In February 2022, the assistant attorney general announced the closing of the 鈥荣&苍产蝉辫; Initiative. Though the Trump-era program successfully countered several Chinese espionage and foreign influence activities in the United States, the ended the program due to concerns about 鈥渞acial profiling.鈥� Just weeks later, the Chinese Communist Party expanded its footprint on American soil.
Two Chinese American operatives 鈥� 鈥淗arry鈥� Lu Jianwang of the Bronx and Chen Jinping of Manhattan 鈥� opened a secret police station in Manhattan on behalf of the CCP. For the better part of last year, the Chinatown-based agents carried out their mission of spying on and harassing Chinese dissidents who dare to speak out against the CCP. While the cowered in fear of being called racist, the agents conducted an intimidation campaign against any pro-democracy critics of the CCP. It wasn鈥檛 until last week that both were arrested and charged with their crimes.
The Manhattan police station was part of a broader network of more than 100 Chinese police stations around the globe managed by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. The program is designed to surveil, track and intimidate critics around the world. The arrested CCP operatives even used fake online accounts to target Chinese expatriates, reveal their locations, and threaten physical harm.
According to U.S. government reports, the CCP seeks to intentionally interweave its influence operations with 鈥渟ensitive issues such as ethnic, political, and national identity.鈥� Thus, any effort to combat their influence is 鈥渧ulnerable to accusations of prejudice.鈥� And given the 鈥檚 recent decisions, their strategy seems to be effective.
Our political media establishment must stop playing into the hand of the Chinese Communist Party. We can鈥檛 allow fears of bad-faith attacks to stifle our efforts to end CCP influence in the United States.
The media hysteria 鈥� no doubt welcome in Beijing 鈥� and the countless articles stressing the need for 鈥渟ensitivity鈥� in our approach to Chinese espionage aren鈥檛 going to counteract 鈥檚 reach in the U.S. This misguided approach won鈥檛 stop from developing secret police stations on American soil, providing precursor chemicals to Mexican cartel groups flooding American streets with fentanyl, or flying spy balloons over the continental United States.
The only response that the CCP understands is American strength.
The Initiative exemplified this strength. The initiative exposed six students concealing their CCP affiliation when they applied to study in the United States; countered 10 cases of economic espionage; and charged several Chinese hackers attempting to steal intellectual property. After shut down the Initiative, however, Beijing鈥檚 activities escalated.
In the last year, a person in California was repeatedly harassed and had their car broken into immediately after delivering a speech in support of democracy. Another major aspect of the CCP鈥檚 overseas efforts is 鈥淥peration Fox Hunt,鈥� through which political dissidents living abroad are pressured to return to . In many cases, CCP operatives threaten the dissidents鈥� families to force compliance.
The CCP isn鈥檛 playing softball; we shouldn鈥檛 either. To be sure, some leaders in Washington are taking the threat from Beijing seriously. In fact, Rep. Mike Gallagher, Wisconsin Republican 鈥� chairman of the House China Select Committee 鈥� hosted a bipartisan news conference outside the Manhattan CCP police outpost shortly after it was raided. His committee also organized several hearings drawing attention to the CCP鈥檚 propaganda efforts and its manipulation of multinational institutions.
Of course, the scope of the bipartisan committee鈥檚 important work hasn鈥檛 stopped some progressive members of Congress from undermining their efforts. Rep. Grace Meng, New York Democrat, quickly followed up on the committee鈥檚 creation by expressing concern that it would 鈥減romote policies and language that endanger Chinese Americans and people of Asian descent living in the U.S.鈥� Though House Republicans have rightly drawn a sharp distinction between freedom-loving Chinese Americans and those who partner with the CCP, some on the left immediately frame their work as racist.
But the U.S. can鈥檛 craft national security out of fear of offending someone. We need more policymakers to step up and force President Biden to crack down on 鈥檚 information operations and repression in the United States. The ought to reopen 鈥檚&苍产蝉辫; Initiative and devote the necessary funds and staff to track and dismantle the CCP鈥檚 activities on U.S. soil. American citizens shouldn鈥檛 have to live in fear of Chinese surveillance, whether from undercover agents, sky balloons, or their cellphones.