Chinese diplomats and pro-China diaspora groups organized an effort to harass and silence American protesters opposed to the CCP's policies. When XI Jinping visited San Francisco in November of last year. [00:00:15] That is what you are seeing on your screen right now. You're seeing scuffles among protesters. There is a group of, you know, anti XI Jinping, anti-China protesters being confronted by individuals who are apparently supported and partly [00:00:32] funded by the Chinese government. This is based on an investigative report that was done by the Washington Post. President XI was actually here in the United States, in San Francisco, specifically for an economic summit. Gavin Newsom was hosting it. And he also, by the way, confessed that the reason why he cleaned up San Francisco [00:00:51] was specifically for XI Jinping's visit. And then he proceeded to neglect San Francisco, which is something that he's really a seasoned veteran in doing now. Who was behind this? Well, the post identified 32 Chinese diaspora leaders [00:01:07] who helped organize these protests, many with ties to the Chinese state. Now these include ties to the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Communist Party which uses non-state actors to further China's political goals overseas, blurring the line between civilians [00:01:24] and state officials. And the investigation that was done by The Washington Post, also makes clear that the demonstrations didn't exactly come together organically. They were facilitated by the Chinese government. The Chinese consulate in Los Angeles paid for supporters hotel and meals [00:01:40] as an incentive to participate, according to messages shared in WeChat groups reviewed by The post. At least 35 pro CCP Chinese diaspora groups showed up to that economic summit. AIPAC is what it was called, including groups from New York, [00:01:57] Pennsylvania and Washington state. Los Angeles based business owner Lu Kwong, a co-founder or founder of several pro CCP organizations, said he had organized 20 busses, booked 400 hotel rooms, and coordinated [00:02:14] 800 people arriving to welcome XI at APEC. Again, that's the economic summit and as a result, hundreds of people dressed in uniforms, hats, banners and flags came through to show their support for President XI and attempt to silence, essentially squash opposition protesters. [00:02:33] Oftentimes with force, with violence. The post found that while there was aggression from both sides, the most extreme violence was instigated by pro CCP activists and carried out by coordinated groups of young men embedded among them. [00:02:49] Verified videos show Anti-xi protesters were attacked with extended flagpoles and chemical spray. Punch kicked and had fistfuls of sand thrown in their faces. And there's also claims that the Chinese consulate you know, they deny [00:03:04] that they had anything to do with this. I'm not buying it because there's a massive amount of evidence that The Washington Post presented in their reporting here. But they did also tally more than a dozen attacks against activists over the four days that XI Jinping was in San Francisco. [00:03:20] Among the most severe. Well, actually, let me pause, because I'm going to get to some specific instances of the violence that they carried out against the, you know, anti XI Jinping protesters. Before I do that though, Jake. - I'm curious what you think about this. - Hey, don't scroll away. Come back, come back. [00:03:36] Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you to lend your support to TYT. You power our honest reporting. You do it at tyt.com/team and we love you for it. Yeah. So later I'm going to talk about an instance where I got attacked in America in a way that some of these folks got attacked. [00:03:53] That shocked me as it shocked them. And this stuff is obviously unacceptable. I've got another example of another country doing this, to some degree. But really, who brings sand to a rally? My point is, these guys ostensibly came in to support XI Jinping. [00:04:12] They're like, oh, in China, oh, we love China and we love this leader. Yeah. Go live in China. Hold on. If you didn't come to attack the anti XI Jinping protesters, why did you bring the sand and the pepper spray and the iron poles? [00:04:28] You came ready to attack violence. Ready to attack? Exactly. - I mean. - If even if you pretend. Oh, the pole might have been originally part of a flag. Oh, he might have had the bear mace on him to protect himself. Why would you bring the sand? That's super random. Look. Right. [00:04:44] Listen, I need to understand why these individuals who are in bed with the Chinese government are considered Chinese diaspora. You guys know what diaspora means, right? It means you leave or flee the country. You're originally from. And if they love China so much to the point where they're willing [00:05:01] to attack American protesters, why don't you go back and live in China? I'm sure they'll take you. Why are you here? If China has such a wonderful government, and you are in favor of the way they run things. - Go live in China. - Yeah. So, look, I don't want to take it too far because there's a lot of people [00:05:17] that love their homeland that they originally came from, and they might want to celebrate it in different ways. But in this case, it's not just about, hey, you love the place and you want to celebrate it. No, you came to do violence against anyone who protested, and the people who are protesting it are American citizens, and we're not going to have that. [00:05:34] So that's why I think the story that they did here is so important. And we need to be ready for this next time something like this happens. We need to have cops ready to arrest people and then interrogate them. Who paid you to bring this material to attack American civilians? [00:05:52] ET cetera. ET cetera. Let's do a real investigation here and find out. Because now foreign countries are funding all sorts of things here in America. They buy off our politicians. And now, are they ready to fund violence in America against American citizens? [00:06:08] We should regulate pretty severely against that. So one of the most severe attacks was carried out against a 51 year old man by the name of Zhang Qiu and his two friends, a 73 year old and a 40 year old who are all immigrants from mainland China and Hong Kong. [00:06:25] So they were there to protest XI Jinping's appearance in San Francisco, and they were attacked by the Chinese diaspora that was funded and supported by the Chinese government. On November 17th, the three men were walking away from a protest site [00:06:40] when they were followed by a group of nine young men who were there to show support for the CCP during Xi's visit. Visit. One of the young men yelled, F you! At that point, Zhang said he felt emboldened to respond f XI Jinping. [00:06:57] Then, almost immediately, he and his friends were surrounded and beaten. - Take a look. - No no no no no no no no. Hey hey Hey hey hey. [00:07:22] Hey hey hey hey. He's old. Man. He's old man. Don't do that, okay? That video infuriates me. I'm going to try to stay calm. The attack, by the way, left Zhang briefly unconscious. He was taken to the ER, where he was treated for signs of concussion and other wounds. Yeah, so that video is infuriating. [00:07:40] So it's one thing to say, hey, you love this country or that country. A lot of folks here in America love their home countries in different ways. It's another thing to send a bunch of thugs to go attack people in the streets of America on behalf of another country. [00:07:55] No, we're not going to have that. Okay, so look, I it the guy who was beat said a thing that I'm familiar with. I'm a little bit of a political Forrest Gump. Right. Because I was at the Lee and Gonzalez protests down in Little Havana [00:08:11] long time ago in the year 2000. You remember when that Cuban boy who had to decide whether to send him back home or not. Elian Gonzalez right. Right. Elian Gonzalez and so when I went to those forces, I thought he should be sent back to his dad. Right. Even though I was a Republican at the time, I was like, this isn't right. [00:08:27] His parents want him back home, or at least his dad does. And so we. And that's his only remaining parent. We have to send him back. So I went with a sign, and I was immediately assaulted by about a hundred crazed, presumably Cuban Americans. [00:08:42] - Definitely Cubans. - Yeah, definitely Cubans for sure. Presumably Cuban Americans. But anyways. And the cops had to rescue me from that situation. Like shirt ripped, lifted off my feet. I mean, I I've never been in so much danger in my life, and I couldn't believe it was happening in the streets of America that, oh, we don't agree with you. [00:09:00] So we're going to assault you and maybe kill you. No, no, that's not what happens. So, so and that's part guys. That's part of why people were so upset about January 6th. But at least that was us. I'm not excusing it 1%, but it was you know, it was it's another country doing it. [00:09:16] If. No, that's. - Even. - More wrong, Jake. Look, what happened to you was wrong. I'm not in any way supporting that. But do you understand the difference? Okay. The difference in your situation is Cuban Americans who fled Cuba over the Cuban revolution and communism and all of that. [00:09:33] Right. They were fighting to ensure that Elian Gonzalez could stay here in the United States, rather than be sent back to Cuba, where his father was. You know, you can have your views on that. I don't want to debate that issue. But in this case, with the supporters of XI Jinping and the current, you know, [00:09:49] Chinese government, they are favoring how things are run in China over the way things are run here in the United States, to the point where they are willing to carry out physical violence against Americans who are protesting XI Jinping's visit. [00:10:04] That is just that's so entirely different to me. - No, the. - Motivation is different. - The motivation is different. - The action is the same. If you don't agree with me, I'm going to try to hurt you physically. - Right. - And that's wrong. And I'm going to do it based on my ethnicity. Oh, you offended my Cuban ness. So I'm going to maybe murder you. [00:10:21] Okay. I'm not interested in that. So they could f all the way off with that. - But in this case, we're. - Not getting it. They came here to the United States to live here, and they don't like the way things are run in the United States and favor the way things are run in China. Then go live in China. Why are you part of the Chinese diaspora? [00:10:37] That's the motivation. And I agree with you on that. Yeah. Okay. So anyway, look, we can't have it in any circumstance. There's a story out. A couple of years ago, Erdogan, the president of Turkey, is here. There were protests against him. And in that case, it was not Turkish Americans or paid people. [00:10:55] It was basically the the equivalent of the Secret Service in Turkey that took it upon themselves to get into a fight with, protesters that were American citizens and kicked a bunch of their asses. And then it became a giant diplomatic problem, as it should be, because we [00:11:12] cannot have any physical violence here based on politics, and we certainly can't have it coming from a foreign government. Exactly So. Yeah. And look, is there's a thousand legitimate reasons to protest any of these governments, and certainly the Chinese government that has concentration camps. [00:11:29] They're not killing the Uighurs, although they kill some of them, but they keep them in camps. So that's my last name. We're named after the Uyghur Turks. And and they do reeducation of them. It's just the torture, etc.. It's brutal. [00:11:45] So do we get to protest China to the Chinese premier when he is here in America? Goddamn right we do, because this is America. And if you try to bust that up with paid thugs, there should be significant consequences. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. [00:12:01] Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. But you also get playback of our exclusive member only shows [00:12:18] and specials right after they air. So all of that, all you got to do is click that join button right underneath the video. Thank you.