Freedom of speech is a fundamental right for citizens to safeguard their individual rights and speak out for social justice. However, in China, expressing opinions against the government can lead to imprisonment. Now, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is going even further: not only suppressing speech domestically, but also intimidating and even kidnapping relatives to silence overseas Chinese voices, becoming increasingly widespread.
Participants of the June 4th commemorative activities in the Los Angeles area revealed to our reporter that their relatives in China have recently been harassed and threatened by CCP police.
Kong Beibei, a piano teacher born in the 1990s from Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, faced CCP police intrusion at her parents’ home in Changshu City on June 10th. The police forcibly took her elderly parents to the police station for a three-hour interrogation.
During the process, accusations resembling those from the Cultural Revolution era were thrown at Kong Beibei by the police, leaving her parents in great fear. The police directly ordered them: “Quickly persuade your daughter to delete any public statements opposing the CCP and return to China to surrender! If your daughter continues to oppose the CCP, it will also affect your elderly lives!”
After returning home from the police station, the harassment continued for the parents. Police visited their home at least once a day, prohibiting them from contacting outsiders or discussing the matter with anyone. “If your daughter doesn’t return, you won’t live peacefully,” the police threatened, confiscating the keys to their livelihood – a cargo truck – preventing them from working.
Similar to Kong Beibei’s experience, many participants of the June 4th activities witnessed their relatives being threatened in China before and after the event.
Anpu, a anti-CCP content creator from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, was arrested, detained, and physically assaulted in 2021 for participating in a family church in China. Later, his family sought political asylum in the United States. His videos on platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Douyin have garnered tens of millions of views.
He suspected that the CCP saw his influence and thus sent “internet trolls” to attack him multiple times. His address in China was disclosed, and his father was detained by public security officers and harassed by phone calls. Prior to the June 4th commemoration this year, police visited his father and warned that if Anpu continued speaking out, his father would be held accountable.
Julie, born in the 1990s from Kaifeng, Henan, came to the United States in 2023 and participated in multiple protests organized by the China Democratic Party in Los Angeles. Since December last year, her family in China, including her mother and mother-in-law, have been repeatedly subjected to severe harassment and threats by the CCP police.
On December 1st last year, two police officers barged into her mother-in-law’s home, adamantly claiming that Julie was committing treason and demanding her return for punishment.
On January 18th, police visited her mother’s home, confiscated her mother’s phone for inspection, and forced her to contact Julie. The police told the elderly woman: “Their (Julie’s) actions are enough to warrant imprisonment! Your entire family will be implicated.”
After being threatened by the police, Julie’s mother-in-law, overwhelmed by worry and fear, isolated by relatives and friends, fell into a state of depression, losing sleep at night.
To Julie’s disbelief, just five hours after the China Democratic Party International Alliance organized the 36th anniversary commemoration of June 4th on Hollywood Boulevard, which she hosted, strangers continuously photographed attendees. The night ended with CCP police invading her parents and mother-in-law’s homes to harass and threaten them.
Julie recalled hearing her mother-in-law’s voice on the phone in the middle of the night, feeling like a knife was piercing her heart.
“I feel like the CCP is always monitoring our every move,” she said. “While I can speak out overseas, my elderly mother and mother-in-law have nowhere to escape under the CCP’s totalitarian dictatorship.”
As a result, Julie often suffers from insomnia: “Every time after participating in public events, it’s a night of insomnia, a process of silent breakdowns followed by self-reconstruction.”
When participating in the June 4th commemorative activities, Song Jiahang, a 1990s-born individual from Jiangsu, was under enormous psychological pressure. On May 29th, the local police station in his hometown visited his family, accusing him of joining a cult. He said, “They asked my parents to sign a guarantee letter and advised me to stop ‘anti-China’ activities.”
Waking up to see a message from his father on WeChat, Song Jiahang quickly called back. His father advised him not to go to the consulate: “The police have found our home. Stay there, work well, don’t go; if you go again, you won’t come back, and you’ll end up in prison.”
“My mom felt particularly distressed, couldn’t eat for days, worried about me getting into trouble and afraid of implicating our family,” Song Jiahang said.
After participating in a protest march for the White Paper Movement in Shanghai, he was taken to a police station for questioning and detained for a week before being released.
“I support freedom of speech, democracy, and human rights,” he said. “In China, once people express their opinions, support democracy, or participate in protests, the CCP will smear them as ‘cult members’ or ‘foreign forces,’ using this as a tactic to intimidate their families. This is the common method they use to suppress dissidents and control public opinion.”
The head of a Los Angeles democracy organization frequently witnessed similar experiences among group members.
Jie Lijian, chairman of the China Democratic Party International Alliance, stated that the CCP has been using family members as leverage to “intimidate you into ‘stopping’ by threatening you, believing that your parents are your weak spot. This is akin to kidnapping: first forcing you to delete posts, then publicly apologizing, admitting mistakes, and eventually forcing you to return.”
“This is the CCP’s ‘bondage-style’ retaliation method, where they psychologically torment you when unable to apprehend you,” Jie Lijian said. “If you compromise with the authorities to protect your parents and loved ones, you will endure more painful torment.”
Based on his experience, “in such situations, courage must be shown: ‘I’m not afraid of you.’ The CCP will be powerless.”
Jie Lijian also advised fellow activists to “raise the barrel of the gun an inch.” “We have people in our country collecting the badge numbers and photos of these police officers conducting home intrusions.” He has compiled information about the threats and harassment of members’ families and submitted it to the US Congress, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other departments.
Several individuals involved were not only angry but also deeply concerned for their loved ones due to the CCP’s use of family members for transnational threats, yet they did not compromise.
“I understand that this is not just my personal experience, but the collective fate of numerous overseas dissidents, exiles, and human rights activists,” Julie remarked. She believed that silence only enables evil, but speaking out can protect the truth. “Today, I choose to publicly come forward to expose, hoping that the international community can see through the true face of the CCP regime.”
Song Jiahang also stated that his participation in protest activities is legal, legitimate, and peaceful in expressing his demands. “I won’t give up my beliefs due to the CCP’s repression and intimidation, nor will I reduce my support for democracy, freedom, and human rights.”