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Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen started the press conference, "We are here to announce three important cases, unsealed today in the Eastern District of New York. These cases expose attempts by the government of the People's Republic of China to suppress dissenting voices within the United States. They demonstrate how the PRC seeks to stalk, intimidate, and silence those who oppose it."
"Authoritarian states around the world feel emboldened to reach beyond their borders to intimidate or exact reprisals against individuals who dare to speak out against oppression and corruption," continued the Assistant Attorney General. "This activity is antithetical to fundamental American values - we will not tolerate such repression here when it violates our laws. We will defend the rights of Americans and those who come to live, work and study in the United States. We will not allow any foreign government to deny them the freedom of speech or the protection of our laws or to threaten their safety or the safety of their families."
"All of these victims were targeted because of their pro-Democracy views, because they chose to exercise their freedom of speech here in the United States," said U.S. Attorney for the District of New York Breon Peace. "As these cases show the MSS has been targeting pro-Democracy activists living in the United States with harassment and smear campaigns, spying on them to help the PRC (Peoples' Republic of China) government target them for arrest, and even planning to physically harm an activist, a veteran of the U.S. military, to stop him from running for U.S. Congress."
"The Ministry of State Security is more than an intelligence collection agency. It executes the Chinese government's efforts to limit free speech, attack dissidents, and preserve the power of the Communist Party," said Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. "When it exports those actions overseas, it violates the fundamental sovereignty of the United States and becomes a national security threat. These indictments should serve as a stark warning to the MSS and all foreign intelligence agencies that their efforts at repression will not be tolerated within our borders."
On Wednesday March 16, 2022 Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division lead a press conference with U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, and Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy of the FBI's New York Field Office, Counterintelligence Branch to discuss recent law enforcement actions to address transnational repression.