Edward Snowden has revealed that U.S. spies on everyone around the world, for Chinese Americans, citizens or just green card holders this comes as doubly given, and especially those in STEM fields or sensitive jobs like military this will be triply true. Expect you would have your phone listen in and any communications with foreigners whether in China or Taiwan documented.
Recently there were a bunch of cases of presumed espionage arrests of Chinese American scientists but prosecutions dropped afterward for insufficient or false evidences. Dr. Xiaoxing Xi of Temple University, Shuyu Li, and a few others. Here I quote from Google,
“Chris Kang, president of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), said the FBI has arrested and later released five Asian-American scientists in the last year alone. “I don’t know if it’s a series of good faith mistakes or not,” Kang said. “But at the very least, we are seeing a pattern of disturbing behavior.”
For details you can just google under “Chinese American scientists arrested for espionage” and you can read them for yourself. As for Lt. Cmdr. Edward C Lin., from what I read from today’s NYT, he was seeing some girlfriend other than his wife, maybe even a prostitute, probably from Taiwan, they can’t tie her with China yet, probably something about his job, maybe he was complaining about his tedious work at sea, doing surveillance work on P-8, and got pick up by FBI microphone. Unlike former CIA director Petronius who revealed classified information to his mistress, Lin is not likely to get away scot free.
I myself was investigated by FBI after I naively wrote a letter addressed to Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. in Chinese expressing my admiration for what China has achieved and inquired information on how to get a visa to visit China immediately after the establishment of diplomatic relations. I have a secret clearance for my job in Alaska, and 2 weeks later a charter aircraft flew in with an FBI agent to interview me. Nothing came off it, but I am sure if I use the Freedom of Information Act I can probably access a thick file of my activities for the last 40 years.
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N.M.Cheung says
P.S.
I wrote this upon outrage on reading the news. Don’t expect any open trial on what Lt. Cmdr. Lin did. This will be a secret court martial with everything classified. Lt. Cmdr. Lin was arrested last Sept, more than 6 months ago. He, unlike those at Guantanamo Bay, cannot be held indefinitely without trial, and FBI surely has been working overtime trying to tie the girl to any intelligence agency, and pressuring Lt. Cmdr. Lin to plead guilty to something, and not getting cooperation. I can read between the lines of the article. Lin probably bought gifts to the girl which can be construed as monetary exchange for sex or prostitution. Obvious UCMJ(Uniform Code of Military Justice) considers adultery as a crime and I assume Lin is married. The girl is obvious Taiwanese national, and by U.S. definition Chinese national. I assume during pillow talks Lin probably revealed to the girl his boring months at the carrier which by definition is secret and violation of national security. I assume Lin pleaded innocent and the case will hinge on if his fellow officers will consider those violations as espionage, or truth more important than their careers.
pug_ster says
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/04/11/the-fall-of-edward-lin-the-navy-pilot-accused-of-espionage-and-patronizing-a-prostitute/
According to the article, it says:
“He is accused of communicating secret information “with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation,” hiring a prostitute for sex, committing adultery by having sex with a woman who was not his wife, and falsifying federal records about where he traveled abroad.”
Gees, since when it is a crime committing adultery and having sex with a woman who is not your wife? Besides, what kind of military secrets or technology did he send to the enemy? Another thing is that this guy is probably anti-China based on his ramblings against Mao and is accused spying for Taiwan and not China. Who knows, people like Lin is probably paying the price for closer relations between China and Taiwan.
N.M.Cheung says
@pug_ster
The U.S. military law hasn’t been updated for ages. I am sure adultery is a crime in most states 50 years ago. There is also about conduct unbecoming of an officer and gentleman. From the article he was obvious seeing a mistress and probably went to see her off official record in Taiwan. Lt. Lin was probably stationed in military base in Taiwan involving in P8 surveillance missions against China, and if he went off base to see his mistress without official record, that would satisfy falsifying federal record traveling aboard. Anything he said when he met his mistress can be construed as espionage if his superior chosen to, whether serious as Snowdon revelations, Jonathan Pollack to Israel, or innocent pillow talk about his boring stint on the carrier. I am sure if by technical definition probably 100% of the military can be in violation of national security.
N.M.Cheung says
@pug_ster
But one thing the article showed is the desperation they tried to pin it on China. It said the violation is against Taiwan, but may be China?
pug_ster says
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/collateral-damage-60-minutes-bill-whitaker/
I thought that this is a good article about Chinese being scapegoats, going after innocent Chinese for intellectual property ‘thefts.’ Going after Xiaoxing Xi and Sherry Chen is just a long list of people that the US government trying to screw on Chinese people.