The communist regime is increasingly emboldened to go after Chinese dissidents and those who have been exiled or fled repression and now live in America.
China’s communist regime is extending its long arm of repression into the United States, a phenomenon that is “extremely dangerous” to Americans and poses serious implications for U.S. national security, a State Department official warned.
At an event hosted by the International Republican Institute on Oct. 9, Dafna Rand, the newly confirmed assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, said Americans should be aware of China’s growing efforts to suppress dissenting voices on U.S. soil.
“The [People’s Republic of China (PRC)] has pioneered—and others have followed—a practice of transnational repression,” Rand said.
“Not only do they go after dissidents and political oppositionists and civil society and journalists and bloggers within the PRC, but now are emboldened to go after dissidents, and Chinese nationals, and maybe those who have been exiled or fled.
“This is extremely dangerous to the American taxpayer. This means that the United States is fair game for the PRC and others.”
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known for using physical and digital threats and intimidation, coercion by proxy, technical espionage, and unexplained disappearances to carry out repression outside of its borders, the State Department said in a report published in April.
‘Effective Action’
Washington-based advocacy group Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC) applauded Rand for speaking out against the CCP’s transnational repression.
“There’s substantial commitment in the U.S. government to countering CCP [transnational repression], but effective action must follow the rhetoric more consistently,” the group wrote in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Oct. 10.
As an example of the CCP’s repression in the United States, HKDC pointed to its recent report on attacks against peaceful protesters during CCP leader Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco in November 2023. The group stated that it had “found little to no effective U.S. government response so far” to their report, even though the attacks “occurred in broad daylight” while President Joe Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo were also present at the time.
By Frank Fang
