Natalie Winters
With balloons over our head, Americans are now facing a new threat from the CCP: drones.
Recent reporting from University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), where a group of New Federal State of China (NFSC) protesters are harassed by a mysterious drone, appear to be the CCP’s latest attempt at using drones to intimidate Chinese dissidents. The NFSC peaceful protesters were lawfully present on UMB’s campus to protest against Shan Weijian, a CCP-linked Chinese billionaire who has financed the CCP’s unrestricted lawfare in the United States.
This harassment tactic is nothing new for the NFSC, a movement that counts hundreds of millions of supporters who share the common goal of taking down the CCP. Given that the movement, which is spearheaded by Miles Guo, poses an existential threat to Beijing, the CCP evidently has relentlessly attacked the NFSC.
Drone harassment of the NFSC began in 2017, according to the group, whose founder Miles Guo has fallen victim to several harassment incidents. On July 15, 2017, an insider account revealed that an attack on Guo’s boat, the Lady May, was part of a plan carried out by the People’s Liberation Army and laid out in suspicious details a comprehensive plan as to how the CCP could use drones to attack or even kill Guo.
Soon after, on July 30, 2017, a drones was seen persistently harassing Miles and other passers aboard their boat on the Hudson River. Even more dramatic, the boat appears to have been hacked in an incident that almost led to a shipwreckage.
Then on Aug 2, 2017, a Youtube Channel named “New China Channel”, which prominently features on its main page text-book style CCP propaganda praising Xi, published the exclusive footage captured by the drone of the incident, all but confirming the CCP’s involvement behind this attack. This trend continues, with the latest incident targeting anti-CCP protesters at UMB.
On February 7th, according to accounts from protestors, a drone emerged “not only flying around the protest site, but also flying within inches of people” in an obvious attempt to intimidate the protesters.
A police officer confirmed that the drone did not belong to his station. Moreover, the campus is a federal class-B no fly zone given its proximity to an airport. The CCP, however, did not appear to heed that warning nor receive the proper legal clearance from Air Traffic Control. Given the legalities, it’s unlikely that the drone belonged to any recreational users, and the CCP has a long, well-documented track record of ignoring America’s laws.
In light of the CCP’s previous attacks on Guo, this leaves the regime the only likely suspect in this case, which has not only the incentive but also the capability to carry out drone operations like this: blatantly violating American federal law and airspace regulations in an attempt to harass and silence peaceful protesters. If the CCP can fly balloons across the Atlantic ocean and then across the American continent for weeks “undetected”, then they are certainly capable of flying a drone in a federal no-fly zone.
The UMB incident stinks of Chinese Communist Party interference, including a coordinated media campaign against the NFSC. The Baltimore Sun accused the peaceful protestors of harassing and doxing students with ties to the CCP, while failing to disclose their own deep ties to the regime.
The outlet has ties to the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), a leading CCP-funded foreign influence group that functions as part of the United Front.
According to a report from the U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission, the effort aims “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling CCP.”
The U.S. State Department has also compared the effort to the Chinese regime’s “magic weapon” to advance its preferred policies.
The relationship between the Baltimore Sun and CUSEF is revealed in the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings, which reveal journalists from the outlet participated in sponsored trips to China. A 2011 FARA filing details CUSEF’s agreement with American lobbying firm BLJ. It outlines how CUSEF set out to “effectively disseminate positive messages to the media, key influencers and opinion leaders, and the general public” regarding the CCP:
“In order to develop favorable coverage in key national media, BLJ will continue to organize and staff “familiarization trips” to China. This includes recruiting top journalists to travel to China, selected for effectiveness and opportunities for favorable coverage.”
The Baltimore Sun appears in a 2017 FARA filing listing news outlets that were participating in the aforementioned venture.
The outlet cannot be a neutral arbiter of issues pertaining to the CCP and its decision to echo talking points strikingly similar to Beijing may evidence how strong this conflict of interest truly is. The broader incident also reflects how deeply the CCP has infiltrated the U.S.: they feel comfortable violating federal laws to engage in drone harassment while manipulating media coverage to portray itself as the victim.
This isn’t just a campus security issue; it’s a national security issue affecting all Americans.
