U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday (Dec. 4) that visa restrictions will be imposed on individuals who use or threaten to use intimidation and coercion against the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has long been committed to spreading Marxism-Leninism and exerting its influence around the world,” he said in the statement. By funding and supporting overseas organizations to spread propaganda, the CCP United Front Work Department coerces and bullies those who oppose Beijing’s policies.”
He accused the CCP’s United Front Work Department of frequent coercion of overseas academics, businesses, civil society groups, and overseas Chinese communities, including members of ethnic and religious minorities who have spoken out against the CCP’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet, and other parts of China, and specifically named malicious collection of personal information (“manhunting”) as a method of political intimidation. Pompeo said, “Its coercive tactics target any individual deemed to be contrary to the CCP’s interests.”
The statement does not include a sanctions list, and generally visa restrictions issued by the U.S. State Department do not target specific individuals. It is also unclear the size of the individuals who would be affected by the restrictions. Pompeo said the Chinese government and Communist Party officials who would be subject to visa restrictions include those who “use or threaten to use physical violence, steal and disclose private information, engage in espionage, or disrupt or maliciously interfere with U.S. domestic politics, academic freedom, personal privacy, or commercial activities.”
Dan Garrett, an American academic and former Pentagon intelligence analyst, told VOA in an earlier interview that the size of the personnel associated with the CCP’s United Front Work Department is much larger than the Communist Party’s 90 million members. He said, “The Communist Party views the United Front Worker as an ally, and they are actually the foot soldiers of the Communist Party’s various initiatives and policies.”
Pompeo announced the visa restriction by invoking Section 212(a)(3)(c) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The INA’s 212(a) is the provision that specifies the categories of grounds for “inadmissible alien,” which fall into 10 broad categories. The current restriction falls into the third category of grounds: “national security and related matters”. Clause c under this category states: “An alien may not enter the United States if the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds to believe that the alien’s entry or proposed activities in the United States are likely to have serious adverse consequences for United States foreign policy.
It is worth noting that most of the categories in 212(a) are waivable, but the grounds for inadmissibility that are not waivable include: espionage or sabotage; attempting to engage in “any other unlawful activity”; unlawful opposition to the U.S. government; serious adverse foreign policy consequences; Nazi persecution; and genocide. Therefore, the visa restrictions imposed by Pompeo cannot be waived.
In his statement, Pompeo said that these malicious activities by the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department are intended to “co-opt and coerce” local U.S. officials, overseas Chinese communities, overseas civil society organizations, and academics to promote the authoritarian narrative and policy preferences of the Chinese Communist Party.
He said, “I will continue to enforce visa restrictions like these to make clear that the United States does not welcome those who violate the rules-based international order.
The statement ended with Pompeo calling on China to stop using coercion and intimidation to suppress freedom of expression.
Pompeo’s move comes on the heels of the State Department’s announcement on Wednesday of travel visa restrictions for members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and their families. Previously, members of the Communist Party and their family members had the same travel visas valid for up to 10 years as ordinary Chinese citizens to travel to the United States.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded to the travel visa restrictions on Thursday, calling them an “escalation of political repression” and motivated by “strong ideological bias and deep-seated Cold War thinking.
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