Senator Marco Rubio: ‘No Precedent’ for Chinese ‘Police Stations’ in U.S.

UPDATE JUNE 16, 2023: Hundreds of Chinese Spies are ASSAULTING Our Border

In the wake of the arrests of two alleged Chinese operatives who managed a clandestine “police station” in New York City earlier this week, U.S. lawmakers are expressing alarm about the Chinese government’s increased efforts to infiltrate American society on a variety of fronts, due in part to perceived weakness on the part of the Biden administration as well as financial ties between Chinese actors and American companies and officials.

As news spread of the arrests of the two individuals who allegedly worked under the direction of China’s Ministry of Public Security, a new report from the human rights group Safeguard Defenders indicated that there are likely at least six more secret Chinese outposts located across the U.S., including in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston as well as Nebraska and Minnesota.

On Tuesday, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to discuss the brazen nature of China’s incursion efforts.

“I think it should tell us that they have no limits to what they’re willing to do to further their agenda around the world,” he said. “They don’t respect boundaries and borders and other countries. So they basically had agents operating inside the United States for the purpose of harassing and, in many cases, trying to lure Chinese Americans back to the mainland of China, where they can then obviously do whatever it is they needed to do to punish them for speaking out against China, for having positions. In some cases, by the way, they’re harassing people in the U.S., Chinese Americans, because of what their relatives are doing back inside of China, like we’ve seen with Uyghur Muslims and the like. So it shows you we’ve reached the stage now where they’re not afraid to operate inside of our country in this manner. … I don’t know of any other precedent for it.”

Rubio further argued that the audacious nature China’s spying efforts are largely due to an American culture in decline.

“They watch our newscasts — I want to be frank — [and] watch our society and our culture imploding from within. They see we are a country obsessed with things that aren’t true, like men pretending to be women and all these other things. We have a president who cannot put sentences together coherently, an America that is constantly beating up on itself and talking about how terrible we are. They see a great power in decline, and they think that they are now strong enough that they can challenge us in this way. … [I]t’s a reality … that we’re going to have to do something about.”

As if to illustrate Rubio’s point, it came to light on Tuesday that a number of high-profile Democratic politicians appeared at fundraisers and lavish dinners with one of the accused operatives, “Harry” Lu Jianwang. Photos reveal that in 2022 and 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) met with Jianwang at multiple events in New York City. Public campaign finance records show that Jianwang donated $4,000 to Adams’s mayoral campaign between 2019 and 2021.

News of additional American financial entanglements with entities directly tied to the Chinese Communist Party came in March, when it was reported that Gotion, a Chinese electric vehicle battery manufacturer, would receive billions of dollars in inducements to build plants in Michigan. Former Michigan congressman Pete Hoekstra joined “Washington Watch” Tuesday to discuss the extent of the American financial incentives that the Chinese company is set to gain in the deal.

“Two battery plants that our governor [and] the legislature is pushing total close to $4 billion in tax incentives, infrastructure, and handouts to two Chinese manufacturers to build battery plants here in the state of Michigan,” explained Hoekstra, who formerly served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands. “That’s roughly $400 for every single citizen … in the state of Michigan — meaning a family of five will be investing $2,000 into the Chinese Communist Party.”

As Hoekstra went on to observe, China isn’t the only known human rights abuser that is involved in the deal.

“Gotion is going to put an offer on the table for $10 billion for a number of different projects, including a project to mine lithium in Afghanistan,” he noted. “And this is all orchestrated through the Taliban. So imagine this Michigan taxpayer money going to Gotion, going to the Chinese Communist Party, going to Afghanistan, to mine lithium in a deal arranged by the Taliban. … I’d like to say it’s unbelievable, but it’s happening. … [T]he legislature may put the final touches on it in the coming days.”

Hoekstra also noted that both Democrats and Republicans in the Michigan legislature are responsible for coordinating the deal, which has yet to be fully approved due to grassroots backlash.

“[We need to] really offer support to the local folks,” he emphasized. “But the action item is to call our state legislature, Republicans and Democrats, and to say, ‘Don’t bring this up for a vote as a legislature.’ Pause this project or at least pause it until you can do a deep dive into the connections between the Chinese Communist Party and these so-called ‘economic development’ activities in the state of Michigan.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

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