Photo of the Tankman.
A U.S. federal court in Brooklyn announced an indictment and arrest warrant Dec. 18 charging Jin, a China-based official of a U.S. telecommunications company, with conspiring with the Chinese Communist Party to disrupt a series of meetings held in May and June of this year to commemorate June 4. The meetings were conducted using a videoconferencing program provided by the company and were organized and hosted by individuals, including individuals residing in the Eastern District of New York.
“No company with significant business interests in China is immune from the coercive influence of the Chinese Communist Party,” said John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security Affairs, as quoted in a Dec. 18 press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. “The Chinese Communist Party will use the scope of its power to stifle free speech in China, the United States and elsewhere regarding condemnation of the party’s repression of the Chinese people. For companies doing business in China, this could mean that company executives are forced to engage in further repressive activities that are contrary to the company’s values.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray said, “The FBI remains committed to protecting the free speech of all Americans. As this complaint alleges, the harmful activities of communist intelligence directly violate freedom in support of a regime that neither embodies nor upholds our democratic values.” “Americans should understand that the Chinese government will not hesitate to use companies operating in China to advance its agenda, including the suppression of free speech.”
According to the complaint, Jin is the primary contact for China’s law enforcement and intelligence services. In this capacity, he regularly responds to information requests from the Chinese government and terminates video conferences hosted on the company’s video communications platform. Part of Jin’s responsibilities included providing the Chinese government with information about users and conferences and, in some cases, information about users located outside of China, such as Internet addresses, names and email addresses. Jin was also responsible for actively monitoring the company’s video communications platform to address what the Chinese government deemed to be “illegal” meetings, including discussions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and political and religious topics unacceptable to the Chinese government.
As alleged in the complaint, from January 2019 to the present, at the direction of the Chinese government, Jin and others terminated at least four video conferences held on the company’s network, such as a conference commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, most of which were organized and attended by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Jin’s co-conspirators also created fake e-mail accounts and corporate accounts in the names of others.
Communist authorities used information provided by Kim to retaliate against and intimidate participants living in China or family members of participants in China. Communist authorities temporarily detained at least one person who planned to speak at the memorial meeting. Communist authorities also located the family of one participant and instructed them to tell the participants to stop speaking out against the Chinese government and instead support socialism and the CCP.
If convicted, Jin faces up to ten years in prison.
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