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Wil Deatherage: Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. My name is Will Deatherage, the producer. Joining me as always is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello, everyone. I’m glad to see you here again today. Today we will talk about some news, just happened last week in the US.
W: Right, yep. In our own country here. Guangcheng, can you tell us about the person we’ll be talking about today?
G: Yeah. His name is Jie Lijian. And, you know, since he came here [to] the US, he always joins the protests outside of CCP’s embassy on the Tiananmen Square anniversary, or when Xi Jinping visited the US.
W: So Guangcheng, can you tell us more about this man? Where did he come from?
G: He moved from China to California.
W: What year?
G: Several years ago. Before [the] Coronavirus. So this story happened [at the] end of May.
W: 2026, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah, 2026. The CCP’s Secretary of State Department, his name is Wang Yi, visited the US to join some event of the UN in New York.
W: Okay.
G: So Jie Lijian came from California to New York to protest Wang Yi’s visit. And after that, on his way back from New York to California, when he was driving through Utah, he saw a big SUV following him on the highway tailgating him.
And he thought the driver wanted to pass him, so he moved to the right. But the car didn’t pass him. And then a little later, you know, the SUV sped up and hit his car and made his car spin out off the road and into the fence in [a] field where he lost consciousness.
Yeah. He said later a woman came to his car and woke him up. Then they called 911, you know, the police came there and asked him to go to a hospital.
But unfortunately he didn’t remember the SUV’s license number and that car ran away already. So [it was] very difficult to find them. But he keeps asking the police to try to find the bad guy.
W: So Guangcheng, first of all, is your friend okay? Did he…?
G: He said only [his] left arm hurt and [his] ribs hurt. No big problem.
W: Nothing broken?
G: Yeah, nothing broken. Yeah, that is very good. And actually, it’s not the first time. I remember he said one year ago, when he drove the car on the highway in California, someone tried to hit him, but they missed.
W: So this isn’t the first time something like this has happened then, to him, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah, yeah, not [the] first time. Yeah. And, several years ago, when Xi Jinping visited California to join the APEC and he protested there, the CCP ordered the agents to beat him.
W: Oh gosh.
G: Put him in the hospital for around one week.
W: Oh my gosh.
G: Yeah. And then later he asked his friends to come there to drive his car back. The CCP ordered more than 7 thugs [to] follow them and beat them there when they tried to drive his car.
W: Was anything done about this by the police at all?
G: No. Until now, no result. So that’s the problem. This is the US. This is not mainland China. The CCP’s infiltration is very deep. So we should think [about] how to kick the CCP out.
W: So why does the CCP hate this man so much? Is it just because he’s so involved in the protests?
G: Yes. You know, in the US, they have a lot of different organizations like the Democracy Party here, right? In mainland China, of course, the CCP never allows the people to create a new party. So he joined the party and always tried to protest the CCP, always tried to expose the CCP’s persecution or the CCP’s evils.
Of course, the CCP [is] unhappy. And after the car hit him, he got a call from mainland China. You know, his cousin called him and said, “Oh, you should come back to mainland China. Your life in the US is not safe.”
And he said he could hear someone behind his cousin tell him what to say.
W: So is your friend doing okay now?
G: Now it’s okay. He told me no problem. Yeah. And he hopes we can help him to push the US government to catch the bad guy. Yeah.
W: So Guangcheng, are the police or FBI working with him at all or?
G: No, he said he just reported to them. The police said, because he did not know the car’s license number, they cannot find them. And he just remembered that it’s a black SUV.
W: Yeah. Guangcheng, I think you were telling me earlier, his English isn’t very good, is it?
G: No, his English is not very good. If his English was very good, I would invite him to join us.
W: Right. Do you think that the CCP targets people whose English isn’t very good because they’re easy, you know, people to harass?
G: Sometimes, yes. And the CCP uses different people. So even some people come from Mexico, and the CCP just gives them money to do something for them in the US.
W: Wow.
G: Yeah, of course we know that. So this is why I think we should let our listeners know how we [can] push our government to prevent the CCP’s long arm here. To stop the CCP’s infiltration. That is necessary. We cannot ignore that.
W: Yeah, absolutely.
G: Yeah. And he told me another story. He said his landlord forced him to move just because he is an activist. He always joined the protest to oppose [the] CCP. So the CCP gave his landlord big pressure to force him to move.
W: Gosh, was his landlord an American citizen?
G: Yes, yes, in the US. That is not mainland China. You know, in mainland China, if you are [an] activist, the CCP always tries to force the landlord to give you trouble, to force you to move, move, move, right? And to force the boss to fire the activist family members, and even ask the school to kick their children out.
W: Gotcha.
G: Yeah, that is mainland China. But now you can see it is happening in the US.
W: Obviously this is a very important topic, so we encourage our listeners to share this with as many people as they can. And we’ll be documenting similar incidents like this on our website at humanrights.catholic.edu. Guangcheng best of luck to your friend, and if we can find any more information, we’ll definitely be sure to share it, right?
G: Yes.
Well, for now, thank you very much everybody for listening to the Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China.
G: Thank you everyone.
The Center for Human Rights has published countless articles and reports on issues facing China, the U.S., and the world. Reports from late 2022 revealed the existence of secret Chinese police stations operating around the world, including in the United States, raising serious concerns about foreign intimidation. A detailed analysis from the Center for Human Rights examines documented cases in Europe and the U.S. and reviews the legal frameworks that could help address this growing challenge. To read this report, go to our research and analysis page on humanrights.catholic.edu