'Operation Fox Hunt': China’s espionage programme to crack down on dissidents explained

China, which has already been widely criticised worldwide over its COVID-19 handling and Hong Kong security law, has been ripped yet again after details of its ‘Operation Fox Hunt’ came out in open. The espionage operation attracted more fury and acrimony after FBI director Christopher Wray warned that China poses “greatest long-term threat” to intellectual property and economic vitality of the US. He elaborated that Chinese President Xi Jinping had launched a programme called 'Fox Hunt' to target political rivals, dissidents, and critics seeking to expose China's extensive human rights violations.

What is Operation Fox Hunt?

Just when the whole world thought China’s suppression of freedom is limited to Hong Kong since with controversial law, shocking details about China’s campaign against Chinese dissenters critical of its authoritarian policy came to light. While China started Operation Fox Hunt claiming it to be ‘anti-corruption campaign,’ the real aim turns out to be different. As per reports, China has been target Chinese dissidents living abroad to stop their activism, under the garb of returning corrupt Chinese nationals to China to face criminal charges. 

Launched in June 2014 by Chinese president Xi Jinping, the operation was claimed to be an attempt to get back fugitives accused of financial crimes. However, the operation came under scrutiny after FBI in US raised a public alarm about it’s real motive.

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Return to China or commit suicide

“China describes Fox Hunt as some kind of international anti-corruption campaign. It is not," FBI Director Christopher Wray warned. "Instead," he told the Hudson Institute in Washington DC, "Fox Hunt is a sweeping bid by [President] Xi to target Chinese nationals who he sees as threats and who live outside of China across the world."

Wary said hundreds of these victims that China targets live in the United States, adding that many of them are American citizens or green cardholders. He claimed that the Chinese government wants to force them to return to China. He further called China’s tactics to accomplish the aim “shocking”.

"When it couldn't locate one Fox Hunt target, the Chinese government sent an emissary to visit the target's family here in the United States. The message they said to pass on? The target had two options: return to China promptly, or commit suicide," said Wray on July 7.

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Fox Hunt targets and shocking tactics

The FBI chief warned that Fox Hunt targets include Chinese dissidents, communist regime's political rivals and critics seeking to expose China’s extensive human rights violations. Chinese agents, in order to get these dissidents back, often issue threats against their family members still living on the mainland, said Wary. 

Operation Fox Hunt, within the first six months of its launch, helped repatriate around 700 suspects living outside the country. Its biggest coup was in 2015 with the extradition of a woman from Italy as it was the first time a European country agreed to hand over someone to China over financial crime accusations. 

China reportedly conducted activities across 56 countries within the first year of the launch of Operation Fox Hunt. While the espionage has become a cause of concern and gained international attention in past few days, it is not the first time that the details have been out. Obama administration, in August 2015, had also warned Beijing about the presence of Chinese government agents operating undercover across the US to pursue prominent expatriates. Many of them reportedly wanted in China ostensibly on accusations of corruption.

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