News (1) to (4) / Research, translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA / Image : Web Screenshot
News (1)
US grips "the highest level of Chinese defector in history"
News (2)
CCP media claimed Chinese defector was still in China
Hosts : Qin Peng, Iris, NTDTV
One Dong Jingwei, two statements: The US media newly disclosed more details about his escape from the US in February, but the party media claimed that Dong was in China. Who was lying?
A few days ago, it was reported that Dong Jingwei, Vice Minister of the Ministry of National Security of the Communist Party of China, fled the United States. On 17 June, US media quoted news that Dong did indeed arrive in the US in February and provided the US with important information about the origin of the Wuhan virus and the virus. On the same day, the Chinese Communist Party media reported that Dong hosted the meeting in China, but two versions appeared strangely.
News (3)
Dong Jingwei’s “defection” is confusing and mysterious, the US and Chinese media have different statements
Hosts : Qin Peng, Iris, NTDTV
Iris: A topic that has caused a great uproar recently. We see that the popularity is still not retreating, and there are new follow-up reports every day. The origin is at the beginning of June. The American media RedState reported that the CCP "the highest-level defector in history" has cooperated with the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for three months. Later this news was reprinted by Fox News anchor Carlson and others. For a while it was clamoring.
In yesterday's program, Qin Peng and Sydney also discussed a person who is now being speculated by the outside world, that is, Dong Jingwei, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of National Security.
And at 8 o’clock yesterday evening, RedState re-issued a report, quoting sources, saying that Dong Jingwei, who was in charge of counter-espionage work at the Ministry of State Security of the Communist Party of China, had indeed arrived in California in mid-February this year and listed what Dong had provided to the United States. Specific information. We will discuss this later.
However, on June 18, Beijing time, a number of party media in the Chinese Communist Party immediately published a report in a unified format, claiming that the "relevant person in charge" of the Ministry of National Security hosted a "counter-espionage" symposium that morning, and was suspected of deliberately fleeing for Dong Jingwei." Refute rumors".
This one comes and goes, one is positive and the other is negative. Who is right and who is wrong, and who should I believe? As observers, we might as well discuss it with everyone.
Qin Peng: Yes, yesterday, we discussed the popular news of Dong Jingwei's defect by overseas Chinese, and pointed out five strange phenomena including Baidu Baike's deliberate deletion of his news. But, after all, on the topic of "defection", as a serious media, we can only say that these things are suspicious, and we have not come to a conclusion as to whether Dong Jingwei has defected.
As a result, today we quickly saw the private rivalry between the Chinese and American media. This is very interesting. So, who should I believe in this pros and cons report? Today, we will present the two reports objectively, and let our audience friends appreciate and judge by themselves.
RedState first report
First come to see the latest report from RedState. They quoted "sources" as saying that in mid-February this year, Dong Jingwei claimed that he was going to a university in California to visit his daughter, but he just landed in California and contacted the US Defense Intelligence Agency. (DIA), expressing his intention to surrender and provide information. Subsequently, he "hidden in a conspicuous place" for about two weeks, then entered the supervision of DIA and disappeared from public view.
The source also told RedState that during the US-China talks in Alaska in March this year, Yang Jiechi, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi also made requests for the US to return Dong Jingwei. But at the time, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken
did not know that Dong Jingwei had surrendered to the United States, so he told the Chinese representative that the United States did not have this person.
Iris: RedState also quoted news that the outside world did not know the existence of this surrender until the last three or four weeks. Prior to this, DIA was reviewing the information provided by Dong Jingwei, and disclosed some information they had learned without mentioning the source of the information.
We know that RedState is a conservative political blog site in the United States. As mentioned at the beginning, the news of "the high-ranking CCP officials fleeing" is largely due to the fact that FOX’s leading anchor Tucker Calson and the American Emmy Award-winning journalist Adam Housley have been involved in the media industry. It was reposted by a certain prestigious media person, so it suddenly became the focus of public attention.
Qin Peng: Yes, although RedState itself is not a well-known mainstream media in the United States, it has been endorsed by many well-known media people because it reported that the high-level CCP officials had defected, so we believe it is credible. It's still relatively high.
Of course, as many audience friends want to know, the question is, who is this high-ranking CCP official who defected? Is it the now legendary CCP State Security Deputy Minister Dong Jingwei? This is also a mystery that we are also trying to unravel.
Okay, let's continue to share this report from RedState with you.
It continued to quote the news that the information Dong Jingwei provided to DIA had eight specific points:
1. Early research on the Chinese Communist virus (SARS-CoV-2) (Wuhan virus, new coronavirus);
2. A model that predicts how the spread of the CCP virus will harm the United States and the world;
3. Detailed financial records of which organizations and governments funded the CCP virus and other biological warfare research;
4. A list of American citizens who provided intelligence to the CCP;
5. List of Chinese spies working in the United States or studying in American universities;
6. Financial records showing American businessmen and public officials collecting money from the Chinese Communist government;
7. Details of the meeting between US government officials (possibly accidentally) and Chinese and Russian intelligence personnel;
8. How did the CCP invade the US CIA communication system, causing dozens of Chinese people who work for the CIA to lose their lives.
Iris: Wow, it looks like a big battle.
Qin Peng: Yes. If all of these messages are confirmed, or even only part of it needs to be confirmed, it will shock the intelligence community and the U.S. law enforcement community. Especially when it comes to the relationship between the CCP and the virus, the whole world, including us in mainland China, is eager to understand.
Iris: However, I also changed my mind. There is a part of RedState's report that makes me personally suspicious.
The report said: Dong also told DIA that at least one-third of Chinese students studying in American universities are related to the Chinese Communist Party’s military assets and the "Thousand Talents Plan," and many students use pseudonyms. One of the reasons for not using real names is that many of these students are children of senior military officers or leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
Regarding the second point, I have nothing to say. After all, if people really use a pseudonym, they won't tell you, right? But "one-third" of Chinese students studying abroad involved the CCP's military assets and the "Thousand Talents Plan." I feel that among the mainland students I came into contact with when I was in college, I didn’t seem to notice that there are so many people from this background? Haha. Or maybe I don’t make deep friends. I wonder if audience friends think this is credible? Can give us a comment.
Qin Peng: Let's look at the opinions of audience friends later.
7 hours later, the CCP Political and Legal Committee refutes the rumors, another version of CCTV
After talking about RedState's report, let's first take a look at the latest response from the CCP. RedState issued a message at 8 o’clock last night, Eastern US time, and just at 3 a.m. Eastern US today, that is, 7 hours later, the WeChat public account "Changan Jian" of the Political and Legal Committee of the CPC Central Committee issued a statement saying that Dong Jingwei hosted the meeting on the morning of the 18th. At the symposium, study and implement the "Anti-espionage Security Work Regulations" that came into effect on April 26. Suspected of deliberately "refuting rumors" for Dong Jingwei to escape. Subsequently, many party media of the Chinese Communist Party followed up and published reports in a unified format.
Iris: But what's strange is that there are two versions of the report reproduced by the party media. The content of the report is almost the same. The only difference is the description of the forum host.
The version from the "CCTV News Client" stated that the "relevant person in charge of the Ministry of National Security" presided over the symposium, and later also used expressions such as "relevant person in charge pointed out" and "relevant person in charge emphasized."
The version from the "Chang An Sword" from the Central Political and Legal Committee directly named "Dong Jingwei, Vice Minister of the Ministry of National Security" to preside over the symposium, and the subsequent expressions also used "referred to by the symposium" and "emphasized by the symposium." Moreover, CCTV soon changed its report to the "Chang An Sword" version.
Qin Peng, how do you see the discrepancy between these two versions?
Qin Peng: The deliberate release by the Central Political and Legal Committee and the deliberate revision by CCTV further confirmed that this is a piece of news deliberately used to dispel rumors.
Generally speaking, most of the news of the Ministry of National Security is confidential because it involves so-called political parties and national security. Moreover, the news of Dong Jingwei was almost invisible in the official media. Only he followed Guo Shengkun and others to meet with visiting foreign presidents. At that time, a name was mentioned in the report. But this time, not only did he show up, but he also said that he gave a very long speech. The purpose was to tell everyone that Dong Jingwei had come out and did not go to the United States and did not defect.
The weirdest: no photos or videos
Iris: And, the most important point is that none of the party media reports showed any photos or videos of this symposium. In other words, only hear the sound, but not see the person. Whether Dong "really appeared" or "appeared" is still confusing. Qin Peng, what do you think of this deliberate "rumoring" of the party media?
Qin Peng: We just said that the Ministry of National Security is a confidential unit of the Communist Party of China, and public reports on officials of the Ministry of National Security and their activities are relatively rare. For officials of the Ministry of National Security, officials have traditionally only announced the names of ministers. On the official website, the identities of officials below the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of National Security are generally not officially announced. The outside world can only occasionally see the names of some of the officials of the Ministry of National Security in reports of other official activities.
The photos of Dong Jingwei circulated on the Internet were previously dug up by netizens from the official website of the "China Law Society" where Dong worked part-time.
The overseas exposure frightened the CCP?
That is to say, it is unlikely that Dong Jingwei will come out as a deputy minister at the cusp of public opinion. On June 18, he presided over a large-scale symposium to discuss a notice on April 26 and said a lot. Moreover, from the perspective of news reports, there must be participants in the forum, but there is no report in the report, which feels a bit weird.
Therefore, I am a little bit skeptical. Is this conference really held, or is it just opened online, that is, it is possible to fabricate such a report?
Of course, this also shows that relevant reports about the CCP’s senior officials, the forwarding and discussion by famous media people such as Tulson, and the discussions among overseas Chinese, especially the follow-up report by RedState on the evening of June 17th, Eastern Time, are really frightening. The Chinese Communist Party.
Why is this so? The story of "Three People Become a Tiger", I think you have heard of it?
Iris: Yes. In other words, if there are more people talking about something, it may really have a huge impact and actually cause it to happen.
Qin Peng: That's it. Many people in the country are now spreading that the high-level CCP officials have defected. This has made the CCP’s internal military uneasy, especially the CCP’s major holiday and the 100th anniversary of the party. The CCP does not want such news to steal Xi Jinping’s limelight. I don’t want this kind of news. When the CCP is struggling to fight the international community, it will trigger external associations. I don’t want someone inside to really imitate and defect after seeing the news.
However, the CCP’s refuting the rumor may actually make many people more curious and even produce some opposite effects.
Iris: Yes, many netizens believe in a principle, "The more the CCP officials refute the rumors, the more truthful they are." They also doubt the authenticity of this official media report. And I think the timing of the CCP’s publication is also very interesting. Seven hours later, the party media rallied and "refuted the rumors." It seems that RedState's report really surprised the CCP.
In addition, the content of this symposium itself is also intriguing. The symposium pointed out that to do a good job of anti-rape and spy prevention, "we must catch spies, but also catch ‘internal rapists’ and ‘behind the scenes.’"
Qin Peng: Your observation is great and accurate.
Let’s take a look at this report, which is very interesting:
The symposium pointed out that the Party Central Committee attaches great importance to national security work and has made a series of important decisions and arrangements for counter-espionage work. As the competent authority for counter-espionage work, the Ministry of National Security has formulated and promulgated regulations that are a realistic need to prevent, stop, and crack down on illegal and criminal activities that endanger national security in accordance with the law, which are conducive to further consolidating the responsibility of counter-espionage security prevention and better organizing and mobilizing all social forces. Fight the "People's War" against espionage.
The symposium emphasized that to do a good job of anti-rape and spy prevention, it is necessary to catch spies as well as "internal rapists" and "behind the scenes. At present, the infiltration and stealing activities of foreign spies and intelligence agencies and various hostile forces have obviously intensified. In particular, some individuals are willing to be "internal traitors," secretly colluding with foreign spies and intelligence agencies and hostile forces to engage in anti-China activities. Individuals act as "behind the scenes" and send funds to hostile forces through illegal channels to support anti-China activities. These "traitors" and "behind-the-scenes gold masters" have seriously endangered the country's political security and will eventually be nailed to the pillar of shame in history. National security agencies must adhere to the overall national security concept, take the implementation of the regulations as an opportunity, carry out in-depth anti-rape and spy prevention work, and unswervingly maintain national security.
We know that every time the CCP encounters a crisis, it is most worried about internal instability and fear of internal rebellion. Generally, there will be a large internal cleaning. I think what the CCP is most concerned about right now is who is actually spreading Dong Jingwei’s news to the outside world? This person must be dug out. Who told the CCP officials about the virus? Dig these people out, or prevent these people from escaping... They must be rumbling now, and I think they must have been in meetings these two days, asking for mutual supervision.
News (4)
[Yokogawa View] Which of the two reports by Dong Jingwei is true?
Host : Yokogawa, Yokogawa Viewpoint Channel
After the US media disclosed that the CCP’s defected senior official was Deputy Minister of State Security Dong Jingwei, the CCP’s Political and Legal Committee Chang An Jian issued a document pointing out whether there were any defectors and who was lying? If confirmed, how strong is the impact on the CCP?
A few hours after the US media "RedState" disclosed that the CCP had voted for a senior U.S. official as Deputy Minister of National Security Dong Jingwei, Chang An Sword, the Political and Legal Commissioner of the CPC Central Committee, issued an article instructing Dong to host the forum. Are there any defectors? If yes, who is it? What did RedState and Chang An Sword? Who is more credible, who is lying? According to the information provided, who cannot sleep?
———————-
A few weeks ago, the US media disclosed that the most senior CCP defected official was in the hands of the US Defense Intelligence Agency. Over the past week, overseas Chinese social media has widely circulated that this person is the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of National Security. Dong Jingwei. Yesterday, RedState disclosed that it had confirmed from its own sources that the defector was indeed Dong Jingwei, and disclosed some details that are not yet known to the outside world.
The defector is in vain?
A few hours later, Chang An Sword, the official account of the Central Political and Legal Committee, issued a document saying that Dong Jingwei hosted the forum. After that, some overseas pro-communist media began to publicize it, and it seemed that the verdict had been finalized, that is, the defection system was in vain.
1. Are there any defectors (RedState, 11 June): Some details of the work provided by the WIV and the military were given to American scientists but the source was not informed. As a result, based on his intelligence, the scientists rechecked the characteristics of the virus and believed that the virus has been artificially modified. Although there is no independent verification by a third party, it can indeed explain the overall shift in the US government, the scientific community, and the media.
2. Who is the defector? At first I thought it might be a bureau-level military or party official with a bias in biology, because in the early days everyone focused on the details of the virus, and it was difficult for laymen to make it clear. However, if it is an intelligence officer at the deputy ministerial level, it is another matter, because it can be a confidential document and he does not need to be proficient. Now that Chang An Sword has refuted the rumors, it has increased the possibility that it is Dong Jingwei.
Compare Chang'an Sword and RedState reports and analyze which is true
Chang An Sword: Time: RedState reported first, and Chang An Sword reported on the Dong meeting four hours later. Obviously, it was passively and targeted to refute rumours.
Content: Dong presided over the symposium, and there was no one who participated in the symposium. This is not in line with the CCP’s official reporting rules. It seemed to be an emergency response, and I did not even think about how to make up the story.
Format: If you want to dispel rumors, it is easiest to put a picture of the meeting, preferably live video, the lies are self-defeating. Why can't I get it out, it should be my absence.
Aren't you afraid of being exposed afterwards? This is the most subtle part. For high-level defectors, US intelligence agencies will not allow him to appear publicly. Even if the investigation is over, they will enter the witness protection program and be anonymous, such as Yu Qiangsheng, so there is no need to worry that the US will expose them; there is no problem for China, the Ministry of National Security originally It's very mysterious. I don't have a public website, and my internal organization and personnel are kept secret. Occasionally, people like Chang An Sword that do not have photos to send a few messages.
The RedState report mainly used its own sources to verify the rumors on the Chinese network. I took a closer look, and it was quite impressive.
Dong's daughter who came to the United States to visit a university in California in mid-February this year contacted the National Defense Intelligence Agency upon arrival. (It is consistent with the content disclosed earlier, and as the deputy counterintelligence minister, of course he knows whom to call for defections. This is better than Wang Lijun's understanding.)
In the Alaska talks in March of this year, China asked the US to return Dong. Blinken refused because he did not know about it and replied that Dong was not in the hands of the United States.
How important is Dong? According to the source, the quality and credibility of the intelligence that Dong has provided: China’s special weapons system, military activities in the military drug institute, the origin of the CCP virus (Wuhan virus, novel coronavirus), the CCP’s intelligence source in the United States, U.S. intelligence agencies are ashamed.
Part of the information provided:
1) According to the Freedom Beacon in Washington, US intelligence agencies are reviewing the situation of Chinese students returning to the United States. Hundreds of people originally planned to return to the United States after January but returned to the United States in January before the trip. This may be to collect intelligence on the US government’s response to the epidemic (58,000). F/J, 396). This is provided by Dong.
2) List a series of information
Early pathogenic research (now known as SARS-CoV-2)
Predicting spread and models for the United States and the world
Financial records of organizations and governments that fund SARS2 and other biological weapons research
List of U.S. Citizens Who Provided Intelligence to the CCP
List of Chinese spies working or studying in the U.S.
Financial records of American businessmen and civil servants accepting CCP money
Records of meetings between U.S. government officials and CCP or Russian spies
How did the CCP gain access to the CIA communication system, which led to the death of more than a dozen Chinese who worked for the CIA.
He also provided a copy of the contents of Hunter Biden's computer hard drive, which is similar to my previous guess. That is, the CCP also has Hunter Biden computer hard drives, and some of them may even be sent to him by the CCP for threats.
At least one-third of the international students studying in American universities belong to the military or the Thousand Talents Program. Many people use pseudonyms because those people are the children of high-ranking CCP or military officials.
How real? From direct contact with the National Defense Intelligence Agency, it can be seen that it is not an ordinary defector, but a thorough knowledge of US intelligence agencies, and even knows which agency has been infiltrated. In this regard, it is more likely that it is Dong himself.
The Ministry of National Security is the only national intelligence agency on the list of American citizens and Chinese spies serving the CCP. The Deputy Minister must have a special responsibility. Since Dong is in charge of counter-espionage intelligence, he is of course in charge. How serious are the consequences? A Yu Qiangsheng who doesn't understand the inside story and just hears about it can expose the CCP's highest spy in the United States, Jin Wuzao. How much does a deputy minister in charge of this aspect know?
The reason why Yu Qiangsheng did not know much at the time was because the Ministry of National Security had just been formed and the original systems of various departments had not been integrated. Now the system is very complete. Once the high-level leaks, the results can be imagined.
In short, many people, China and the United States, will not sleep because of this.
Why anyone would defect? It is related to Xi Jinping’s purging. Anti-corruption during the first term should be a consensus within the party to safeguard the CCP’s rule. However, after entering the second term, many publicly used the name of political disloyalty, and the political and legal system has long been incompatible with Xi Jinping. Since last year, cleaning the handles of knives is called the blade inward, and the political and legal system is the focus. Often the report is still being made today, and the double regulation will be done tomorrow. This uncertainty makes people panic.
Such political instability is often an opportunity for senior officials to defect. The Lin Biao incident was desperate during the Cultural Revolution. Whether Lin was active or passive, he felt that his position was not stable. In fact, the Wang Lijun incident was also turbulent in Chongqing at that time, but the level of the king was not enough and the knowledge was not wide. However, Wang Lijun also taught future generations a lesson. In the future, he will either not run, or make no mistakes if he runs, and bring enough intelligence to save his life from being repatriated or rejected.
Things are still in progress. I believe we will hear further information about the case, and we will also see the results based on the above intelligence, such as tracing the source of the epidemic, or catching some spies on a list, and so on.
News (5)
BREAKING: Chinese defector's identity confirmed, was top intelligence official
Reporter : Jennifer Van Laar, RedState
We now know the name of the Chinese defector who has been working with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for a few months and what his position within the Chinese military and government was, among other details.
Chinese-language anti-communist media and Twitter are abuzz this week with rumors that a vice minister of State Security, Dong Jingwei (董经纬) defected in mid-February, flying from Hong Kong to the United States with his daughter, Dong Yang.
Dong is, or was, a longtime official in China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), also known as the Guoanbu. His publicly available background indicates that he was responsible for the Ministry’s counterintelligence efforts in China, i.e., spy-catching, since being promoted to vice minister in April 2018. If the stories are true, Dong would be the highest-level defector in the history of the People’s Republic of China.
RedState’s sources confirmed that the defector is, in fact, Dong, that he was in charge of counterintelligence efforts in China, and that he flew to the United States in mid-February, allegedly to visit his daughter at a university in California. When Dong landed in California he contacted DIA officials and told them about his plans to defect and the information he’d brought with him. Dong then “hid in plain sight” for about two weeks before disappearing into DIA custody.
According to Spy Talk, Dong’s name came up during the Sino-American Summit held in Alaska in March 2021:
In a tweet on Wednesday, Han [Dr. Han Lianchao, a Chinese defector], citing an unnamed source, alleged that China’s foreign minister Wang Yi and Communist Party foreign affairs boss Yang Jiechi demanded that the Americans return Dong and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken refused.
RedState’s sources say that Chinese officials did demand that the United States return Dong, but Blinken didn’t exactly refuse; at that time Blinken wasn’t aware that Dong was with the US government, the sources say, and told China that the US didn’t have Dong.
It’s only in the last three to four weeks that anyone outside DIA knew about the defector, according to RedState’s sources. Prior to that time, DIA was vetting the information provided and confronting Langley officials with what they’d learned without divulging the source.
Experts quoted in the Spy Talk piece essentially say that the defection is just a rumor and that rumors happen all the time, but that if it’s true it’s a big deal but “not game-changing.” Based on conversations with sources familiar with the information Dong has already provided and its quantity and reliability, that’s simply not the case. Not only does Dong have detailed information about China’s special weapons systems, the Chinese military’s operation of the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of SARS-CoV-2, and the Chinese government’s assets and sources within the United States; Dong has extremely embarrassing and damaging information about our intelligence community and government officials in the “terabytes of data” he’s provided to the DIA.
Some of the information provided by Dong was reported on by the Washington Free Beacon earlier this week:
Hundreds of Chinese nationals are the subject of a federal probe after law enforcement officials flagged their travel at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese nationals returned to the United States earlier than expected in January 2020, often having modified their travel plans.
The episode is recounted in an internal report that circulated among various national security and law enforcement agencies on June 3. That report surmises that the Chinese students returned to the United States earlier than expected in order to avoid future travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The team examined 58,000 inbound Chinese F/J visa holders in the [Passenger Name Record] database and identified 396 individuals whose return travel was [scheduled] after January 2020 but had returned in January 2020,” the report reads.
The Free Beacon reports that U.S. intelligence officials haven’t come to a conclusion about whether or not the students being investigated were spies, but RedState is told that whether or not one wants to use the term “spy,” those students were sent back to the United States with specific information-gathering directives with the purpose of helping Beijing understand the US government’s response to the pandemic at a much deeper level than they could through publicly-available documents. Those students (spies) were charged with reporting back on public policy changes, economic response and damage, impacts on the healthcare system (equipment/hospital bed shortages, etc), supply chain impacts (including how long it took things like semiconductors from China to reach the United States), civil unrest, and more.
In addition, Dong has provided DIA with the following information:
- Early pathogenic studies of the virus we now know as SARS-CoV-2
- Models of predicted COVID-19 spread and damage to the US and the world
- Financial records detailing which exact organizations and governments funded the research on SARS-CoV-2 and other biological warfare research
- Names of US citizens who provide intel to China
- Names of Chinese spies working in the US or attending US universities
- Financial records showing US businessmen and public officials who’ve received money from the Chinese government
- Details of meetings US government officials had (perhaps unwittingly) with Chinese spies and members of Russia’s SVR
- How the Chinese government gained access to a CIA communications system, leading to the death of dozens of Chinese people who were working with the CIA
Dong also has provided DIA with copies of the contents of the hard drive on Hunter Biden’s laptop, showing the information the Chinese government has about Hunter’s pornography problem and about his (and Joe’s) business dealings with Chinese entities. Some of the files on Dong has provided shine a light on just how it was that the sale of Henniges Automotive (and their stealth technology) to Chinese military manufacturer AVIC Auto was approved.
Again, according to sources, Dong told DIA debriefers that at least a third of Chinese students attending US universities are PLA assets or part of the Thousand Talents Plan and that many of the students are here under pseudonyms. One reason for using pseudonyms is that many of these students are the children of high-ranking military and party leaders.
As we initially reported, DIA has high confidence in the veracity of Dong’s claims. The fact that since our original report, which was pooh-poohed by Langley apologists, the New York Times published a rare interview with Dr. Shi Zhengli (the WIV “Bat Woman”), ABC News has started an “investigation” into COVID-19 origins, and now the actual name of the defector has been published in an anti-Trump, CIA-friendly blog, demonstrates what sources told RedState today: “This defector has the rest of the intelligence community and the LEO community scared sh**less.”
Ref: https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2021/06/17/breaking-chinese-defector-confirmed-as-top-counterintelligence-official-n398374
News (6)
Feds investigating Chinese spies' return to US ahead of covid travel ban
Reporter : Joseph Simonson, The Washington Free Beacon
Intelligence officials are investigating why suspected Chinese spies returned to the United States on student and work visas at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to internal government documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
Hundreds of Chinese nationals are the subject of a federal probe after law enforcement officials flagged their travel at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese nationals returned to the United States earlier than expected in January 2020, often having modified their travel plans. Then-president Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting entry from non-citizens and residents from China on Jan. 31, 2020.
The episode is recounted in an internal report that circulated among various national security and law enforcement agencies on June 3. That report surmises that the Chinese students returned to the United States earlier than expected in order to avoid future travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States recorded its first COVID-19 case on January 21, the same day a Chinese scientist said the virus could spread person to person.
"The team examined 58,000 inbound Chinese F/J visa holders in the [Passenger Name Record] database and identified 396 individuals whose return travel was [scheduled] after January 2020 but had returned in January 2020," the report reads.
Although intelligence officials have not concluded whether the hundreds of monitored students were confirmed spies, the students' modified travel suggests that many Chinese nationals were aware of the severity of COVID-19, in spite of assurances to the contrary from their government and U.S. health officials. The World Health Organization did not declare a global health emergency until Jan. 31, 2020, even though China ordered a quarantine for the entire city of Wuhan eight days before.
Education watchdogs say the memo highlights the risk to national security posed by America's lax student visa system.
"The Chinese government relies on nontraditional collectors of information as an important piece of its espionage efforts. Academia is not immune," said Rachelle Peterson, a senior research fellow at the National Institution of Scholars. "Cutting-edge research, technological inventions, and other forms of intellectual property are key targets for the Chinese government, which has sought to create in its foreign-based citizens a sense of obligation to bring back something of use for the Chinese Communist Party."
U.S. intelligence agencies have long warned universities and research facilities about the threat of Chinese espionage. Roughly 30 percent of all foreign students in the country come from China—totaling about 340,000 people. In September 2020, the United States canceled more than 1,000 student and research visas for Chinese students, claiming the recipients had ties to the Chinese military.
The Trump administration made confronting China's military and espionage practices a cornerstone of its agenda, with Trump spy chief John Ratcliffe calling China "the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom world-wide since World War II." Trump signed an executive order in May 2020 barring "certain graduate-level and above Chinese nationals associated with entities in China" from entering the country.
The National Institutes of Health opened an ongoing investigation into recipients of its research grants in 2019. The Free Beacon reported on June 14, 2020, that at least 54 scientists who received National Institutes of Health grants were fired for failure to disclose their ties to foreign governments, particularly China.
The investigation into the movements and purpose of the Chinese nationals remains ongoing, but the report serves as another indication that Chinese Communist Party officials deliberately obscured the origins and severity of COVID-19 while secretly taking precautions for themselves.
On May 26, Rep. Diana Degette (D., Colo.), the chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee, endorsed a GOP-led call for an investigation into whether COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese research lab. Other Democrats, as well as members of the media, have called for greater scrutiny into the virus's origins after having dismissed questions as part of a right-wing conspiracy theory.
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Sidney Powell summoned to Michigan court for sanctions hearing
Reporter : Jack Phillips, Publisher : The Epoch Times PREMIUM
Attorney Sidney Powell and other lawyers who filed lawsuits to support former President Donald Trump’s claims about the 2020 election were summoned by a judge to a sanctions hearing in Michigan.
U.S. District Judge Linda Parker ordered Powell—who filed a series of third-party lawsuits in Michigan and other states—and the other lawyers to appear at a July 6 hearing, according to court documents (pdf) filed on Thursday.
“Each attorney whose name appears on any of Plaintiffs’ pleadings or briefs shall be present at the motion hearing set for July 6, 2021” at 2 p.m. ET in Detroit, the single-line order from Parker read. It concerned a lawsuit, King v. Whitmer, which was filed last year and alleged President Joe Biden’s victory was the result of fraud and asked electors in Michigan to discard the certification of the state’s results.
The Epoch Times has contacted Powell for comment. She hasn’t made any comments about the development on her Telegram page.
Last year, Parker sided with Michigan state officials and wrote an opinion that the relief being sought in King v. Whitmer, referring to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, “would disenfranchise the votes of the more than 5.5 million Michigan citizens.”
The other lawyers who were summoned to appear in court are Greg Rohl, Scott Hagerstrom, and Stefanie Junttila, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, asked the court in January to sanction Powell and alleged she, Rohl, Hagerstrom, and Junttila “pursued a frivolous lawsuit” in “violation of their oaths as attorneys.” The City of Detroit in December 2020 also had asked the court (pdf) to sanction Powell.
In response to a separate defamation lawsuit, lawyers for Powell—a former federal prosecutor who successfully defended retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn—argued (pdf) that her remarks about the Nov. 3 election are protected under the Constitution. Powell’s comments to media outlets about the election were of “public concern” and are, therefore, not defamatory, her lawyers said.
“There can be no doubt that the statements at issue here relate to matters of public concern,” Powell’s lawyers said.
The comments, the lawyers added, “involve the 2020 presidential election and specifically address the reliability of the voting machines and processes used to determine the results of that election,” according to the documents. “The complaint itself contains scores of references to tweets from President Donald Trump, statements by public officials, the content of related litigation, and national press coverage of the issues.”
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