(CNSNews.com) - U.S. authorities are finally cracking down on so-called Chinese police stations located in the United States to keep an eye on Chinese citizens or even Americans citizens of Chinese descent who don't toe the Communist Party line.
Two criminal complaints unsealed Monday in federal court in Brooklyn charged 44 defendants with various crimes related to the harassment of Chinese nationals living in New York and elsewhere in the U.S.
"The defendants, including 40 MPS (Ministry of Public Security) officers and two officials in the Cyberspace Administration of China, allegedly perpetrated transnational repression schemes targeting U.S. residents whose political views and actions are disfavored by the PRC government, such as advocating for democracy in the People's Republic of China," the Justice Department said.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) said on Tuesday that Chinese national police, operating out of a "nondescript" building in New York City, were hunting down dissidents and harassing their relatives back in China "to force them under their thumb."
Waltz said the Chinese Communist Party has a "two-fold" purpose in policing Chinese dissidents residing in the U.S.
"One is that they want the message out loud and clear to Chinese dissidents -- these are Chinese-Americans oftentimes, by the way, not just Chinese nationals that have escaped -- that you don't dare. You do not dare oppose the regime -- that the long arm of the Chinese Communist Party will hunt you down and will find you, because how does -- how does the Communist Party rule? They rule by fear.
"That's one, but then number two, yes, we are infiltrated in all aspects of U.S. society, from land, food supply, academia, Hollywood, Wall Street, corporate America, you name it. And that's not xenophobic, you know, as the left likes to constantly throw out. That is by design, through the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party to influence all aspects of our society in their march to be the global superpower under president Xi.
"I mean, that's it. He even states it. We need to listen to these dictators when they tell us what they're doing."
Waltz is among the Republicans pushing the Biden administration to send weapons systems to Taiwan, which Taiwan already has paid for.
He noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping has made it clear he will not pass the Taiwan issue to the next generation: "That means he's doing it on his watch. He's 70 years old, so do the math."
Waltz believes military force is still an option for Xi in his goal to dominate Taiwan, and that means "there should be no higher priority than getting (anti-ship) missiles to Taiwan."
"Because every time Xi looks across the Strait and says we're ready, we're going to take it by force, we want him saying, not yet, Taiwan is too well armed, the United States is too well prepared.
"And then the other piece, Maria, is the political will of our allies," Waltz said. "One of the things that jumped out at us in this trip (to Taiwan), is that whether it's the Philippines, even the Japanese, the South Koreans and others, they're saying, what will you do in the case of a conflict, United States? Don't ask us what we will do when you haven't determined.
"And right now we're all over the place with this policy of strategic ambiguity. I firmly believe we need to go to a policy of strategic clarity and one to deterrence and then communicate that clearly as a leader of the Western world to our allies to get them on board."
Waltz said he thinks China would prefer to take Taiwan by non-military means such as economic coercion or political interference in Taiwan's presidential election in January. "But if that fails, then I think the military option is absolutely on the table within the next five years, Maria," he said.
"I mean, there are things happening in China that aren't to the Chinese Communist Party's benefit domestically, economically and demographically that I think is going to cause them to accelerate at the same time the United States military is entering a dip as it tries to modernize and recover.
"And there is a sweet spot there, and oh by the way, economically, they believe we're going to go insolvent in many of our entitlement and other programs right around the same time. So it is a period of maximum danger, and I keep ringing the alarm bell," Waltz said.
"We need to step up economically, we need to cut off capital, bring our supply chains home, have a Reagan-style defense buildup and arm Taiwan to the teeth and it's a race against time."