Chinese spy operation targets U.S. Olympian

The father of U.S. Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu said on Wednesday that he and his daughter were both targets of an alleged Chinese spying operation. Arthur Liu said he learned about the plot from the FBI, which contacted him about the threat in October as 16-year-old Alysa was preparing for the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Arthur Liu, a political refugee who fled China following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, said he didn’t tell his daughter about the FBI call at the time so she could focus on her Olympic training. She placed seventh overall in women’s figure skating at the Winter Games in February.

What is the United States doing about it? The Justice Department has announced charges against five men for stalking and harassing Chinese dissidents in the United States on behalf of the Chinese government. Arthur Liu said he and Alysa were included in the complaint as “Dissident 3” and “family member.” Federal prosecutors say one of the five men was hired to perform surveillance on the Liu family by posing as a member of an international sports committee. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused the United States of “making an issue of this out of thin air.”

Dig deeper: Read Juliana Chan Erikson’s report in Beginnings about how innocent researchers have gotten caught up in the Justice Department’s push to catch Chinese spies.