Last year, there were 34 documented cases of harassment, intimidation, and assault against peaceful protesters during CCP leader Xi Jinping’s visit.
Two U.S.-based advocacy groups are calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the activities of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “united front” foreign influence organizations in the United States, after identifying groups responsible for street violence in San Francisco during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit in 2023.
“Investigate whether united front groups in the U.S. are acting as unregistered foreign agents of the PRC in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” the two groups urged the DOJ, referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
The report also urged the DOJ to “explore the potential criminal liabilities of individuals and groups engaged in” transnational repression.
Xi arrived in San Francisco on Nov. 14 last year for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
United Front Groups
The CCP leverages a network of groups, some directly under the control of the United Front Work Department within its Central Committee, to carry out its “united front” strategy to advance the regime’s interests overseas. A big part of the strategy involves exerting influence and control over Chinese diaspora communities and promoting favorable narratives about China under the CCP’s rule.
Jia said that Li “snatched her banner, dragged her into an area surrounded by other CCP supporters who held up their large PRC flags so that no one could see what was happening, pulled her hair, and hit her in the head,” the report states, adding that an ambulance later arrived at the scene and first responders treated Jia.
Also on Nov. 14 last year, Li Huanjun, a victim of forced demotion in China, said that she was hit in the head with a flagpole and pinched on the arms, waist, and other places several times during encounters with CCP supporters.
One of the individuals who allegedly participated in the harassment and intimidation of Li Huanjun was Jing Dongsheng, the report stated, identifying him as the president of the Oregon Association for the Promotion of the Peaceful Unification of China.
Four other united front leaders were allegedly responsible for attacks against Chinese activist Wang Wei on Nov. 15 last year. According to the report, their names are Wengxi Zhuoma, president of the Sichuan Association of Washington State; Guo Jianwei, president of the Henan Association of Washington State; Fang Weixia, chair of the Association of China’s Peaceful Reunification of Washington State; and Chen Wenshen, vice president of the Seattle-area Fujian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Washington State.
In a video, Fang can be seen “punching … and kicking” activist Wang, according to the report.
Wang explained in the report that he was wearing a “Free China” sticker on his arm, which could be the reason he became a target of the CCP supporters.
“A question which the U.S. government, local governments, and federal and local law enforcement authorities may need to confront is whether the CCP united front groups and individuals are essentially acting as unregistered foreign agents, in which case they may be in breach of the law,” the two groups wrote.
Transnational Repression
HKDC and SFT said that local authorities in San Francisco did not do enough to protect protesters.
“Despite strong awareness of CCP [transnational repression] at the federal level and a general commitment to countering it, agencies were unprepared to do so in San Francisco,” the two groups wrote.
“Local law enforcement authorities exhibited a lack of awareness of [transnational repression], were often unresponsive when alerted to the attacks, and took little and inadequate action in response to the attacks.”
The report explained that protesters had to change their protest plans several times “due to safety concerns.”
For example, Tibetan and Uyghur groups canceled their plan to march to the Hyatt Regency on Nov. 15, 2023.
“When they saw the large numbers of CCP supporters gathered outside the hotel and an absence of separate protest zones, they decided against this course of action as they feared it could lead to a potentially violent confrontation,” the report reads.
Standing Up for Liberty
The report offered recommendations to the White House, the Department of State, the DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Congress, and state and local authorities to address the CCP’s acts of transnational repression.
It urges the State Department to impose targeted sanctions against foreign individuals who “direct or engage” in acts of transnational repression. It also asks the Department of Homeland Security to offer transnational repression-related training to state and local law enforcement.
“Silence and lack of action will surely signal to the CCP that it has ‘gotten away with it’ and simply encourage it to continue to pursue its objectives to silence, intimidate, and inflict violence on those it perceives as its enemies abroad,” the report reads.
“At best, it leaves those who live in the United States and advocate for freedom and human rights in East Turkestan, Hong Kong, the PRC, and Tibet uncertain and skeptical that U.S. authorities will protect them when the CCP seeks to come after them, and, at worst, fearful and intimidated in the ‘land of the free.’”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.