China trying to 'undermine' US judicial system: Justice chief

US Attorney General Merrick Garland accuses Beijing of trying to "interfere with" and "undermine" the American justice system by harassing dissidents and pressuring US academics to work for them

US Attorney General Merrick Garland accuses Beijing of trying to "interfere with" and "undermine" the American justice system by harassing dissidents and pressuring US academics to work for them

Top US justice officials accused the Chinese government Monday of an unrelenting campaign by intelligence operatives to subvert the American justice system and steal commercial secrets. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray detailed three separate cases in which Beijing's spies allegedly harassed dissidents inside the United States, tried to interfere in the prosecution of a Chinese telecoms giant understood to be Huawei, and pressured US academics to work for them.

The cases showed that 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.

Garland, Wray, and other top justice officials spoke about the cases in a press conference in Washington one day after Xi Jinping secured a historic third term as China's leader.

Asked whether the announcements Monday were timed to Xi's confirmation as the Chinese Communist Party's all-powerful general secretary on Sunday, Wray avoided any specific link.

"If the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party, continues to violate our laws, they are going to keep encountering the FBI," he said.

In a case cited Monday but unveiled last week, seven Chinese nationals allegedly tried to force a US resident to go back to China. Two people were arrested, but five others -- all allegedly employees of Chinese intelligence agencies -- remain at large, likely in China.

In 2019 Huawei was charged with a systematic campaign to steal US trade secrets, sanctions evasion and other counts.

But the informant was in fact a double agent who worked with the FBI on the case.

From 2008 to at least 2018, they targeted professors, former security officials and others with access to sensitive information and technology for recruitment.

The US Justice Department has announced at least a half-dozen similar cases against alleged Chinese intelligence officers so far this year. 

In response to the announcements, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said "China has always asked its citizens to obey the laws and regulations of the countries they are in." 

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