Washington – The United States has sent a warning to Beijing about Chinese agents it says are operating covertly in the United States to pressure fugitives, including some suspected of corruption, to return to China, the New York Times reported on Sunday.
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Citing U.S. officials, the newspaper said the operation, named Operation Fox Hunt, was part of a worldwide effort by Beijing to repatriate fugitives and recover funds suspected of being tied to criminal activity.
The Times said the State Department warned China in recent weeks to stop the agents’ activities. According to U.S. officials cited by the newspaper, the agents, working undercover for China’s Ministry of Public Security, were likely entering the United States on trade or tourist visas and using “various strong-arm tactics” to pressure expatriates to go back home.
Such tactics included threats against relatives in China, and had intensified in recent months, the officials told the Times.
The newspaper cited Ministry of Public Security figures that more than 930 suspects worldwide had been repatriated under the program since last year.
Those being sought by China are believed to be prominent expatriates, some wanted for economic corruption or for what China considers political crimes, the Times reported.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to make his first state visit to the United States next month as the countries seek to resolve tensions over such issues as trade, human rights and hacking.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Wonder if Xi Xinping and his staff of 500 are also coming to Washington DC as covert agents!
In any case the USA does the same thing China does but it’s more covert! China just copies the West in all industries, including covert operations to stimulate extradition. The USA obviously doesn’t want to extradite these individuals since it brings in millions annually to the economy and taxes. For China, though it’s a global crackdown on corruption, so in final analysis, for USA it’s economics, and for China it’s “losing face” and Xi Xinping is the last one to lose it, since he initiated Operation Fox Hunt!
The USA labels corruption in china as corruption. In the USA they label corruption as “lobbying”!