The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has issued a statement by its chairman, John Moolenaar, condemning the hooligan antics unleashed on the occasion of the Biden–Xi pseudo-summit in San Francisco in November 2023.
“The CCP-directed attacks on human rights activists during Secretary General Xi’s visit to San Francisco last November were an outrageous violation of American sovereignty and the values we all hold dear,” Moolenaar says.
“This thuggery—also known as transnational repression—has no place in America. I thank the Hong Kong Democracy Council and Students for a Free Tibet for reporting these horrific incidents and call on the FBI and the SFPD to hold the perpetrators accountable. Congress must also act to give law enforcement additional tools to prosecute these crimes. The CCP cannot be allowed to bring its Orwellian model of totalitarian control to American soil.”
A decent statement; now let’s see follow-up. The Committee does much important investigating, reporting, and action-demanding, but could probably do more to push for its goals and to update their status.
A threat everywhere
Moolenaar is citing a joint report by the Hong Kong Democracy Council and Students for a Free Tibet called Exporting Repression: Attacks on Protesters During Xi Jinping’s Visit to San Francisco in November 2023. It notes that the CCP’s ambitions extend “much further” than its ruthless domestic repression; “over the past decade, China has invested great effort in strengthening its long arm of control through tactics of transnational repression.”
In November 2023, on the streets of San Francisco, this transnational repression took the form of alarming cases of physical violence and harassment by organizations and individuals affiliated with the Chinese government, aimed at intimidating and discouraging activists from confronting Xi during his visit. Countries around the world have identified China’s transnational repression as a direct threat to freedom everywhere, yet there remains a significant gap between rhetoric and action. This report…emphasizes the urgency of enacting meaningful measures against transnational repression. Each case outlined in this report represents a brazen attempt by the Chinese government to stamp out dissent in broad daylight on American soil.
The authors recommend more extensive vetting of diplomatic visas requested by applicants from China, expediting requests for asylum made by victims of transnational repression, and further legislation to combat it.
