As circuses like Ringling Brothers closed, questions were raised about where animals would go (WashPo 1/19/17) or what would happen to jugglers and clowns, for example.
A Spain-based rights group, Safeguard Defenders, identified more than 100 police contact points in over 50 countries established by the Chinese Communist Party, aka the Chinese government. This is the same government Joe Biden said he’s not worried about (CNBC C Wilkie 8/8/22) nor did he see them as competition to us in the pre-COVID days back in 2019 (WashPo, F Sonmez).
An investigation by Newsweek Magazine verified the claim by Safeguard Defenders and identified a number of Chinese police departments operating in the US (Newsweek, John Feng 12/5/22). This network tracks Chinese dissidents living abroad and uses threats and intimidation against them for speaking out about atrocities in China. The CCP, however, denies such operations exist without the knowledge of the host nation (Newsweek, Feng).
Amazingly it took a foreign non-profit rights group and reporters to find this out. So could Biden officials have known? Perhaps AG Garland was preoccupied laying the ground work for prosecuting Donald Trump or parents speaking out about schools. Perhaps Homeland Security Chief Mayorkas was too busy pretending to secure the southern border.
If they did know and they did nothing to stop it, it would certainly explain what happened to the jugglers and clowns left jobless by the closing of circuses.
Ralph Miller