Alysa Liu representing the United States took seventh place in the competition of soloists at the Olympic Games in Beijing. As the 16-year-old prepared for the event, her father, Arthur Liu, was to be warned by the FBI that he was possibly being spied on. The Chinese, however, decided not to inform his daughter, so as not to scare her and distract her from the games.
“We knew Alysa had a very good chance of joining the Olympic team and we were really scared,” said Arthur Liu to the Associated Press. Last week, the US Department of Justice brought charges against five men. It is about spying on US citizens for the Chinese government. The indictment concerned, inter alia, to spy on Arthur and Alysa Liu.
– It was her moment, perhaps the only occasion in a lifetime to perform at the Olympics. I wasn’t going to stop her and I was doing my best to keep her safe. I was able to make a sacrifice so that she could enjoy performing at this event – said Arthur Liu. “But I’m not going to let them win, and I won’t stop or silence me from giving my opinion,” he added.
Alysa Liu was to be protected at the Games by two people sent by the US Department of State. – They probably only wanted to intimidate us with this spying, so that we would not say anything that could cause problems for them, especially when it comes to political matters and human rights in China. I was worried about my daughter’s safety, but the American government did well to protect her, Liu reported.
American ice skater tracked by the Chinese. Her Instagram post caught the attention of the Chinese government
Arthur Liu left China at a young age as a political refugee. He was one of the protesters against the communist government in 1989. That speech ended with a massacre at Heavenly Peace Square in Beijing. The Chinese government sent tanks to students who demanded changes in the country. Unofficially, it is said that this massacre resulted in as many as 2,600 deaths.
Liu settled in San Francisco, where he raised his Olympic daughter. In the course of the espionage case, he learned, inter alia, that the Chinese government was interested in Alysa’s Instagram post in which she opposed violations of human rights against the Uighurs. During the games, Alysa Liu was supposed to be accosted by an unknown man in the cafe, who later followed her and invited her to his apartment. The skater told her father about everything.
Before the Olympics, one of the defendants in the case, Matthew Ziburis, allegedly pretended to be a member of the US Olympic Committee and asked for passport scans of Alysa and Arthur Liu in the context of organizing a trip to China. When you disagreed, Ziburis was to threaten them with refusal to travel to Beijing.
The Chinese also referred to espionage charges. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China was unaware of the nature of the allegations and was opposed to the United States creating “out-of-the-air” cases.
– China always asks its citizens to obey the country’s foreign law. We would never order our citizens to engage in illegal activities. These international accusations are simply made up, said Zhao Lijian.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
