“Chinese diplomats and pro-China diaspora groups based in the United States organized demonstrations in San Francisco that harassed and silenced protesters opposed to Beijing’s policies, including through violence, during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the city in November,” reports The Washington Post:
The events in San Francisco illustrate how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is willing to extend its intolerance of any dissent into the United States and target people exercising their First Amendment rights in an American city. It is part of a broader global pattern of China attempting to reach beyond its borders and suppress parts of its diaspora advocating against the CCP and ongoing rights abuses in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and mainland China…
A number of diaspora group leaders have long-standing links to Beijing….These include ties to the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Communist Party which uses non-state actors to further China’s political goals overseas, blurring the line between civilians and state officials…..The Post investigation found:
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- the most extreme violence was instigated by pro-CCP activists and carried out by coordinated groups of young men embedded among them, verified videos show. Anti-Xi protesters were attacked with extended flagpoles and chemical spray, punched, kicked and had fistfuls of sand thrown in their faces.
- The Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles paid for supporters’ hotels and meals as an incentive to participate…At least 35 pro-CCP Chinese diaspora groups showed up to the APEC summit protests — including groups from New York, Pennsylvania and Washington state.
- Videos show at least four Chinese diplomats from the consulates in Los Angeles and San Francisco among the crowd of pro-CCP protesters, sometimes directly interacting with aggressive actors over four days of protests from Nov. 14-17….Chinese diaspora group leaders with ties to the Chinese state participated in some of the violence…
Officials in San Francisco went to great lengths to welcome China’s dictator, such as removing massive quantities of trash and human waste near homeless encampments that had long been tolerated despite the fact that they led to huge amounts of shoplifting from nearby businesses, and featured open drug use and drug selling in violation of state law.
Fox News reported on this back in November:
Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., was criticized on social media after admitting that San Francisco, nationally infamous for homelessness, timed a massive cleanup effort ahead of an important U.S.-China summit this week.
President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jingping will meet Wednesday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) in San Francisco for a much-anticipated face-to-face —the first since the two leaders met in Indonesia in November 2022.
“I know folks are saying, ‘Oh they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town.’ That’s true, because it’s true,” Newsom said Thursday.
