cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/51510897
As steam rises from the stove, Ma Ruilin hand-pulls fresh noodles for the lunch service at the Chinese restaurant he runs in New York.
Most of his former cadres inside China’s ruling Communist Party wouldn’t understand why he left his comfortable life as a government official to work in a kitchen on the other side of the world, he says.
But after a creeping sense of disillusionment with Beijing’s policies, the 50-year-old made the choice to risk everything – including his own family – and flee to the United States. Now, he’s stepping forward to become a rare whistleblower on the Chinese system, exposing closely guarded secrets about how China spies on its citizens at home and abroad – including in the US.
“The system has always been evil,” he said. “If you don’t leave, you’ll keep doing evil there.”
[…]
In more than three hours of interviews[…], Ma revealed his role in designing and implementing programs that suppressed China’s religious minorities – and detailed the expansion in scope and scale of China’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), a shadowy branch of the Communist Party where he worked.
[…]
Ma’s decision to speak out against the system he escaped provides important evidence from an insider during a broader crackdown by American law enforcement against “transnational repression” – the intimidation tactics Beijing is accused of deploying against its own diaspora.
“This is a campaign by the Chinese government to silence dissent on US soil,” Roman Rozhavsky, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division [said]. “It’s been very aggressive and widespread.”
Rozhavsky said “hundreds” of Chinese operatives are working inside the US – a “gross breach of US sovereignty” – and many more working are remotely from China.
[…]
Since its inception, the “united front” has been both a political philosophy and a branch of the Communist Party – which Mao and Xi have described as one of China’s “magic weapons” to strengthen the CCP. The department is heavily entwined with the public and state security apparatus, creating “‘one chessboard,’ all together, one whole,” Ma said.
The party has expanded the strategy in recent years, with calls for “stronger measures to implement” United Front work to “enhance the capacity” of the operation, China’s state news agency Xinhua reports. Ma said staffing “basically doubled” since 2019.
“The United Front Work Department has been expanding continuously,” Ma said. “When these Party departments expand, it becomes a contracting, tightening society.”
[…]
People connected to the UFWD have been accused of harassing and intimidating activists and critics, largely from groups China defines as the “Five Poisons” – advocates for independence or greater freedom for Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, and followers of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong.
[…]
Lin Hai, a Chinese national who lives in New York and works as an Uber driver, said he was beaten and injured by pro-China protesters while attending a rally in 2019 to support a visit by Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s President at the time.
“I was shocked,” Lin Hai said. “Because I never expected to be threatened or beaten on American soil.’ [You can see a video in the linked article.]
[…]
Anti-CCP protesters also had violent confrontations with pro-Beijing groups near the 2023 APEC summit in San Francisco, which was attended by Xi.
The UFWD has tentacles across some student organizations along with community groups in the US known as “hometown associations.” China says that these groups help people with everyday tasks like applying for drivers’ licences. But the FBI’s Rozhavsky says they are also being used as recruitment grounds for “people who are willing to engage in transnational repression.”
[…]
More than 2,000 organizations connected to the United Front system have been identified in four democratic countries – the US, Britain, Canada, and Germany – according to a recent report by The Jamestown Foundation, a DC-based think tank. Nearly half of those groups are based in the US.
[…]
Starting in 2018, Ma said Xinjiang officials were also sent on visits to Rwanda to study “a real genocide,” referencing the 1994 massacres that killed hundreds of thousands. He said the trips were designed to reduce their guilt when they saw how “benevolent” the Party is in comparison – but also to give them new ideas.
“It teaches you how to use even more brutal methods to torment people,” he said.
[…]
Since coming to power, Xi has intensified efforts to assimilate ethnic minorities, and rolled out a nationwide campaign to “sinicize” religion – ensuring it aligns with Communist Party leadership and values.
“It’s never been as severe as it is under Xi: so systematic, so intense,” Ma said.
“Based on my understanding, privately no one likes him,” he said, referring to his former CCP colleagues in Gansu. “But on the surface, everyone has to praise him.”
[…]
“The longer I stayed within that system, the more I felt a sense of guilt,” he said. “I always wanted to escape that kind of cage-like life.”
When he arrived in the US in February 2024 with his wife and two children, the next challenge was adjusting to a lower standard of living compared to the privileged existence they had left behind.
“My wife was a university professor, and I was within the CCP system and on an upward trajectory,” he said. “So, I lived a worry-free life.”
[…]
“China’s Muslim community is living in a very bleak world, a hopeless era,” he said. “I want to stand up in this era and give others some hope.”
[…]
by now just give me a list of states/organizations that do not spy on me.
Everyday, it seems like fewer and fewer countries are safe. I already knew that China was unsafe, I didn’t know all the details, but this is pretty bad. Where can a person go where their rights won’t be violated by the government, either their own or the governments of others? Especially for queer people and ethnic minorities, it seems like the list is maybe a literal handful.
If it makes you feel any better this article is pure propaganda and a joke. Citing Falun Gong as a “spiritual movement” is ridiculous.
It’s a cult, I get it. Do you think that makes internationally harassing them okay?
How about the other four groups called “poison”?
People connected to the UFWD have been accused of harassing and intimidating activists and critics, largely from groups China defines as the “Five Poisons” – advocates for independence or greater freedom for Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, and followers of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong.
It’s not just a cult? It’s a fascist organization funded by the US? So… Yes. Harassing them is fine. Why don’t you go read some of the epoch times and tell me what you think of them.
Good job, buddy. You’re advocating for giving cult numbers a reason to stay in the cult.
Do you feel the same way about the other four poisons? Are freedom advocates and Muslims fair game "poison"s too? Can we just call them vermin?
What are you talking about lol.
If you are defending Falun Gong there’s no real reason to engage with you on the other topics. You clearly do not have any understanding about China except that you think it is bad and evil.
Harassing groups of people internationally is bad and evil, is it not? “China” is not bad, no ethic or national block is, but policies like this are.
Harassing people across national borders because they disagree with you is bad, actually.
Calling ethnic and religious groups vermin is bad, actually.
… Right?
What? No. I can’t believe I’m typing this out. There is a difference between good and bad things.
China is a total surveillance state though, and they follow expatriates overseas and fuck with them if they don’t both not say mean things about the mother country, and if the don’t answer when called.
Often they will threaten their families still in china with getting put on the list of people to fuck with unless they come home and face whatever the party has in mind, or to engage in espianage, etc.
Obviously our government, and media is full of shit on a lot on this subject, but it doesn’t make china innocent here they are bastards. Even if the administration is looking to scapegoat them for allowing our own rich to steal our lunch.
The irony is that it is probably safer for me to travel China as a western tourist than murica these days. Fun, times eh?
I hear people talk about leaving the US to escape the fascism and I get it especially the women, queer and trans folks, and POCs. I fear there will be no where safe soon enough the way fascism is moving around the globe. Climate change will only make this accelerate.
I would focus efforts on either Southeast Asia, Australia(maybe) and the EU. SEA might be the best overall bet as I think it’s unlikely China would be foolish enough to attack Vietnam or Indonesia or the Philippines(which the US won’t be able to hold since it appears as though the Trump administrations goal is control all the Americas with an iron fist). The EU is safe for queer for the most part but Russia is eyeing it in a way that would make me uneasy.
Good luck
Right now, I’m considering Ireland and New Zealand most seriously. I’d like to live in the EU, but with Chat Control and whatnot, it seems like a privacy nightmare. There’s also the legitimate threat that Russia poses.
The UK seems to have gone down the same route as the US, so there wouldn’t be much point in going there. It’d be like a Jewish refugee going from Austria to France. The whole age verifying for access for half the websites on the internet thing is also rather scary, and I want nothing to do with it.
English is unfortunately the only language that I’m legitimately fluent in (I do speak a bit of German, but certainly not enough to survive with), and I would prefer to not be the American that hasn’t learned the language of the country he chose to move to, especially if the people living there would be offended or prejudiced against me. That rules out most of Asia, especially because I’m white, so I sure as hell wouldn’t fit in.
Australia has some of the problems that the UK has, but to a lesser extent. I have heard about somewhat widespread transphobia, which is something I’d prefer not to be around, even though I’m not trans. I’m also not noticeably queer, so I could likely survive in a homophobic country, but I certainly wouldn’t like to live in a place that hates most of the people I care about. I’ve also heard a bit about the government being quite corrupt, which I also don’t like. Still, Australia is certainly not the worst option.
Ireland was my main choice for a while. Most people speak English, they’re not too bigoted, and they have a history of being oppressed, which I’d assume (well, hope) makes the population a bit more accepting of differences. Unfortunately, Ireland is part of the EU, which is a bit unfortunate. Still, not the worst choice.
Right now, New Zealand appears to be the best option for me. I haven’t done much research, so it might have big problems as well. From what I’ve heard, it seems nice enough, shame there’s not a ton of space on the island.
Unfortunately, I don’t believe that any of these places will be safe for long. I’m just hoping that I’ll be able to survive a couple of decades. Setting my sights pretty high, huh? Sorry this is so fucking long, I took my meds this morning.
Idk how much money you have, belize and costa rica are nice. Belize is a little less safe but cheaper, caters to westerners, and speaks english as the official language.
SE Asia is one of the worst places you could go. Unless you have money to settle in singapore, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Bangkok, there are a few. Vietnam is not a stable country, and they are whoring for wall street and china, and regularly have riots breaking and burning chinese shit. Their government is supremely corrupt, and if the US wanted you they would sell you out right away, if the locals didn’t rob and ransom you first.
I remember it was common knowledge in America in the 1980s that China was not safe for free speech. Probably at least since the Tiananmen Massacre, but even before that.
Trump Administration: takes notes
Chinese Communist Party: Knows it’s far ahead.
Russia does something similar. They intimidate dissidents abroad.
Yes, according the the NGO Freedom House, a quarter of the world’s governments (48 states) are using tactics of transnational repression, but 10 are responsible for nearly 80 percent of all physical, direct incidents between 2014 and 2024.
The Chinese government remains the most prolific perpetrator, committing 272 incidents, or 22 percent, of recorded cases. The governments of Russia, Turkey, and Egypt are also leading offenders. Authorities in Tajikistan and Cambodia have received less attention despite being major perpetrators of transnational repression against targets in Europe and Asia.
In the words of my friend who never had a webcam cover “If the government wants to watch me jerk, so be it. At least someone is enjoying it with me”
You say that now.
So more western sinophobic propaganda?
Sinophobia is “a fear or loathing of China, or its people or culture”.
This whistleblower talks only of his complaints about the current Chinese government.
So, no.
A whistleblower story with just the right amount of dog whistle us propaganda in it? I think I counted four uses of the full-party name and then repeating the Uyghur bullshit. The article may as well have been written by Falun Gong
Uyghur bullshit…? Are you fucking serious?
I’m 100% certain your knowledge of the region came from US propaganda and not what’s really going on
Can you just like go to the Wikipedia page for the Uyghur genocide, scroll to the sources and start clicking through them. Just find out where the information is coming from. 15 minutes.
Instead of questioning sources, you could just name sources on China’s genocidal politics that you think are reliable. Where are they?
Unless you’re finding the (not too) subtle “we need more police and intelligence because the Chinese are outnumberung us” spin in the article.
The article at no point suggests or even hints that more police or additional spying on the Chinese is necessary.
Where the heck do you guys come up with this crap?
I just find it ironic for one guy to flee from one Gestapo state into another Gestapo state. The only difference is that the other one claims to be the land of the free and that they do surveillance and persecution in the open instead.
