US Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu (劉美賢) and her father, Arthur Liu (劉俊國) — a former political refugee — were among those targeted in a spying operation that the US Department of Justice said was ordered by the Chinese government, Arthur Liu said on Wednesday.
Arthur Liu told reporters that he had been contacted by the FBI in October last year and warned about the scheme just as his 16-year-old daughter was preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Arthur Liu said he did not tell his daughter about the issue so as not to scare her or distract her from the competition.
“We believed Alysa had a very good chance of making the Olympic team and truly were very scared,” Arthur Liu said.
The justice department earlier on Wednesday announced charges against five men accused of acting on behalf of the Chinese government for a series of brazen and wide-ranging schemes to stalk and harass Chinese dissidents in the US.
Arthur Liu said he and his daughter were included in the criminal complaint as “Dissident 3” and “family member” respectively.
Arthur Liu said he took a stand against China’s bullying by allowing his daughter to compete at the Winter Games, where she placed seventh in the women’s event.
“This is her moment. This is her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games. I’m not going to let them stop her from going and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure she’s safe, and I’m willing to make sacrifices so she can enjoy the moment,” Arthur Liu said. “I’m not going to let them win — to stop me — to silence me from expressing my opinions anywhere.”
The father said that he agreed to let his daughter compete with assurances from US officials that Alysa Liu would be closely protected and kept safe while in China.
“They are probably just trying to intimidate us, to ... in a way threaten us not to say anything, to cause trouble to them and say anything political or related to human rights violations in China,” Arthur Liu said.
The justice department said that one of the five people charged “allegedly orchestrated a campaign to undermine the US congressional candidacy of a US military veteran who was a leader of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing.”
Three people were charged for acting as unregistered agents of China and are in custody.
Two others remain at large and one is a resident of China who acted as an intermediary, it said.
Officials said they are detecting what they called an alarming rise in “transnational repression” — where a foreign government seeks to harass or intimidate US residents — by nations such as China and Iran.
In Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) yesterday said that China is “firmly opposed to the US slandering by making an issue of this out of thin air.”
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
The Republic of China (ROC) is celebrating its 114th Double Ten National Day today, featuring military parades and a variety of performances and speeches in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. The Taiwan Taiko Association opened the celebrations with a 100-drummer performance, including young percussionists. As per tradition, an air force Mirage 2000 fighter jet flew over the Presidential Office as a part of the performance. The Honor Guards of the ROC and its marching band also heralded in a military parade. Students from Taichung's Shin Min High School then followed with a colorful performance using floral imagery to represent Taiwan's alternate name
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would severely threaten the national security of the US, Japan, the Philippines and other nations, while global economic losses could reach US$10 trillion, National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) wrote in an article published yesterday in Foreign Affairs. “The future of Taiwan is not merely a regional concern; it is a test of whether the international order can withstand the pressure of authoritarian expansionism,” Lin wrote in the article titled “Taiwan’s Plan for Peace Through Strength — How Investments in Resilience Can Deter Beijing.” Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) intent to take Taiwan by force
RSS