Commentary
China’s transnational repression is hitting New Yorkers. On June 21, a former New York City cop, Michael McMahon, was convicted of acting as an illegal Chinese agent and stalking and intimidating a New Jersey resident.
The victim, Xu Jin, was a former official from Wuhan, China. McMahon was hired as a private investigator to surveil Xu. The former sergeant allegedly got paid for his crimes, including a $5,000 wad of cash from a Chinese official in a Panera Bread restaurant.
Bread, indeed. Plenty of it.
Through surveillance and intimidation, Beijing sought to pressure Xu into returning to China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held Xu’s wife and children as virtual hostages. They were not allowed to leave the country and reunite the family….