The father of US Olympian Alysa Liu revealed that they were spied on by Chinese agents

American Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu and her father Arthur Liu, a former political refugee, were among the targets of an espionage operation that, according to the Justice Department, was ordered by the Chinese government, Liu Major said Wednesday night.

Arthur Liu told The Associated Press that the FBI contacted him last October and warned him about the plan just as his 16-year-old daughter was preparing for the Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing in February. The father said he didn't tell his daughter about it so as not to scare her or distract her from the competition.

“We thought Alysa had a very good chance of being part of the Olympic team and we were really scared,” said Arthur Liu.

The Justice Department on Wednesday announced charges against five men accused of acting on behalf of the Chinese government in a series of blatant and far-reaching schemes to stalk and harass Chinese dissidents in the United States.

Arthur Liu said he and his daughter were included in the criminal complaint as “Dissident 3″ and “family member”, respectively.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said he was “not aware of the details” surrounding the allegations, but said that China “strongly opposes US slander by turning this into a problem out of thin air.”

“China always asks Chinese citizens to comply with host country laws and regulations, and we would never ask our citizens to engage in activities that violate local laws,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing on Thursday. “The so-called transnational harassment schemes are simply invented.”

Liu said she opposed China's intimidation by allowing her daughter to compete in the recent Winter Olympics, where she ranked seventh in the women's event.

“This is your time. This is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete in the Olympics. I'm not going to let them stop him from going and I'll do my best to make sure he's safe and willing to make sacrifices so he can enjoy the moment,” said Arthur Liu. “I'm not going to let them win, stop me, silence me from expressing my opinions anywhere.”

The father said he agreed to let his daughter compete with guarantees from the State Department and the U.S. That Alysa Liu would be closely protected and kept safe while competing in China. They said she'd have at least two people escorting her at all times.

“They're probably just trying to intimidate us, to... somehow threaten to say nothing, cause them trouble and say something political or related to human rights violations in China,” said Arthur Liu. “I had concerns about their safety. The US government did a good job of protecting it.”

Arthur Liu said a man called him in November claiming to be an official of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. and asked for her passport number and that of her daughters. Arthur Liu refused to provide them and said he would call his contact on the US team. The next day.

“I didn't feel good about it. I felt something weird was going on,” said Arthur Liu. “From my dealings with the U.S. They never called me on the phone to get copies of our passports. I really cut it once I realized what I was asking for.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for American figure skating deferred the comment to the US team. UU.

Arthur Liu doesn't remember being approached in person by Matthew Ziburis, who was arrested Tuesday on charges including conspiracy to commit interstate harassment and criminal use of a means of identification. Ziburis was released on bail of $500,000.

Prosecutors allege that Ziburis was hired to monitor the family and pose as a member of an international sports committee to ask Arthur Liu for a copy of his passports and those of Alysa Liu on the grounds that it was a travel “readiness check” related to COVID-19. The complaint says that when Arthur Liu refused, Ziburis threatened to delay or deny them international travel.

The eldest of the Liu said he left China when he was 20 years old as a political refugee because he had protested against the communist government after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. Arthur Liu eventually settled in the Bay Area, enrolled in law school, and trained one of America's most promising athletes.

Her daughter visited her ancestral homeland for the first time during the Olympics. Arthur Liu said that, in general, his daughter has been warmly welcomed by Chinese fans and media, who considered Alysa Liu one of their own.

But through the espionage investigation, he learned that China was aware of an Instagram message about human rights violations against the Uyghur ethnic minority that his daughter once posted. During the Games, Alysa Liu also told her father that a stranger approached her late one night in a cafeteria after the free skating event, and that the man followed her and asked her to come to his apartment.

“I have accepted that my life is like this because of what I chose to do in 1989, to speak out against the government. And I know that the Chinese government will extend its long hands to any corner of the world,” said Arthur Liu. “I'm going to continue to enjoy life and live life the way I want to live it. I'm not going to let this get me down and I'm not going to let them succeed.”

(with information from AP)

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