(LifeSiteNews) – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray held a joint news conference Monday to announce charges in three separate cases against Chinese officials accused of criminal activity while working on behalf of the government of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC).
In one instance, two PRC intelligence officers are charged with attempting to obstruct, influence, and impede criminal prosecution of PRC-based telecommunications giant Huawei in 2019. The defendants directed an employee of a U.S. government law enforcement agency to steal confidential information, including the prosecutors’ strategy memo, confidential information concerning witnesses, and trial evidence in the case against the company.
“This was an egregious attempt by PRC intelligence officers to shield a PRC-based company from accountability and to undermine the integrity of our judicial system,” Garland said.
In the second case, four individuals, including three PRC intelligence officers, are charged with conspiring to act in the U.S. as illegal agents on behalf of a foreign government.
“The indictment alleges that between 2008 and 2018, the defendants used the cover of a purported academic institute to target, co-opt, and direct individuals in the United States to further PRC’s intelligence mission,” Garland explained. “They also included attempts to stop protected first amendment activities – protests here in the United States – which would have been embarrassing to the Chinese government.”
The third case charges seven individuals who were working on behalf of the PRC with engaging in a multi-year campaign of threats and harassment to force a U.S. resident to return to China.
“The PRC has a history of targeting political dissidents and critics of the government who have sought relief and refuge in other countries,” Garland said. The defendants also allegedly harassed the victim’s family members both in the U.S. and in China, promising that the tactics of intimidation would not stop until the victim returned to China.
“As these cases demonstrate, the government of China sought to interfere with the rights and freedoms of individuals in the United States and to undermine our judicial system that protects those rights,” said Garland. “They did not succeed.”
“The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by any foreign power to undermine the rule of law upon which our democracy is based.”
Garland was joined at the press conference by Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco, Wray, and Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen.