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EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Gov’t Awarded Sensitive Research Grants To Scientists In Chinese Communist Party Talent Programs

U.S. government agencies have awarded sensitive scientific, military and energy grants to dozens of researchers participating in Chinese government programs linked to economic espionage, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found.

The DCNF identified 50 federally-funded researchers currently working in U.S. universities and/or national laboratories who are listed as experts of Chinese government talent recruitment schemes, like the Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) and Chang Jiang Scholars program, following a months-long review of the talent plans’ websites, Chinese government documents, university profiles and state-run media reports.

The Chinese government has created hundreds of so-called “talent recruitment plans,” all of which incentivize participants to “steal foreign technologies needed to advance China’s national, military, and economic goals,” according to the FBI. Individuals identified as Chinese talent plan participants by the DCNF have conducted upwards of millions of dollars of federally-funded research while working in Ivy League schools, like Harvard, land-grant institutions, such as Penn State, and national labs, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The U.S. government’s “porous” vetting process allows many individuals involved in Chinese talent recruitment plans to fall through the cracks and access federal funding, according to L.J. Eads, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst.

“We are playing Russian roulette with national security, funding research and infrastructure that could ultimately bolster the [People’s Liberation Army],” Eads told the DCNF.

Senate Republicans have been particularly concerned with Chinese espionage targeting U.S. national labs. Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn told the DCNF that China will “lie, cheat and steal to achieve its goal of global domination.”

“Any allegation of taxpayer-funded researchers sharing information with Beijing must be fully investigated,” Blackburn said.

‘Honor System’

The Department of Defense (DOD) identifies both the TTP and Chang Jiang Scholars programs as posing “a threat to national security interests of the United States,” and, consequently, federally-funded researchers failing to disclose participation in the programs may face criminal prosecution.

Although the TTP and Chang Jiang Scholars programs are not overseen by the same Chinese government agencies, both talent recruitment plans specifically recruit researchers with “expertise in emerging technologies or areas with potential military applications,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Of the 50 individuals identified by the DCNF, 39 are listed as TTP participants, two are listed as Chang Jiang Scholars and nine are listed as participants in both programs. But, to be sure, none of the individuals listed by either talent plan have been charged with any crimes.

Both programs also threaten U.S. national security by incentivizing participants to “eventually return to China to augment its scientific and military capabilities instead of contributing to the scientific activities of the foreign countries in which they were trained,” U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission notes.

Despite DOD and congressional warnings, nearly one-third of the Chinese talent plan recruits conducted research funded by the Pentagon and/or NASA.

A spokesperson for Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the DCNF that DOD-funded researchers failing to disclose participation in malign Chinese talent plans may face criminal investigation.

“Ongoing participation in a malign foreign talent program such as China’s Thousand Talents Program would be a category that requires mitigation or rejection of a proposal,” the spokesperson said. “Failure to disclose required information could result in administrative penalties depending on the severity of the infraction, and in extreme cases could result in referral of a case to law enforcement.”

The Department of Justice has successfully prosecuted federally-funded researchers on charges related to failure to disclose participation in malign Chinese talent recruitment plans. In Dec. 2021, Charles Lieber, a former Harvard University chemistry professor, was convicted of crimes related to concealing his TTP participation from U.S. government agencies such as the DOD and others funding his research.

In July 2012, the Wuhan University of Technology recruited Lieber into the TTP to establish a research facility, for which he received a more than $1.5 million payout, $50,000 per month in salary and roughly $150,000 per year for living expenses, according to an FBI affidavit. Lieber was ultimately sentenced to time served plus two years of supervised release, six months of home confinement, a fine of $50,000 and $33,600 in restitution to the IRS in April 2023.

However, not all DOD research proposals undergo in-depth security reviews, according to a 2023 memorandum shared by the DOD spokesperson. Indeed, full security reviews are typically only conducted if an initial “risk-based” review discovers red flags, such as potential malign foreign talent plan participation, Eads said.

“Most of the time, they’re just spending 30 seconds doing a quick look and then approving the DOD award,” said Eads, who now works as the director of research intelligence at Parallax, a nonprofit research institute.

Eads added that relatively few grant applicants ever undergo full security reviews because the initial risk-based review essentially operates on an “honor system,” which relies on an applicant’s institution to certify “they’re telling the truth and abiding by those policies.”

Consequently, universities are now also finding themselves on the hook for failing to properly vet professors and falsely certifying federal grant proposals. In fact, the University of Delaware recently agreed to pay over $700,000 to “resolve civil allegations that it failed to disclose a UD professor’s affiliations with and support from the government of the People’s Republic of China in connection with federal research funding,” according to the Department of Justice.

The University of Delaware falsely certified a NASA grant that was not to be used “to participate, collaborate, or coordinate” with China, but was awarded to a University of Delaware marine studies professor who also served as a TTP expert connected to Xiamen University, the DOJ settlement agreement reads.

“We’ve seen Beijing repeatedly use its Thousand Talents Plan to steal information and intellectual property to advance military technologies,” Blackburn told the DCNF.

‘Industrial Espionage’

All the individuals identified by the DCNF who are working in U.S. universities conducted federally-funded research after joining Chinese talent recruitment plans — a large portion of which came from the DOD and NASA.

The DCNF identified these individuals by matching Chinese talent recruitment plan participants listed in talent plan websites, Chinese government documents, university profiles and state-run media reports with U.S. academic records.

Brandon Weichert, a national security analyst at the National Interest, told the DCNF that the TTP recruits American academics because the U.S. remains a central hub of research and development.

“The Thousand Talents Plan is an overt program of industrial espionage directed against the U.S.,” Weichert said. “They seek to co-opt our scientists to their cause.”

The DCNF found individuals listed by Chinese talent recruitment plans currently teaching in 38 schools, such as University of California-Berkeley, whose spokesperson told the DCNF that the school was “committed to complying with federal funding agency laws and policies governing research and grant disclosures” and was “not aware of any faculty participating in a ‘Malign Chinese Talent Recruitment Program’ at this time.”

While teaching at U.S. universities, more than half of these individuals have received research funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which was the most common source of federal research dollars among those identified by the DCNF.

One Rice University physics professor, whom the Chinese government identifies as a TTP expert, has worked on approximately $5 million worth of NSF-funded projects, including an ongoing $950,000 grant related to “quantum-information technology.” His faculty profile states he also performs research grant proposal reviews for NSF and the Department of Energy.

A Rice University spokesperson told the DCNF the school has “established very robust policies to address compliance with federal requirements concerning foreign talent recruitment concerns, and is committed to complying fully with U.S. research security laws and regulations.”

An NSF spokesperson told the DCNF that the agency requires “mandatory disclosure of foreign government talent recruitment plans,” and, in 2020, established an office that “has developed powerful research security analytics tools that can now detect nondisclosures.”

“The NSF’s research security analytics tools are a step forward,” Eads told the DCNF, “but without integrating foreign [open source intelligence] and data from behind China’s Great Firewall, their effectiveness is limited to comparing C.V.s with disclosure records, leaving significant gaps in detecting undisclosed foreign ties.”

The DCNF also identified 14 individuals working in U.S. universities who have conducted DOD-funded research, with the majority of those funds originating from either the Army Research Office (ARO) or the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

One professor in Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has worked on research projects funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), ARODefense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and several other U.S. defense agencies since Chinese state media reported he joined the TTP in 2011.

“This information is published, and is no secret,” the Harvard professor told the DCNF on X after being contacted about his involvement with Chinese government organizations including the TTP.

Yet, he refused to answer questions about his TTP contract, and the DCNF found no mention of his TTP participation listed on his faculty profile, C.V. or in any English-language sources, despite his work on multiple DOD-funded projects.

An AFOSR spokesperson told the DCNF that participation in the TTP would require “mitigation or rejection of a proposal.” An ONR spokesperson told the DCNF that “researchers funded by ONR are required to divulge any participation in foreign talent programs.”

Meanwhile, eight of the individuals working in U.S. universities identified by the DCNF have also conducted NASA-funded research.

One University of Washington atmospheric and climate sciences professor, whom Chinese government documents identify as a TTP expert, has worked on more than a dozen NASA-funded projects since 2002, according to NASA records and university announcements. Several of those projects, including a recently green-lit $5 million grant to study the troposphere, involve satellites.

A University of Washington spokesperson told the DCNF by email that no current faculty members had disclosed participation in malign Chinese talent recruitment plans.

“University of Washington personnel are prohibited from participating in malign foreign talent recruitment programs,” the spokesperson wrote and provided a link to a 2024 memorandum from the university president explicitly prohibiting such involvement.

NASA, Harvard, Duke, and Penn State did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Image created by DCNF with screenshots from the TTP and Wuhan University of Technology websites

‘Fox In The Hen House’

Six of the individuals identified by the DCNF also currently work in U.S. national laboratories, federal records reveal.

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst wrote to the Department of Energy in September expressing concern about foreign adversaries targeting U.S. national labs “for espionage and theft,” The New York Post reported.

“Allowing foreign scientists to wander around America’s national labs makes as much sense as letting a fox in the hen house,” Ernst told the DCNF.

The 17 national laboratories are an “outgrowth of immense investment in scientific research initiated by the U.S. Government during World War II” and include sites like Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, according to the Department of Energy, which oversees the labs.

Among the Chinese talent plan participants working at national labs, half specialize in physics and half in materials science, academic profiles show.

One physicist currently working in the Nuclear Science Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is identified as both a TTP expert and Chang Jiang Scholar by the TTP website. Located in California, LBNL is responsible for “ensuring the safety, security and effectiveness of the nation’s nuclear deterrent,” its website states.

Chinese government records also identify a TTP expert as a Princeton University physics professor who now also works in the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), which focuses on creating nuclear fusion, nanoscale fabrication and other products, according to its website.

A third physicist listed as a TTP expert in Chinese government documents teaches at Arizona State University and also works for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). ORNL’s website states that it was established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb, according to the Department of Energy.

That physicist serves as a Proposal Review Committee member at ORNL’s Center For Nanophase Materials Science. The center contributes to the U.S. government’s National Nanotechnology Initiative, whose clients include DOD, NASA and other agencies, according to its website.

Chinese university records also identify a University of Tennessee-Knoxville materials science professor as another TTP expert working within ORNL’s Center For Nanophase Materials Science.

Ernst, a Senate Armed Services Committee member, told the DCNF that “8,000 Chinese and Russian scientists were given access to our national labs in 2023.”

“We work incredibly hard to protect our nation’s intellectual property and cutting-edge technology from espionage. Why would we make it easier for China to snoop?” Ernst said. “We must do more to cut off their access and protect America.”

A second materials science specialist who works as a lab fellow within the Energy and Environment Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is listed as a Chang Jiang Scholar by the same Chinese school behind the recruitment of Harvard’s Charles Lieber: Wuhan University of Technology. PNNL works on a variety of issues ranging from the U.S. power grid to “safeguarding ports around the world from nuclear smuggling,” according to its website.

In 2011, Chinese state media identified a third materials science specialist — a University of Maryland professor also working in the Nuclear Science User Facilities at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) — as a TTP expert. INL was the first lab to develop “nuclear propulsion systems for Navy submarines and aircraft carriers,” according to its website.

This materials science specialist told the DCNF by email he participated in the TTP from “Fall 2011 to Fall 2013,” but quit a short time later after disclosing his involvement to the Department of Energy when approached to work as a director for an Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program.

ARPA-E “advances high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment,” according to its website.

“It was a mistake for me to participate in the [TTP],” he told the DCNF. “I never disclosed any U.S. export-controlled or [International Traffic in Arms Regulation]-controlled information to anyone in China.”

A University of Maryland spokesperson told the DCNF that the school “prohibits all faculty and staff from participating in Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs.”

The DCNF’s investigation also discovered more than a dozen others involved in Chinese talents recruitment plans who had previously worked in U.S. national labs. One such TTP participant worked in both the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) and LBNL before returning to China, Chinese university records show.

Paul Moore, former Department of Education chief investigative counsel, told the DCNF that the Chinese government will “rotate” such individuals in and out of the country before they can be detected by U.S. authorities and brought to justice.

“We have studied these problems for the last two administrations,” Moore said. “If our three letter agencies have been investigating or turning someone here or charging them, they’re on the way back and a new doctoral student is on the way.”

Princeton, Arizona State, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, LBNL, PPPL, ORNL, PNNL, INL, and LLNL did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Image created by DCNF with screenshots from the TTP and Wuhan University of Technology websites

‘Under The Microscope’

The DCNF only found a handful of Chinese talent plan participants who had disclosed their involvement on their C.V. or faculty profiles. Those individuals, who were not counted among the 50 researchers listed above, expressed conflicting attitudes towards their previous participation in statements to the DCNF.

One University of Georgia genetics professor looked back fondly on his TTP participation.

“It was a great opportunity and program,” he told the DCNF by email. “Made a ton of research contacts, published papers and spoke and taught lots of short courses.”

However, an associate professor of chemistry at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi told the DCNF he soured on the program after learning some participants were not being transparent about their involvement and had failedto pay taxes on the money they earned in China.

“Once it starts coming out that these programs have origins in espionage and things like that, then I started to get a real bad taste in my mouth,” he said.

Due to the nefarious nature of these programs, Chinese talent plan participants should disclose their involvement, the chemistry professor told the DCNF.

“This thing is under the microscope now and for some reason you haven’t disclosed yet, what’s going on?” he said. “If you’re not trying to do anything criminal in nature, then why not disclose, right?”

AUTHOR

Philip Lenczycki

Senior investigative reporter. Daily Caller News Foundation senior investigative reporter, political journalist, and China watcher. Twitter: @LenczyckiPhilip

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


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‘You Owe President Trump Answers!’: Video Shows GOP Senators Confront Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle

Video shows Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and John Barrasso of Wyoming confront U.S. Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle Wednesday at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer subpoenaed Cheatle on Wednesday to appear in a hearing on July 22 to answer questions regarding the attempted assassination of 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on July 13 during a Pennsylvania rally.

Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie reported that the U.S. Secret Service director was in a “luxury suite” before she was spotted and confronted by Republican senators, including the 72-year-old Blackburn and Barrasso, who demanded answers before following her around the event.

Secret Service snipers spotted failed assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks on the roof 20 minutes before Trump took the stage, according to ABC News. Video shows Cheatle, who refused to resign, providing no explanation when an outraged Barrasso asked her why the former president was put in harm’s way.

Blackburn chided Cheatle for doing nothing despite knowing “an hour out” that a “potential threat” was at the rally. The Tennessee senator asked Cheatle why she allowed Trump to take the stage in the presence of a potential threat.

“I don’t think that this is the forum to have this discussion,” Cheatle said.

The senators erupted at Cheatle’s response, with one heard saying the Secret Service director “hung up” on them earlier. Cheatle said she did “not want to take away from” the RNC, to which Barrasso replied, “We can find a place to go right now.”

“Thank you very much,” Cheatle said as she began to make her exit.

“No, no, no. We’re going with you,” Barrasso shot back as he and Blackburn followed her out.

“This is exactly what you were doing today on the call — stonewalling!” Barrasso said.

“This was an assassination attempt! You owe the people answers! You owe President Trump answers!” Blackburn shouted.

On Tuesday, Cheatle told CNN in an interview that the Secret Service was “solely responsible” for security at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally.

“The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary,” Cheatle said. “It was unacceptable and it’s something that shouldn’t happen again.”

Trump was shot in the ear during his rally in Butler County. One attendee was killed and two others were injured, including one man who was put in a medically induced coma due to the severity of his wounds.

AUTHOR

JULIANNA FRIEMAN

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved

Chinese Intel Arm Quietly Operates ‘Service Centers’ In 7 US Cities

A Chinese intelligence agency quietly operates “service centers” in seven American cities, all of which have had contact with Beijing’s national police authority, according to state media reports and government records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department (UFWD) — which at least one U.S. government commission has characterized as a “Chinese intelligence service” — operates so-called “Overseas Chinese Service Centers” (OCSCs) that are housed within various U.S.-based nonprofits. OCSCs were ostensibly set up to promote Chinese culture and assist Chinese citizens living abroad, according to Chinese government records.

State media reports, Chinese government records and social media posts show that during a 2018 trip to China, U.S.-based OCSC representatives met with Ministry of Public Security (MPS) officials. During the meeting, state security officials demonstrated how they’re leveraging new technology to conduct “cross-border remote justice services” overseas.

MPS is China’s national police authority and has been referred to as “China’s FBI” by China experts. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says MPS also conducts covert “intelligence and national security operations far beyond China’s borders,” including “illicit, transnational repression schemes” on U.S. soil.

In April 2023, the DOJ charged two men for allegedly opening a secret police station in New York on behalf of MPS in order to “monitor and intimidate dissidents” and others critical of China.

There’s no evidence U.S.-based service centers operate as, or house, secret police stations, and the DOJ has yet to mention these entities in any statements or legal filings. Nonetheless, OCSCs’ association with China’s United Front system and contact with MPS raised red flags for legal and intelligence experts.

“The national security threat is real,” Will Mackie, a career federal prosecutor and former trial attorney for the counterintelligence section of the DOJ’s National Security Division, told the DCNF.

“Simply put, we should know which foreign government agents — including ‘unofficial’ actors — are operating in our country for whatever reason,” Mackie said, adding that American nonprofits performing Chinese governmental duties is “inconsistent” with diplomatic protocol, if not “illegal.”

After an extensive review of Chinese government and state-run media reports, the DCNF identified OCSC branches in San Francisco, CaliforniaHouston, TexasOmaha, NebraskaSt. Paul, MinnesotaSalt Lake City, UtahSt. Louis, Missouri and Charlotte, North Carolina.

GOP lawmakers expressed serious concern over OCSCs operating within the U.S.

“These centers aren’t there to help people get a business license or help resolve a domestic dispute,” Utah Republican Rep. Chris Stewart, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told the DCNF. “They’re here to pressure, to use coercion and to use malicious influence.”

Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn told the DCNF it was a “direct violation of our nation’s sovereignty” for the CCP to “set up shop on our soil to threaten, surveil and kidnap Chinese American citizens with a dissenting opinion.”

‘Eight Great Plans’

The “service centers” are at the heart of a larger CCP global influence strategy known as “The Eight Great Plans For Benefiting Overseas Chinese,” which was first announced during a 2014 speech by Qiu Yuanping, then the director of the Chinese government’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.

According to Chinese government documents and reports from China experts, the UFWD took control of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office in 2018. The U.S.-China Economic Security and Review Commission describes the UFWD as the CCP organ “responsible for coordinating [foreign and domestic] influence operations” as well as a “Chinese intelligence service.”

UFWD’s “overseas Chinese work” aims to “co-opt ethnic Chinese individuals and communities living outside China, while a number of other key affiliated organizations guided by China’s broader United Front strategy conduct influence operations targeting foreign actors and states,” according to the commission.

The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office Director Chen Xu also serves as the UFWD’s deputy director, according to the Chinese government. Qiaowang reported Chen Xu spoke at a conference held in Beijing in May that included OCSC officials from around the world. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office and the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, a key united front group, according to China experts.

“In the next five years, relying on overseas Chinese organizations that have the public’s trust, we will guide and support the construction of Overseas Chinese Service Centers in cities where overseas Chinese are concentrated and where there’s an urgent need for constructing harmonious overseas Chinese communities,” Qiu Yuanping said in her 2014 speech.

Shortly thereafter, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office provided the initial funding to establish OCSC branches around the world and tasked them with a variety of seemingly mundane duties in support of China’s foreign ministry, according to Chinese state-run media and government reports. Duties range from processing Chinese passport and travel permit applications to so-called “consular protection” activities that include emergencymedical and disaster response work, according to reports.

Despite this directive, a Chinese Embassy spokesperson told the DCNF that the centers are simply formed by “warm-hearted” volunteers and have no “affiliation with any Chinese government agency.”

Since 2014, OCSCs have expanded to at least 60 locations worldwide, according to multiple reports from Qiaowang, a Chinese news service that acts as a propaganda arm for the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.

Qiaowang reports also reveal the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office’s efforts to establish service centers in at least seven U.S. cities.

In September 2014, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office held the first of four annual awards ceremonies in Beijing for OCSC branches, according to Qiaowang. During the ceremony, the Chinese American Association of Commerce in San Francisco, California was announced as the first U.S. OCSC branch, Qiaowang reported.

The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office announced in 2015 the Chinese Civic Center in Houston, Texas, would also house an OCSC, a Chinese state-run media outlet reported. Qiu Yuanping personally attended the grand opening of the Houston OCSC in February 2016, according to the Chinese government.

In September 2016, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office unveiled more OCSC locations, including one in Omaha, Nebraska, Qiaowang reported. The Omaha OCSC is housed within the Nebraska Chinese Associationaccording to Qiaowang.

The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office also announced the Chinese American Association of Minnesota in St. Paul would house an OCSC branch in 2016. The group’s co-director received a commemorative plaque in October 2016, according to Qiaowang.

In September 2017, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office announced the final batch of service centers, including one in Salt Lake City, Utah, according to Qiaowang. The Salt Lake City OCSC is located within the Utah Chinese Civic Center, according to the group’s website. The Utah Chinese Civic Center’s website also states that it hosts an OCSC that’s “licensed” by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.

The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office also established an OCSC in St. Louis, Missouri, according to Qiaowang. The St. Louis service center is located within the Chinese Education and Culture Center, and a top Chinese consulate official from Chicago attended the branch’s opening ceremony, according to the consulate’s website.

The final U.S. OCSC location announced during the 2017 ceremony was in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to Qiaowang. The Charlotte OCSC is housed within the Carolinas Chinese Chamber of Commerce, according to a report from Qiaowang.

The Chinese American Association of Commerce, the Chinese Civic Center in Utah, the Chinese American Association of Minnesota and the St. Louis Chinese Education and Culture Center did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A receptionist at Houston’s Chinese Civic Center confirmed the organization hosted a “Chinese service center” in a phone call with the DCNF. Similarly, a woman who only identified herself as an “associate” of the Nebraska Chinese Association confirmed the organization housed a “Chinese center” while speaking with the DCNF.

When the DCNF called the Carolinas Chinese Chamber of Commerce, a man who identified himself as a “founding member” of the Charlotte “Chinese service center” answered the phone. He confirmed the service center was housed within the Charlotte-based nonprofit.

‘Overseas Chinese Police Contact Points’

Chinese government records and state-run media reports reveal that U.S.-based OCSC representatives met with officials from China’s Ministry of Public Security. The FBI has accused the ministry of conducting “transnational repression” schemes in the U.S. targeting Chinese dissidents and human rights activists.

MPS’ most notorious transnational repression scheme is operation Fox Hunt. The operation uses “unsanctioned, unilateral and illegal practices, including coercion, extortion and intimidation” to “forcibly repatriate” alleged Chinese criminals living overseas, according to a 2020 DOJ complaint.

Between 2014 and 2018, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office sponsored a series of China trips for OCSC officials, according to Chinese government and state-run media reports. During these visits, participants frequently discussed how OCSC branches could assist Chinese law enforcement while abroad.

The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office convened an OCSC conference in Beijing in January 2018 that featured multiple work meetings across China focused on international law enforcement, according to multiple Chinese state media reports.

Representatives from all seven of the U.S.-based OCSCs attended the Beijing conference, according to multiple reports from the conference and photos reviewed by the DCNF.

In Beijing, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office head Qiu Yuanping announced that improving “legal services” and developing an “online platform” would be among her organization’s annual goals, Qiaowang reported.

On the third day of the conference, OCSC representatives traveled to Zhejiang province and met with MPS officials at a police station that serves as the nerve center for multiple “Overseas Chinese Police Contact Points” around the world. Representatives from all seven U.S.-based OCSCs visited the Zhejiang police station, according to state media reports and government social media posts.

During the visit, OCSC officials posed for photos with uniformed MPS officers and participated in a series of demonstrations of an MPS-developed “internet + law enforcement” platform. The MPS platform provides “cross-border remote justice services for overseas Chinese,” according to China News Service and Qiaowang reports.

In one demonstration, the Zhejiang police station used the MPS platform to contact “special duty police officers” in Milan, Italy, according to Chinese government social media posts. These “special duty police officers” then delivered a report on their operations to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.

Following the video call, an Overseas Chinese Affairs Office official instructed OCSC representatives “to learn” from the police station’s “model” in order to “better provide for the well-being of overseas Chinese,” according to a Chinese government social media post.

The OCSC delegation also visited an “Extraterritorial Video Trial Court” specializing in domestic affairs, according to the Zhejiang court’s social media account. OCSC representatives participated in an international video call with the court’s “Overseas Chinese Police Contact Point” in France, according to a report from a United Front organization.

During this call, police contact point officials in France — several of whom belong to an OCSC in Paris — explained how they used MPS technology to remotely handle legal matters such as divorces and property disputes, according to the United Front group.

The “Extraterritorial Video Trial Court” had “tried” 77 international cases and mediated 18 disputes using the virtual MPS platform, according to a January 2018 social media post from the court. The post did not elaborate on the specifics of any litigation or the enforcement of any international legal judgments.

After the court call, an Overseas Chinese Affairs Office official leading the OCSC delegation called on attendees to learn from the court’s experience and build a global internet legal service to realize “the Chinese people’s dream,” the court reported.

It’s unknown whether or not U.S. service centers now utilize any of the technology showcased during their visit with MPS officials, but details of the trip alarmed national security experts who spoke with the DCNF.

“This is the internationalization of monitoring and control,” said Steve Yates, former deputy national security adviser to former vice president Dick Cheney. “An organized government effort to extend sovereign government operations internationally — and to use charitable and affinity organizations as the cover through which to engage in espionage and police activity — crosses a pretty significant line.”

Chinese government and state-run media reports indicate that OCSC branches outside the U.S. often perform law enforcement functions, including by serving as MPS “Overseas Chinese Police Contact Points” and conducting “armed patrols” in a number of countries, such as South Africa.

Several OCSC branches outside the U.S. also house MPS police stations from Fuzhou province, such as Dublin, Ireland’s OCSC, according to its social media account. The Dublin OCSC said its office is designed to assist Chinese nationals with government services, including issuing overseas ID card renewals and conducting physical exams for driver’s licenses.

There is, however, no evidence that U.S.-based service centers host MPS police stations like the one the FBI raided in New York City last year.

Texas Republic Rep. Morgan Luttrell, who is a member of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations, characterized the OCSC program as a “serious national security threat.”

“As the Chinese government uses every tool at its disposal to infiltrate the U.S. and grow its influence on the global stage, we must take bold action to counter the CCP’s malign activity,” Luttrell told the DCNF.

AUTHOR

PHILIP LENCZYCKI

Investigative reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


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EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Blackburn To Introduce Legislation Backing National Guard Members Set To Be Fired Over COVID Vaccine Refusal

Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn will introduce legislation Thursday that would ban federal funds from being used to implement any requirement that a National Guard member must receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The legislation, first obtained by the Daily Caller, comes as up to 40,000 U.S. Army National Guard members are set to be fired Thursday for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Blackburn said she is introducing the legislation to protect the 40,000 guardsmen and said firing them would be a threat to U.S. national security.

“Our servicemembers are the bedrock of America,” Blackburn told the Daily Caller before introducing the legislation. “Firing 40,000 Guardsmen for refusing the COVID vaccine would be both a complete disgrace and a threat to our national security. I am honored to stand beside our National Guardsmen and women by introducing this legislation to protect them from President Biden’s forever pandemic.”

READ THE LEGISLATION HERE: 

(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers

“We’re going to give every soldier every opportunity to get vaccinated and continue their military career. Every soldier that is pending an exemption, we will continue to support them through their process,” Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, director of the Army National Guard, said in an Associated Press interview regarding the vaccine mandate. “We’re not giving up on anybody until the separation paperwork is signed and completed. There’s still time.” A number of House Republicans have introduced legislation to put an end to vaccine and mask mandates. In late September, a group of House Republicans introduced a bill that would prohibit federal agencies from implementing vaccine mandates.

The Daily Caller contacted the Department of Defense (DOD) and the White House about this legislation and about the jobs of the 40,000 National Guardsmen who remain unvaccinated. White House Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre would not answer the questions and referred the Caller to the Army. The DOD did not immediately respond.

AUTHOR

HENRY RODGERS

Senior Congressional correspondent. Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter

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Up to 40,000 Unvaccinated Army Guard Troops at Risk of Dismissal as Deadline for Vaccine Mandate Looms

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EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Introduce Bill That Would Prohibit Agencies That Received COVID Funds From Issuing Vaccine Mandates

Youngkin Urges Pentagon To Ease Up On Vax Mandate As Tens Of Thousands Of Troops Face Discharge

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.