US Dept of Justice Alleges that China Targeted Critics in US, including Alysa Liu's Father

I’ve posted another NBC news article link in the PI forum: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ts-politics-thread.108757/page-5#post-6229880

Excerpt from the CNBC article linked in post #1:
Among them was Arthur Liu — the father of Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu — who is a lawyer and political activist in the San Francisco Bay area. Alysa Liu, 16, a two-time U.S. champion, competed for the American team in the Winter Games in Beijing.
When he lived in China, Arthur Liu helped organize pro-democracy demonstrations there, according to NBC.
Click to expand...
Liu led pro-democracy demonstrations in Guangzhou (where he was a university student at the time) in 1989 before he managed to get out of China and make his way to the USA.
 
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overedge said:
More details to be provided at press conference later today.

www.cnbc.com

China targeted dad of Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu, other critics in U.S., DOJ will charge

The new criminal cases to be formally announced Wednesday are expected to accuse Chinese government agents of campaigns to intimidate critics living in the U.S.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com
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Isn't it somewhat of a good thing that the crud happened and Arthur Liu didn't go to Beijing for the Olympics? Not that this would have prevented an attempt in the US.

Somewhat is the same vein, this just popped up as to Putin's future. Check out how one of the attempts on Stalin's life ended up. :eek:


And more details on the underlying case involving Yan Xiong and attempts by a Chinese agent to undermine his political campaign.

www.nytimes.com

Chinese Officer Charged With Harassing N.Y. Congressional Candidate (Published 2022)

Yan Xiong, a Chinese dissident who immigrated to America and is now a political candidate in New York, was targeted by an agent of the Chinese government, federal prosecutors said.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
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overedge said:
More details to be provided at press conference later today.

www.cnbc.com

China targeted dad of Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu, other critics in U.S., DOJ will charge

The new criminal cases to be formally announced Wednesday are expected to accuse Chinese government agents of campaigns to intimidate critics living in the U.S.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com
Click to expand...
Didn’t several of us see this one coming? Crud or no crud, I would’ve been surprised if Arthur Liu had returned to China. It’s still very sad.
 
Just based on the timing and nothing else, I wonder if this had anything to do with Arthur's moving Alysa to another state?

Prosecutors also said that in late 2021 Mr. Ziburis posed as a member of an international sports committee to gain access to a California-based dissident’s home. That dissident, a person familiar with the case said, is Bay Area lawyer Arthur Liu, the father of U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu.

In a November 2021 report to Mr. Liu quoted in the complaint, Mr. Ziburis described going to Arthur Liu’s house in the Bay Area, and asked to check the family’s passports to ensure he and an unnamed family member were set for international travel. He described Mr. Liu growing angry and telling him to leave.
Click to expand...

www.nytimes.com

Chinese Officer Charged With Harassing N.Y. Congressional Candidate (Published 2022)

Yan Xiong, a Chinese dissident who immigrated to America and is now a political candidate in New York, was targeted by an agent of the Chinese government, federal prosecutors said.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Alysa changed coaches as of November 22, moving to Colorado:

Figure skater Alysa Liu switches coaches ahead of Olympic qualifying event

Liu, the two-time U.S. champion, will head to Colorado to work with a new team before January's U.S. Championships.
olympics.com olympics.com
 
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Wyliefan said:
Yikes. With that going on, he probably wished he could send all the kids to Colorado!
Click to expand...

No doubt, but from what The NY Times wrote, it looks like the spy, who was holding faked credentials from "an international sports committee" (the IOC or ISU?) asked for Alysa's passport, so Arthur would have felt (rightly) that she was being targeted.
 
Arthur Liu’s quote in the NBC article linked in post #9:
“They are still paying attention to me after 30-some years, since I organized protests and hunger strikes for democracy in China,” he said.
In the 1990s, Liu said, a student who was sent to spy on him ended up confessing what he was up to after Liu took him into his house and helped find him work. “I’m a little bit surprised that after all this time, they’re still keeping track of me,” he said Wednesday.
Click to expand...

BTW, I’ve created a “China” thread in the Politically Incorrect subforum to discuss this and other related issues (not related to figure skating):

China & Related Geopolitical Issues

We have a “Russia” thread here in PI so I thought we could have a “China” one too… U.S. Department of Justice’s press release today (March 16, 2022): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-individuals-charged-variously-stalking-harassing-and-spying-us-residents-behalf-prc-0 Related article...
www.fsuniverse.net
 
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It is kind of skating-related if the Olympics in China were coming up. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Alysa's dad was targeted not only because he was a pro-democracy activist, but also because his daughter was on the US Olympic team.
 
GarrAargHrumph said:
Just based on the timing and nothing else, I wonder if this had anything to do with Arthur's moving Alysa to another state?



www.nytimes.com

Chinese Officer Charged With Harassing N.Y. Congressional Candidate (Published 2022)

Yan Xiong, a Chinese dissident who immigrated to America and is now a political candidate in New York, was targeted by an agent of the Chinese government, federal prosecutors said.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Alysa changed coaches as of November 22, moving to Colorado:

Figure skater Alysa Liu switches coaches ahead of Olympic qualifying event

Liu, the two-time U.S. champion, will head to Colorado to work with a new team before January's U.S. Championships.
olympics.com olympics.com
Click to expand...
As soon as I saw this on ESPN this morning I wondered if we now have the real reason she was moved to Colorado. I can see where her father could have easily seen that as much safer controlled environment than commuting all over the N. California area. So maybe dad wasn't the "villian" some posters wanted him to be? This certainly would explain the "quick move" and limited notice to the old coaches.
 
:eek: at the following details from this other news link (emphasis added):

ktla.com

U.S. Olympian Alysa Liu, father targeted in Chinese spy case

U.S. Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu and her father Arthur Liu – a former political refugee – were among those targeted in a spying operation that the Justice Department alleges was ordered by the …
ktla.com ktla.com

But through the spying investigation, he learned that China was aware of an Instagram message about human rights violations against the ethnic minority Uyghurs that his daughter once posted. During the Games, Alysa Liu also told her father that she was approached by a stranger late one night at a cafeteria after the free skate event, and that the man followed her and asked her to come to his apartment.
Click to expand...
 
Carolla5501 said:
As soon as I saw this on ESPN this morning I wondered if we now have the real reason she was moved to Colorado. I can see where her father could have easily seen that as much safer controlled environment than commuting all over the N. California area. So maybe dad wasn't the "villian" some posters wanted him to be? This certainly would explain the "quick move" and limited notice to the old coaches.
Click to expand...
I don't think anyone actually wanted him to be a villain. He did some things that were hard to understand at the time but now make a lot more sense. The poor man must have been scared to death, especially after Alysa was actually approached in Beijing!

I certainly hope Christine Brennan is rethinking her demands on skaters to speak up about dictatorships. People do need to speak up, but maybe not the people who are headed directly into the danger zone.
 
How awful. I'm glad Alysa came back safe from the Olympics & her dad was able to shelter her from additional stress.
""I've kind of accepted my life to be like this because of what I chose to do in 1989, to speak up against the government. And I know the Chinese government will extend their long hands into any corner in the world," Arthur Liu said. "I'm going to continue to enjoy life and live life as I want to live. I'm not going to let this push me down and I'm not going to let them succeed.""
 
Wasn't Alyssa still in the bubble between the free skate and the closing ceremonies? So whoever followed her had to have been credentialed, right? And they weren't just asking her to come back to their place but to leave the bubble which would have meant expulsion from the Games, iirc.
 
Coco said:
Wasn't Alyssa still in the bubble between the free skate and the closing ceremonies? So whoever followed her had to have been credentialed, right? And they weren't just asking her to come back to their place but to leave the bubble which would have meant expulsion from the Games, iirc.
Click to expand...
They were housed in apartments in the bubble, so I’d assume it was apartment inside the bubble. Nonetheless, terrifying.

I wonder if this is also why Alyssa didn’t do the team event—to cut down on the time she spent in China.
 
Authur said "a stranger," he didn't say a Chinese volunteer or a Chinese, approached Alysa. More likely another athlete in the cafeteria was looking for a date than any conspiracy.
 
Cross-posting here from the U.S. Women’s thread…

Alysa popped on Instagram Live earlier today to joke about how one article headline made it sound like she & her dad were “the spies” (sounds like some people were messaging her, all confused), so she appears to be dealing fine with this news becoming public yesterday.
 
Tahuu said:
Authur said "a stranger," he didn't say a Chinese volunteer or a Chinese, approached Alysa. More likely another athlete in the cafeteria was looking for a date than any conspiracy.
Click to expand...

Most dates don't start with a direct invitation to come back to someone's apartment. Especially not dates with 16-year-old women.
 
Re: what has been happening to Alysa's father and to her in relation to China, wow, just plain a big WOW.
 
Coco said:
Wasn't Alyssa still in the bubble between the free skate and the closing ceremonies? So whoever followed her had to have been credentialed, right? And they weren't just asking her to come back to their place but to leave the bubble which would have meant expulsion from the Games, iirc.
Click to expand...
Tahuu said:
Authur said "a stranger," he didn't say a Chinese volunteer or a Chinese, approached Alysa. More likely another athlete in the cafeteria was looking for a date than any conspiracy.
Click to expand...
www.cbsnews.com

Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu and father were targets in alleged Chinese spying operation in U.S., he says

Arthur Liu told The Associated Press he was contacted by the FBI last October and warned about the scheme just as his 16-year-old daughter was preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com

During the Games, Alysa Liu also told her father that she was approached by a stranger late one night at a cafeteria after the free skate event, and that the man followed her and asked her to come to his apartment.
Click to expand...
Presumably the man had a credential that enabled him to get into the bubble.

While this is all third-hand and may reflect translations of a conversation that was originally in Mandarin, the use of the term "apartment" in the CBS report appears to rule out the possibility that the was merely an athlete, much less an athlete asking a young woman he didn't know back to his shared accommodation in the Olympic village.
 
I'm trying to wrap my head around a Chinese intelligence operative stalking and attempting to kidnap Alysa while she's competing at the Olys. Disturbing, scary, and basically a middle finger to everything the Olys supposedly stand for. China should be banned from ever again hosting an Olys, or really any int'l sports event.
 
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