of the basic freedoms of all human beings. Such activities expose the CCP’s attempts to manipulate and infiltrate countries all over the world.
In its pursuit of dissidents, the CCP is posing as the world’s police officer and trying to convince the world of its definition of “justice.” However, it is all for the sake of domestic political manipulation and power. Xi’s global anti-corruption campaign is nothing more than a carefully orchestrated smokescreen that he hopes can conceal China’s domestic problems.
Chang Yi-ying is self-employed.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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