A man claiming to be a former Chinese spy described in a recently published interview how he reportedly worked with one of the most clandestine arms of China’s government to entrap enemies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) living abroad.
The former spy, going by the name Eric, would assume false identities with the help of the Political Security Protection Bureau, a secret department in China’s Ministry of Public Security and attempt to trick dissidents into being captured by the Chinese government, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Eric would pose as a fellow dissident or as a corporate representative to gain the trust of the Chinese government’s targets, then using that trust to funnel information to his handlers at the Political Security Protection Bureau.
Eric called the Political Security Protection Bureau “the darkest department of the Chinese government” and compared it to the “KGB, the Stasi and the Gestapo,” according to ABC. (RELATED: Chinese Billionaire Convicted Of Illegal Campaign Donations Gets Time Served, Leaves US)
Eric, however, says that he wasn’t a willing participant in the operation as the Chinese government had forced him to work for them after he had been caught working with pro-democracy activists, according to ABC.
As a 22-year-old college student, Eric joined a pro-democracy political party in 2007, ABC reported. After posting about a party meeting on social media, police apprehended him and eventually gave him an ultimatum: serve as a spy for the Chinese government or face time in jail for opposing the CCP.
Chinese intelligence operatives would send Eric on a variety of missions over the next 15 years to gather information on China’s enemies abroad and, when possible, deliver them to the hands of the Chinese government, ABC reported.
In 2016, Eric was invited to a gathering of activists in India where he met with the Dalai Lama, according to ABC. Following the gathering, he filed a report to the Political Security Protection Bureau on the exiled Tibetan government’s plans related to China.
The Political Security Protection Bureau also used Eric to target an Australia-based YouTuber who had been critical of Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2018, ABC reported. His handlers in the Political Security Protection Bureau ordered him to become close to the content creator, Chinese dissident Edwin Yin, and to lure him to Southeast Asia.
Eric eventually gave up as Yin was “too cunning” to be entrapped, according to ABC.
Wang Liming, an anti-CCP cartoonist living in Japan, was another target the Political Security Protection Bureau assigned to Eric, ABC reported. Eric adopted an alias as a planning supervisor for the Prince Real Estate Group, a firm with connections to Cambodian leadership.
The Political Security Protection Bureau ordered Eric to lure Liming to Cambodia so he could be arrested and extradited to China, according to ABC. Eric used his false identity at Prince Real Estate to reach out and offer him money to design a logo for the company.
Prince Real Estate then used Liming’s designs at events and senior members of the company posed with an inflatable version of one such design, lending credibility to Eric’s operation, ABC reported. After that, Chinese secret police organized a job interview for Liming in Cambodia, with the hopes of trapping him, but his wife stopped him from going, suspecting it was a trap.
Delegates attend the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 22, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
One of Eric’s targets wound up dead.
In 2018, the Political Security Protection Bureau ordered Eric to get close to Hua Yong, a critic of the CCP based in Thailand, and to lure him to either Cambodia or Laos, according to ABC.
This time, Eric was given an alias as a business planning manager working for a hotel group, ABC reported. Eric was able to meet with Yong and gained his trust by criticizing the Chinese government over drinks. Yong then posted a video of Eric posing as a member of an anti-Chinese militia to his Twitter account.
Canada granted Yong a temporary protection visa in 2021, and Eric stayed in close contact with the dissident, sharing his phone number, address and other personal information with the Political Security Protection Bureau, according to ABC.
In November 2022, Yong was found dead after kayaking at night. Canadian police found no evidence that the death was suspicious, ABC reported.
Eric escaped his role as a Chinese agent after security officials in Beijing began looking into the fake militia video he sent Yong, not knowing it was part of an intelligence operation, according to ABC. When Eric was told he was facing arrest and ordered to return to China, he opted instead to flee to Australia.
“For all those who oppose the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping, the day that we can feel truly safe is the day the CCP falls,” Eric told ABC.
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