Chinese Whistleblower Living In US Is Being Hunted By Beijing With US Tech (go.com) 64
A former Chinese official who fled to the U.S. says Beijing has used advanced surveillance technology from U.S. companies to track, intimidate, and punish him and his family across borders. ABC News reports: Retired Chinese official Li Chuanliang was recuperating from cancer on a Korean resort island when he got an urgent call: Don't return to China, a friend warned. You're now a fugitive. Days later, a stranger snapped a photo of Li in a cafe. Terrified South Korea would send him back, Li fled, flew to the U.S. on a tourist visa and applied for asylum. But even there -- in New York, in California, deep in the Texas desert -- the Chinese government continued to hunt him down with the help of surveillance technology.
Li's communications were monitored, his assets seized and his movements followed in police databases. More than 40 friends and relatives -- including his pregnant daughter -- were identified and detained, even by tracking down their cab drivers through facial recognition software. Three former associates died in detention, and for months shadowy men Li believed to be Chinese operatives stalked him across continents, interviews and documents seen by The Associated Press show.
The Chinese government is using an increasingly powerful tool to cement its power at home and vastly amplify it abroad: Surveillance technology, much of it originating in the U.S., an AP investigation has found. Within China, this technology helped identify and punish almost 900,000 officials last year alone, nearly five times more than in 2012, according to state numbers. Beijing says it is cracking down on corruption, but critics charge that such technology is used in China and elsewhere to stifle dissent and exact retribution on perceived enemies.
Outside China, the same technology is being used to threaten wayward officials, along with dissidents and alleged criminals, under what authorities call Operations "Fox Hunt" and "Sky Net." The U.S. has criticized these overseas operations as a "threat" and an "affront to national sovereignty." More than 14,000 people, including some 3,000 officials, have been brought back to China from more than 120 countries through coercion, arrests and pressure on relatives, according to state information.
Li's communications were monitored, his assets seized and his movements followed in police databases. More than 40 friends and relatives -- including his pregnant daughter -- were identified and detained, even by tracking down their cab drivers through facial recognition software. Three former associates died in detention, and for months shadowy men Li believed to be Chinese operatives stalked him across continents, interviews and documents seen by The Associated Press show.
The Chinese government is using an increasingly powerful tool to cement its power at home and vastly amplify it abroad: Surveillance technology, much of it originating in the U.S., an AP investigation has found. Within China, this technology helped identify and punish almost 900,000 officials last year alone, nearly five times more than in 2012, according to state numbers. Beijing says it is cracking down on corruption, but critics charge that such technology is used in China and elsewhere to stifle dissent and exact retribution on perceived enemies.
Outside China, the same technology is being used to threaten wayward officials, along with dissidents and alleged criminals, under what authorities call Operations "Fox Hunt" and "Sky Net." The U.S. has criticized these overseas operations as a "threat" and an "affront to national sovereignty." More than 14,000 people, including some 3,000 officials, have been brought back to China from more than 120 countries through coercion, arrests and pressure on relatives, according to state information.
/me gets butter and salt (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sure the comments for this article will be filled with well-thought-out replies and level-headed discussion on technology and political freedom.
Re:/me gets butter and salt (Score:4, Interesting)
There isn't much to discuss.
On the part of China, all is clear - that person is accused of corruption [rfa.org], which is the standard way to deal with officials, corrupt or otherwise, who are no longer convenient over there. Moreover, since he's refused to deal with them and ran instead, they're seeing him as a traitor, too. China also likes to make examples of uppity people who refuse to cave, so they're ready to spend some money to pester him, so that the rest of the herd will notice and be careful.
With the part of trumpistan, everything is also quite clear. The spyware vendors are helping China because they'll sell out anything for a thick wad of quick cash - themselves, their country, their family. The trumpistani government no longer recognizes political persecution for exposing corruption as a problem. In fact, it didn't for a long while, we recall that was typical to prosecute whistleblowers even when that country was known as the USA.
So it is a multi-party match made in heaven.
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps standard, but didn't we always say that all Chinese officials are "corrupt".
What era are you thinking of when Chinese officials weren't corrupt? This guy is being accused of corruption by the CCP.
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but didn't we always say that all Chinese officials are "corrupt".
I have no idea if the person is corrupt or how much, hence I posted a link with more details.
It is quite plausible that a corrupt official also becomes a whistleblower, this can happen for a number of reasons.
Re: /me gets butter and salt (Score:1)
"they are simply just criminals trying to escape punishment"
Is it criminal to go after a suspect's family? Did the US put Snowden's relatives in prison to get leverage on him?
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Re:/me gets butter and salt (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately for the CCP, rejecting human rights is one of their top four most fundamental principles [cnn.com]. We can't have an extradition treaty with a country that doesn't even pretend to care about its people.
Re:/me gets butter and salt (Score:5, Insightful)
*for starters*.
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maybe the USA should agree to recognize the ICC?
Why? What would that accomplish?
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We can't have an extradition treaty with a country that doesn't even pretend to care about its people.
Wait! China doesn't respect human rights? That can't be right.
That was the whole (purported) point of Clinton (Mr.) et al. gifting MFN trade status and other benefits to China, and creating a huge new frontier for the evacuation of our industrial base. You're not saying we crushed our manufacturing economy for literally nothing, are you? That's ridiculous. The Clintons would never allow such a thing to happen. Shame on you.
Re: /me gets butter and salt (Score:1)
Was Nixon wrong to end the trade embargo on China?
Re: /me gets butter and salt (Score:1)
Why can't we beam in free uncensored encrypted internet so lots more Chinese individuals can become dissident at home and self-organize to overthrow the CCP?
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Re: /me gets butter and salt (Score:1)
Why not go to China and talk about Tiananmen Square?
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Which part of the article triggered you to complain about "trumpistan"? Was it this one?
In 2015, Washington complained that Chinese agents were flying to the U.S. and stalking targets without approval, including U.S. permanent residents. Agents brought night goggles from China, snapped photos and taped threatening messages on doors.
Or maybe that IBM was selling that surveillance software to China before 2017?
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"Triggered"? My, you should really read better books. The companies that are allegedly selling spyware and support are all trumpistan-based, what's wrong with using the name of the country?
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Yep, corruption is so rampant with government workers (at all levels) in China that nobody has any trouble believing that story when someone who isn't corrupt is purged for any number of other reasons. One need only to see the number of children of relatively minor officials tooling around Europe in exotic sports cars and living VERY extravagantly. When the average family income in China is still only about US$6k per year, there is little sympathy for these people when they are rounded up (justly or unju
Re: /me gets butter and salt (Score:1)
"there is little sympathy for these people when they are rounded up (justly or unjustly)."
Did you just say emotions should trump Rule of Law?
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Nope. I didn't say that. Typical Chinese citizens understand how rampant corruption is and there is very little empathy for a potentially innocent person caught up the purge machine.
Re: /me gets butter and salt (Score:1)
Are Chinese just fine with corrupt officials not caught up in purges, because they're afraid of them? What kind of a way to run a country is that, where all government officials are corrupt but the people only celebrate the ones purged because they were politically incorrect?
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I didn't draw parallels, I explained how the greed of the trumpistani business, the corruption of the trumpistani state and the need of China for better tools to oppress their population have created a beautiful union.
You don't like it? Do something about it, don't insult the messengers, moron :)
Re: /me gets butter and salt (Score:2)
There is no union. There is no fascism in the United States.
Not at all, indeed. No fascism, no racism, no oligarchy, no president receiving bribes, no rubber-stamping "supre e court", no cangaroo majority in the two chambers of the parliament, no proud gerrymandering, no large scale attack on the "foreigner" justified by fiction, no baseless attacks on the allies, no groveling to putin, no piracy on the high seas. No fascism, I get it :)
There are only mentally ill people who dream up new ways to be a victim.
And your hands are itching to fix them, like China and putinland are doing and what the Soviet regime used to do, right? Ah... You
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Should have also been modded up on a dimension for "accurate prediction".
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At some point, people will realize
Sure, Jan.
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Not even 20 days away, Shirley.
Story doesn't add up :o (Score:2)
Wouldn't such a phone call reveal his location as well as the location and identity of this friend?
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From TFA:
Li's family prospered, investing in apartment complexes and renting out forklifts and bulldozers, raising questions over whether he used his position to enrich relatives. Li and his lawyers don't deny conflicts of interest or civil violations, but say profits were made from legal, regular business operations and deny criminal charges of embezzlement and bribery.
It sounds a lot like how US Congresscritters such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz make bank (142% return in 2024!) by trading stocks in companies that are regulated by their committees: it's obviously crooked and based on having insider information, but difficult to prove.
Re: Story doesn't add up :o (Score:1)
Does the CCP need actual proof or do they just say they have proof against anyone they decide they don't like?
Should justice be arbitrary and capricious?
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He is criticizing an evil regime for doing evil things, but that doesn't mean he is entirely innocent or pure in his motivations. I trust China exactly as far as I can throw it, but it is entirely possible that both (a) China is unfairly prosecuting this guy and advising him off things he didn't do and (b) he used his government position to help his family before he retired. The paragraph I quoted strongly suggests that (b) is true.
Re: Story doesn't add up :o (Score:1)
Is "strongly suggests" just hearsay? Are you saying hearsay should be a legal standard for conviction, because your mood is against this guy?
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No to both questions. How retarded are you? I didn't say anything at all about the standard to convict him, except to say that I don't trust China (to give him a fair trial or in just about anything else). But most people would respond to that kind of question by saying that they didn't steer business to friends or family, or something like that. TFA just says that his people don't deny having done that kind of thing -- the lack of a stronger response is what suggests he did it.
Re: Story doesn't add up :o (Score:1)
Can you see how my mood affiliates against the idea that stalking him abroad and threatening his family, while providing no proof, is a fit punishment for the alleged crime? What did he whistleblow about, and is that the real reason they are selectively prosecuting?
in other news (Score:1)
evolving technology is being used for its intended purpose.
ok
Er (Score:3)
I don't think "US tech" is really the problem here:
through coercion, arrests and pressure on relatives, according to state information
The target has relatives back in China. China says play ball, or your sister gets it.
Re: Er (Score:1)
When a slashdot comment told me free speech exists in the hard sciences, did he mean Chinese scientists are free to hold CCP opinions on everything? If a Chinese hard scientist dares to like democracy, will he get disappeared and his work taken over by a politically smarter scientist?
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I don't think "US tech" is really the problem here:
If some means to Blame America First (tm) is not provided, it doesn't live long in the echo chamber most slashsnotters inhabit.
Which specific technology and how does it work? (Score:2)
Read the article. It bizarrely has few technical details of what the surveillance technology is and how it works. That is, I realize this article is for non-technical readers but it is about a technical topic. I would expect at least a few details of how it works.
For instance, one example mentioned is that Li's location was found because he took a taxi ride. It's mentioned that his taxi cab driver was matched to a specific location. How? Is there a database of taxi cab drivers? How was the photo taken? How
Financial Privacy (Score:2)
In my lifetime you could open a bank account with just a name, ditto for renting an apartment, and pay for everything in cash.
This guy is screwed unless he's only a guest of a patron.
Crime was lower and people were more responsible back then too.
All this control grid surveillance still hasn't caught the Building 7 people.
Maybe it's possible to decide a course of action was a bad idea and reverse it?
Answers (Score:2)
1) Is this a major focus of Chinese spies?
1a) Yes. They love to scare their ex-citizens. They threaten anyone they think is 'important', especially if they speak out about China because they think their reputation is valuable. Which is a joke. China is part of the 'face' cultures - they care more about what people say publicly than think privately so spend an inordinate amount of time shutting people up publicly even though their real reputation is worthless among anyone that does not fall for stupid pro
Pocket 'more than US$400 million’ and flee' (Score:1)
Headline from a paywalled article in the South China Morning Post 2014: How did a minor Chinese official pocket ‘more than US$400 million’ and flee? [scmp.com]. If there's any truth to that, I can see how they might want to track him down.
"Whistleblower" is a pretty generous label for thi (Score:1)