WASHINGTON - China is targeting hundreds of Chinese dissidents in the United States under the cover of an international anti-corruption campaign, using coercive tactics to force critics to return to China, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday.
The initiative, dubbed Operation Fox Hunt, was launched in 2014 as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s sweeping crackdown on corruption. Run by the Ministry of Public Security, the operation purports to hunt down suspected corrupt officials and others who have fled China.
But in reality, Fox Hunt is not an anti-corruption campaign, Wray said.
“Instead, Fox Hunt is a sweeping bid by General Secretary Xi to target Chinese nationals whom he sees as threats and who live outside China, across the world,” the FBI director said. “We’re talking about political rivals, dissidents and critics seeking to expose China’s extensive human rights violations.”
Wray made the comments in a speech Tuesday at the Hudson Institute in Washington, where he also highlighted Beijing’s use of intermediaries in its “malign influence” campaign to shape U.S. policy.
Hundreds of “Fox Hunt victims” live in the United States, many of them American citizens or permanent residents, Wray said.
“The Chinese government wants to force them to return to China, and China’s tactics to accomplish that are shocking,” he said.
In one instance, the Chinese government sent an “emissary” to visit the family of a target in the United States after the target could not be located to relay an ominous warning, according to the FBI chief.
“The target had two options: return to China promptly, or commit suicide,” Wray said.
Dissidents who refuse to return to China have had their family members in the United States and China threatened, Wray said.