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The United States has charged seven Chinese nationals it accuses of waging a surveillance and harassment campaign against a US resident and his family as part of a bid by Beijing to forcibly repatriate one of them back to China.
The eight-count indictment, unsealed on Thursday in a US district court in Brooklyn, New York, is the latest case by the justice department targeting China’s global overseas campaign, known as “Operation Fox Hunt”.
“As alleged, the defendants engaged in a unilateral and uncoordinated law enforcement action on US soil on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China, in an effort to cause the forced repatriation of a US resident to China,” said Breon Peace, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “The United States will firmly counter such outrageous violations of national sovereignty and prosecute individuals who act as illegal agents of foreign states.”
Michael Driscoll, the FBI’s assistant director in charge in the New York office, said: “The victims in this case sought to flee an authoritarian government, leaving behind their lives and family, for a better life here.
