How China extended its repression into an American city

By Shibani Mahtani, Meg Kelly, Cate Brown, Cate Cadell, Ellen Nakashima and Chris Dehghanpoor
September 3, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Chinese diplomats and pro-China diaspora groups based in the United States organized demonstrations in San Francisco that harassed and silenced protesters opposed to Beijing’s policies, including through violence, during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the city in November, a six-month investigation by The Washington Post shows.

The events in San Francisco illustrate how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is willing to extend its intolerance of any dissent into the United States and target people exercising their First Amendment rights in an American city. It is part of a broader global pattern of China attempting to reach beyond its borders and suppress parts of its diaspora advocating against the CCP and ongoing rights abuses in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and mainland China, the U.S. government and human rights groups say.

A number of diaspora group leaders have long-standing links to Beijing, according to Chinese state media, photos of high-level events and interviews, including with Chinese activists, former FBI officials and researchers. These include ties to the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Communist Party which uses non-state actors to further China’s political goals overseas, blurring the line between civilians and state officials.

This investigation into Xi’s visit to San Francisco during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is based on an analysis of more than 2,000 photos and videos from Students for a Free Tibet, the Hong Kong Democracy Council, the China Democracy Party, observers, social media and live streams; as well as interviews with more than 35 witnesses, U.S. officials and analysts; text messages from American security guards working with Chinese diplomats, messages shared in Chinese diaspora WeChat groups, medical reports and police reports obtained by The Post.

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Methodology

The Post interviewed dozens of witnesses and analyzed a database of more than 2,000 videos and photos to identify individuals within the Chinese diaspora community who either appeared to be in a leadership position, acted violently or were close to violence at demonstrations during the four days Chinese President Xi Jinping was in San Francisco at the APEC summit.

A facial recognition software helped pinpoint activities of these individuals at various times throughout the event within the database of more than 21 hours of footage, which was compiled from news clips, livestreams, and social media as well as witnesses and groups including Students for a Free Tibet, the Hong Kong Democracy Council, and the China Democracy Party. Additionally, reporters used the software to cross-reference the visuals against a list of pro-CCP diaspora groups and individuals compiled by Audrye Wong and Thomas Causey of the American Enterprise Institute, who used open-source materials to ascertain who these groups were and where they had traveled from to support Xi Jinping in San Francisco.

The Post used a separate facial recognition search engine to help create leads to determine the identities of the people not initially identified, including diaspora leaders and Chinese diplomats who were present at the protests. The Post independently confirmed the identities and actions of diaspora leaders, violent actors and others identified or named in the story through outreach to these individuals and people who knew them, other interviews and a review of open-source materials, including news reports.

About this story

Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report. Design and development by Irfan Uraizee. Photo editing by Jennifer Samuel. Video editing by Meg Kelly. Design editing by Joe Moore. Editing by Peter Finn and Elyse Samuels. Project editing by Akilah Johnson. Copy editing by Feroze Dhanoa. Additional support from Grace Moon, Jordan Melendrez, Nina Zafar, Reem Akkad, Ben Pauker and Emma Brown. Top video credits: Students for a Free Tibet and Hong Kong Democracy Council, eStarTV, Reuters.

Shibani Mahtani is a Singapore-based international investigative correspondent for The Washington Post. She focuses on accountability-driven investigations across the Asia-Pacific region. She joined The Post's foreign desk in 2018 as the Southeast Asia and Hong Kong Bureau Chief after seven years as a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. @shibanimahtani

Meg Kelly is a video reporter for The Washington Post's Visual Forensics team. @mmkelly22

Cate Brown is a researcher for The Post's International Investigations team.@catebrown12Follow

Cate Cadell is a Washington Post national security reporter covering the U.S.-China relationship. She previously reported for Reuters News, where she was a politics correspondent based in Beijing.@catecadell

Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter with The Washington Post. She was a member of three Pulitzer Prize-winning teams, in 2022 for an investigation of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, in 2018 for coverage of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, and in 2014 for reporting on the hidden scope of government surveillance. @nakashimae

Chris Dehghanpoor is an investigative reporter at The Washington Post specializing in open-source research.@chrisd9r