In light of the recent @4corners expose on covert Chinese secret police activities in Australia, I feel it's important to once again highlight my recent encounters with PRC transnational repression.
(Background: I wrote for @ASPI_org about China's minority populations, namely Uyghurs, being subject to internment camps and forced labor. Chinese state responded by sending its secret police after me, and everyone they identify to be close to me.)
In August 2023 I was told by a representative from @AusFedPolice that during an investigation into foreign interference activities within Australia, they identified me as “a person of interest to persons of interest”.
“You’re aware of this anyway,” the officer said, and told me that “persons subject of this investigation sought information regarding your whereabouts.”
He went on to give me a security briefing, advising me to try not to walk at a consistent pace when I’m out and about. Rather, stroll for a bit and run for a bit and try to take different routes between destinations.
Don’t keep going to the same cafes or bars. Never make reservations. Make false visits to places. I have not been sentenced to death, I have not been jailed – but what do you call it when a foreign government compels you to change your movement patterns, travel to places you never wanted to be in the first place, taking away your time, effectively cutting your life shorter?
In our call the officer, who’s not part of the investigation team, was as professional and empathetic as humanly possible. He told me that the investigation was ongoing and I was not allowed to divulge details to the media. I later asked whether I could have a letter or certificate from the police saying I have indeed been a target of the Chinese government and I’m an individual at risk – so that I don’t appear deranged when I tell people about my circumstances. The answer was no.
Four months later, around 2023 Christmas, I received an email from my uncle who I hadn’t spoken to in years. He was in Australia on a business trip, he said, and happened to be passing through three Australian cities I’ve lived in. He wanted to meet and offered to give me money.
This sounded like a textbook case of Operation Fox Hunt where Chinese authorities forcibly repatriate corrupt officials, and sometimes dissidents. It was also the first time my poor uncle left China. I asked to see proof that he was indeed my uncle. He sent me a scan of his brand new passport. In his photo he looked mad as hell, face red, eyes bulging.
“I’m in Perth, staying at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Northbridge, room 1209”, my uncle – or whoever orchestrated his trip – wrote to me, like something out of a bad porno. I kept the Australian police updated on this as it took place. It was unclear what steps they took, if any.
I wrote more about my experience being internationally targeted by the PRC security apparatus, and what that means for Australia-China relationship in this article for @satpaper last month. https://t.co/8R9vxKlPMc
Here I'll also tweet out more cases of transnational repression by PRC in Australia:
Mack Horton @_mackhorton, Australian swimming star, had his family home broken into, his computer hacked, and a bucket-load of glass thrown into his pool. He had called his Chinese rival Sun Yang a drug cheat.
John Garnaut @jgarnaut, advisor to ex-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, was harassed by a group of individuals in Melbourne CBD while having lunch with his wife. He had written a groundbreaking report on the Chinese government’s covert interference in Australia.
The Australian Federal Police paid @DrewPavlou a visit in his family home last year to discuss a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty put on him, and an equivalent bounty put on his mother, among other threats. Drew had staged high-profile protests against rights abuses in China.
Andrew Phelan @ajphelo, businessman from Melbourne, was questioned by the Australian police and had his devices seized for an email sent to BBC journalist Frances Mao, in which someone impersonating Andrew threatened to kill the female journalist. Andrew is a commentator on foreign policy regarding China on Australian television.
Not all these cases can be traced back to the Chinese party-state, but the victims can’t think of any perpetrator other than the party-state and its fanatic supporters.
Revelation and discussion are a start. Concrete actions like prosecuting and expelling spies, and supporting and protecting victims, are sorely needed.
