DOJ Should Investigate China’s United Front Groups Over Violence in San Francisco: Report

Pro-Beijing protesters clash with Chinese dissidents in front of The St. Regis hotel in San Francisco on Nov. 14, 2023. Eva Fu/The Epoch Times

Two U.S.-based advocacy groups are calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the activities of the Chinese regime’s United Front foreign influence organizations in the United States, after identifying groups responsible for street violence in San Francisco during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit in 2023.

The Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC) and Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) used open-source research and facial recognition technology to identify people aligned with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) who allegedly assaulted peaceful pro-democracy protesters during Xi’s four-day visit, according to their newly-released report.

The groups found that 19 leaders of the CCP’s United Front groups were in San Francisco during Xi’s visit and that 12 of them allegedly participated in attacks against protesters. These leaders came from across the United States, including New York; California; Portland, Oregon; Seattle; the San Francisco Bay Area; and Philadelphia.

“Investigate whether united front groups in the U.S. are acting as unregistered foreign agents of the PRC in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” the two groups urged the DOJ, referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

The report also urged the DOJ to “explore the potential criminal liabilities of individuals and groups engaged in” transnational repression.

Xi arrived in San Francisco on Nov. 14, 2023, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Many decided to use his visit as a platform to peacefully protest against the CCP’s human rights violations, holding demonstrations at San Francisco International Airport; on the streets near the Moscone Center, where APEC meetings were held; in areas outside of the St. Regis hotel where Xi stayed; and in other locations around the city.

However, the peaceful protests were marred by violence allegedly committed by Xi’s supporters and pro-CCP demonstrators. The report documents 34 cases of harassment, intimidation, and assault.

Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, said in a July 31 statement that the CCP-directed attacks “were an outrageous violation of American sovereignty and the values we all hold dear.” He called on the FBI and the San Francisco Police Department to hold the perpetrators accountable.

“This thuggery—also known as transnational repression—has no place in America,” Moolenaar said. “The CCP cannot be allowed to bring its Orwellian model of totalitarian control to American soil.”

United Front Groups

The CCP leverages a network of groups, some directly under the control of the United Front Work Department within its Central Committee, to carry out its “united front” strategy to advance the regime’s interests overseas. A big part of the strategy involves exerting influence and control over Chinese diaspora communities and promoting favorable narratives about China under the CCP’s rule.

One United Front leader identified in the report is Li Huahong, head of the Chinese Anti-Cult World Alliance (CACWA). According to the report, Li, who was wearing a CACWA jacket at the time, allegedly attacked Chinese activist Jia Junwei outside the St. Regis hotel on Nov. 14, 2023. Jia had traveled to San Francisco seeking justice for her father, a victim of the regime’s land expropriation policies who died in Chinese detention in 2017.

Jia said that Li “snatched her banner, dragged her into an area surrounded by other CCP supporters who held up their large PRC flags so that no one could see what was happening, pulled her hair, and hit her in the head,” the report states, noting that an ambulance later arrived at the scene and first responders treated Jia.

Li was “alleged to be involved” in more attacks the next day, alongside a dinner reception for Xi at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, according to the report. Inside a parking garage across from the hotel, an unidentified man wearing a CACWA jacket was among a group of 15 masked CCP supporters allegedly attacking Tibetan protesters, after the latter unfurled a banner with the words “Dictator Xi, Your Time Is Up.”

In 2013, Li was convicted in New York on charges of attacking Falun Gong practitioners. The faith group is persecuted by the CCP in China.

Also on Nov. 14, 2023, Li Huanjun, a victim of forced demotion in China, said she was hit in the head with a flagpole and pinched on the arms, waist, and other places several times during encounters with CCP supporters.

One of the individuals who allegedly participated in the harassment and intimidation of Li Huanjun was Jing Dongsheng, the report states, identifying him as the president of the Oregon Association for the Promotion of the Peaceful Unification of China.

Four other United Front leaders were allegedly responsible for attacks against Chinese activist Wang Wei on Nov. 15, 2023. According to the report, their names are Wengxi Zhuoma, president of the Sichuan Association of Washington state; Guo Jianwei, president of the Henan Association of Washington state; Fang Weixia, chair of the Association of China’s Peaceful Reunification of Washington state; and Chen Wenshen, vice president of the Seattle-area Fujian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Washington state.

In a video, Fang can be seen “punching … and kicking” activist Wang, according to the report.

Wang explained in the report that he was wearing a “Free China” sticker on his arm, which could be the reason he became a target of the CCP supporters.

“A question which the U.S. government, local governments, and federal and local law enforcement authorities may need to confront is whether the CCP united front groups and individuals are essentially acting as unregistered foreign agents, in which case they may be in breach of the law,” the two groups wrote.

Transnational Repression

HKDC and SFT said local authorities in San Francisco didn’t do enough to protect protesters.

“Despite strong awareness of CCP [transnational repression] at the federal level and a general commitment to countering it, agencies were unprepared to do so in San Francisco,” the two groups wrote.

“Local law enforcement authorities exhibited a lack of awareness of [transnational repression], were often unresponsive when alerted to the attacks, and took little and inadequate action in response to the attacks.”

The report explained that protesters had to change their protest plans several times “due to safety concerns.”

For example, Tibetan and Uyghur groups canceled their plan to march to the Hyatt Regency on Nov. 15, 2023.

“When they saw the large numbers of CCP supporters gathered outside the hotel and an absence of separate protest zones, they decided against this course of action as they feared it could lead to a potentially violent confrontation,” the report reads.

Standing Up for Liberty

The report offered recommendations to the White House, the State Department, the DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Congress, and state and local authorities to address the CCP’s acts of transnational repression.

It urges the State Department to impose targeted sanctions against foreign individuals who “direct or engage” in acts of transnational repression. It also asks Homeland Security to offer transnational repression-related training to state and local law enforcement.

Congress is also urged to approve legislation such as the Transnational Repression Policy Act, the Stop Transnational Repression Act (H.R.5907), the Combating Transnational Repression Act of 2024 (H.R. 7443), the Law Enforcement Support and Transnational Repression Hotline Act (H.R. 7433), and the Strengthening State and Local Efforts to Combat Transnational Repression Act (H.R. 7439).

Introduced by Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) in February and co-sponsored by Reps. Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.), August Pfluger (R-Texas), and Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.), H.R. 7439 would require the secretary of Homeland Security to establish a “transnational repression threat training program” for state, local, tribal, campus, and territorial law enforcement, according to a statement.

“Silence and lack of action will surely signal to the CCP that it has ‘gotten away with it’ and simply encourage it to continue to pursue its objectives to silence, intimidate, and inflict violence on those it perceives as its enemies abroad,” the report reads.

“At best, it leaves those who live in the United States and advocate for freedom and human rights in East Turkestan, Hong Kong, the PRC, and Tibet uncertain and skeptical that U.S. authorities will protect them when the CCP seeks to come after them, and, at worst, fearful and intimidated in the ‘land of the free.’”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.