The FBI on Monday afternoon issued a warning on social media that members of the Chinese government may be harassing Chinese dissidents and United States citizens.
"The government of the People's Republic of China may be physically intimidating, cyberstalking, and harassing Chinese citizens, U.S. citizens, and families of dissidents who speak out against the Chinese Communist Party in Texas," the Houston FBI field office posted to X.
The message was pinned above an image, reading: "China's government may target, threaten, intimidate, and harass U.S.-based individuals who question the legitimacy or authority of the Chinese Communist Party."
When Newsmax spoke with the FBI's Houston field office, officials replied they could not discuss the specifics of an active investigation at this time but did note that these forms of harassment, known as "transnational repression," or TNR, are taking place in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast.
The Chinese government's actions "violate U.S. law," the field office added, "and our treasured American individual rights and freedoms. As former FBI Director [Christopher] Wray stated, 'These are not the actions we would expect from a responsible nation-state. Instead, it's more like something we'd expect from an organized criminal syndicate.'"
They concluded that these forms of harassment "frequently target political and human rights activists, journalists, dissidents, and religious/ethnic minority groups."