Pro-democracy and human rights activists who protested against Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to San Francisco last year were harassed and in some cases violently assaulted by organized supporters of the Chinese Communist Party, a new report says.
The report, Exporting Repression, was released Tuesday by the Hong Kong Democracy Council and Students for a Free Tibet. It says that there was an organized "mobilization" of violent counter-protesters arranged by the CCP's " United Front" foreign-influence program.
“Their actions created a pervasive atmosphere of intimidation that not only had a deterrent effect on protests throughout the duration of Xi’s stay but also interfered with protesters’ exercise of their free speech rights,” it says, blaming police for “exhibiting a lack of awareness.”
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The report details 34 cases of alleged harassment and violent attacks on anti-Xi protesters and calls for U.S. authorities to look into whether some of the people it alleges carried out the attacks are “unregistered foreign agents” working for Beijing to silence dissent in America.
The attacks, it says, were primarily directed toward Uyghurs, Tibetans and Hongkongers protesting against Xi, who was in San Francisco in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic summit and for high-profile talks with U.S. President Joe Biden just outside the city.
Intimidation of protesters included “threats, attempts to prevent protest, physical attacks and beatings, thefts of cell phones, and incidents of stalking,” according to the report. It details multiple cases of protesters being surrounded by counter-protesters before being beaten.
Radio Free Asia reporters in San Francisco also witnessed anti-Xi protesters being attacked with the poles of Chinese flags, with San Francisco Police Department officers at times intervening to stop the violence but at other times taking a hands-off approach.
The report calls efforts by local law enforcement to stop attacks, and later to apprehend those responsible for violence, “inadequate.”
The SFPD did not respond to a request for comment.
Plausible deniability
The report does not directly attribute the violence to orders from the Chinese Embassy in the United States, but says Beijing’s diplomats in America “play a key role in cultivating united front groups overseas, often providing them with guidance and direction at key junctures.”
The United Front organizers allegedly behind the campaign to suppress the anti-Xi protests maintain “a facade of autonomy” from Beijing for appearance’s sake, it says, but are nonetheless ultimately “guided” by the CCP and act only to preserve its interests.
But this is denied by Beijing.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told RFA that the people in San Francisco who the report claims were violent counter-protesters were in fact peaceful supporters who turned out to welcome Xi.
He said the people who turned out in San Francisco to welcome Xi’s arrival were there “expressing their support for the stabilization and sound development of China-U.S. relations,” which he said should be “welcomed by anyone with good will for the bilateral relationship.”
Liu said it was in fact the anti-Xi protesters who stoked violence, blaming them for injuring more than 60 people, including the elderly.
“Some of the victims were knocked out, others were beaten to brain and nose bleeding, still others got hurt at sternums and ribs,” Liu said. “Some of the violent rioters were arrested on site and indicted with criminal prosecutions by U.S. law enforcement agencies.”
RFA has found no record of the prosecution of any protesters or counter-protesters, with inquiries to the SFPD going unanswered.
But Liu said the Chinese Embassy condemned the violence.
“We have asked the U.S. side to investigate the incidents, bring to justice the perpetrators at an early date and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the victims,” the spokesperson said.
Transnational repression
The report comes as U.S. lawmakers and White House officials express growing concerns about transnational repression committed by foreign governments against rights activists on American soil.
In a statement, Rep. John Moolenaar, a Republican from Missouri who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, called on the FBI and SFPD to “hold the perpetrators accountable” and said lawmakers needed to come up with solutions themselves.
“Congress must also act to give law enforcement additional tools to prosecute these crimes,” he said. “The CCP cannot be allowed to bring its Orwellian model of totalitarian control to American soil.”
Chemi Lhamo, the campaign director at Students for Free Tibet, told RFA Tibetan she hoped the report would lead to increased awareness of the ways in which China’s government was trying to silence critics abroad, and perhaps even work to discourage the behavior.
“While there is much talk about transnational repression on international platforms, it has typically been difficult to show clear proof of it, which is one of the challenges the report addresses,” Lhamo said, adding that it built on a growing body of “tangible proof” of repression.
“The Chinese government’s policy of transnational repression is never going to work well when it always tries to silence and intimidate our people and Tibetan freedom fighters,” she said. “We will never be discouraged and will fight back even harder.”
Additional reporting by Tashi Wangchuk and Dolma Lhamo for RFA Tibetan.