Think Tank Postpones Dissident Talk After Chinese State Pressure – and China-Based Cyberattack

Breitbart ^ | October 24, 2017 | FRANCES MARTEL

[RohanKapoor]

The Hudson Institute, a Washington, DC, think tank, canceled a talk with Chinese whistle-blowing billionaire Guo Wengui this month after its website suffered a “Shanghai-based attack,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The Journal had previously reported the attack, but on Monday noted that pressure from the Chinese government to silence Guo by any means necessary extended much further than targeting public speaking engagements, going as far as to use businessmen close to President Donald Trump to send a message requesting Guo’s deportation.

Guo, who was once close to many officials within the Chinese Communist Party, has since fled the country and requested political asylum in the United States. Guo has accused high-ranking communists of a wide variety of corrupt crimes through social media, particularly posts on Youtube and Twitter under the name Miles Kwok.

The Wall Street Journal notes that Guo was scheduled to speak at the Hudson Institute on October 4. Shortly after the event’s abrupt cancellation, the newspaper said that the Hudson Institute reported “a cyberattack on the Institute’s website originating from Shanghai, according to a Justice Department spokesman.” Chinese government representatives also attempted a more formal approach to persuade the group: calling the Institute from the Chinese embassy urging it to cancel the event because Guo “is a criminal and tells lies.”