US lawmakers seek China link in Tiananmen museum attack in California

Washington, July 10 (IANS) Two senior Republican lawmakers have urged the US Justice Department and FBI to investigate whether China was linked to the vandalism of a Tiananmen Square memorial museum in California.

Representatives Chris Smith of New Jersey and John Moolenaar of Michigan made the request in a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Smith co-chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, while Moolenaar chairs the House Select Committee on China.

Unknown individuals broke into the June Fourth Massacre Memorial Museum in El Monte shortly before the 37th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, crackdown, according to public reporting cited by the lawmakers.

The intruders spray-painted walls and exhibits, damaged property and interfered with the museum’s surveillance system.

“The Museum preserves the irrefutable, brutal truth about the Tiananmen Massacre, the same truth that the CCP has spent nearly four decades actively denying and trying to bury,” Smith said.

“That is why the DOJ must treat this attack with the seriousness it deserves and determine whether it was more than ordinary vandalism,” he said.

The lawmakers asked the Justice Department, including the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and National Security Division, to work with local authorities. They want investigators to determine whether the attack was connected to China, the Chinese Communist Party or people acting in sympathy with Beijing’s campaign to silence its critics abroad.

“If this attack was planned, supported, or carried out by anyone acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, it would be an attack on free speech, historical memory, and the safety of Chinese democracy advocates living in the United States,” Smith said.

Moolenaar said the Chinese Communist Party was constantly seeking to silence its critics in the United States through transnational repression.

“The DOJ and FBI should investigate the vandalism at the June 4 Massacre Memorial Museum to protect the inalienable rights of the Chinese diaspora seeking freedom in the United States, as well as patriotic Chinese Americans who dare to speak out against the CCP,” he said.

The lawmakers cited what they called a troubling pattern of incidents in California. These included the destruction of sculptures and surveillance targeting linked to Liberty Sculpture Park and dissident artist Chen Weiming.

They also pointed to violence and intimidation against anti-CCP demonstrators during the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. Their letter cited federal charges against former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang for acting as an illegal agent of China.

Smith and Moolenaar questioned whether frontline law enforcement agencies have enough training and resources to recognise foreign involvement in incidents that may initially appear to be vandalism, assault, harassment or political disruption.

They requested a written response and briefing from the Justice Department. They also sought details about existing reporting systems for museums, civil society groups and diaspora communities that suspect they are being targeted.

The lawmakers have supported the Transnational Repression Policy Act, bipartisan legislation intended to strengthen US government training, outreach and accountability tools against foreign governments accused of harassing, intimidating, surveilling or coercing people in the United States.

The Chinese government has long restricted public discussion of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, in which troops opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing in June 1989. Commemorations of the crackdown are banned in mainland China.

–IANS

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