China's Hunt for Guo Wengui Kicks off Manhattan Caper Worthy of Spy Thriller

The Wall Street Journal ^ | October 22, 2017 | Kate O’Keeffe, Aruna Viswanatha, Cezary Podkul

[RohanKapoor]

Guo Wengui, a wealthy Chinese businessman, sat in the sun room of his apartment on the 18th-floor of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on New York’s Fifth Avenue. With him were four officials from China’s Ministry of State Security, whom Mr. Guo had agreed to meet.

For many months, Mr. Guo, from his self-imposed exile, had been using Twitter to make allegations of corruption against senior Chinese officials and tycoons. During the hourslong conversation, the officials urged him to quit his activism and return home, after which the government would release assets it had frozen and leave his relatives in peace.

Liu Yanping, the lead official, said he had come on behalf of Beijing “to find a solution,” according to Mr. Guo and a partial audio recording Mr. Guo said he made of the May encounter and posted online in September.

Mr. Liu’s demeanor made clear this wasn’t a friendly negotiation, and he hinted at the risks for Mr. Guo. “You can’t keep doing this forever,” Mr. Liu can be heard telling Mr. Guo on the audio recording, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “I’m worried about you, to tell you the truth.”

The dramatic meeting sparked an unresolved debate within the Trump administration over the Guo case and laid bare broader divisions over how to handle the U.S.’s top economic and military rival, according to people familiar with the matter. U.S.-China relations have been upset by disagreements over trade, cyberespionage and policy toward North Korea, and Mr. Guo’s New York stay is only adding to the tension.

[Darksheare]

Do you ever comment on the threads you post?
Tell us your thoughts on the article content?

[Enchante]

Wow, I can see from posting history that OP has rather “limited” interests in topics at FR, and zero interest in actually discussing anything with FReepers. Interesting....

[Enchante]

Wow, I can see from posting history that OP has rather “limited” interests in topics at FR, and zero interest in actually discussing anything with FReepers. Interesting....

[bagster]

Chinese people have slanty eyes. Those re my thoughts. Tell us yours.

[Darksheare]

Yeah, there is limited discussion from the OP in every thread they post.

[Darksheare]

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:rohankapoor/index?tab=comments;brevity=full;options=no-change

[bagster]

Those are quite interesting thoughts, Darksheare. Thank you for sharing your opinion on the topic at hand.

[Darksheare]

Welcome.
It is always best when the OP sticks around and chats.
Once upon a time here on FR, posting and running was bannable.

[Darksheare]

Already posted too.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3597887/posts

[familyop]

Any good American who reads far enough back in the comments will have great respect for the OP and understand why we don’t see those comments very often. How many of you have risked your lives for freedom?

[Darksheare]

“How many of you have risked your lives for freedom?”

B/Btry 1/156 FA
You?

[Enchante]

????? We don’t know anything about the OP (most of us). If you don’t care to explain then you are not helping the discussion. All I see is someone posting “drive by” threads with a very limited focus and never staying around. If you’re implying it’s because OP has much more important stuff to do, fine, but you don’t have to be an ass. Every “good American” does not have to read exhaustively on every last FR poster to try to figure out if they are sincere or if they are here with some “agenda”....

[familyop]

12B

[Darksheare]

13B here.
During the Clinton years one was more likely to die during training than to combat due to Clintonian budget cuts.

Sorry, post and run is still frowned on.

[familyop]

Shhh.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3573742/posts?page=18#18

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3573098/posts?page=27#27

[Enchante]

thank you, that is helpful..... much appreciated.

[Darksheare]

No.

[Enchante]

The 2nd comment linked IS very interesting from the standpoint of a poster "agenda" though....

"Come to liberate Chinese people who have been under dictatorship by communism government since 1949! Please do not hesitate any more because it also poses serious threat to the civilization world ....You can number your finger to count how many countries there have where the communism government has been legitimate..."

I certainly loathe the Beijing regime completely but I am not onboard with the mission of the USA trying to overthrow it anytime soon, simply from the aspects of feasibility, US interests, over-commitment, and potential vast bloodshed. We've destabilized enough regimes for a while, I think. Not that a few threads posted on FR are ever going to stir up war between the USA and China, but the comment does in fact suggest the OP has an "agenda" which FReepers have a right to notice and handle cautiously.

[familyop]

"Sorry, post and run is still frowned on."

Several of the most well liked posters of over 10 years ago lived by posting without commenting in their own threads.

But that's beside the point. So is talking about our own service, and I'll tell you why.

I have a relative (mom's cousin) who served in Vietnam, according to other relatives. I recently told him about going through initial training at Ft. Leonard Wood at the age of 31 (in '89) to give something back, even though I didn't have to register for the draft at 18 in the mid-'70s.

I didn't give much (a few years in the Guard), but it was something. Was disappointed that we weren't quite mobilized but proud of what I willingly signed up for. Proud of graduating at Ft. Leonard Wood and getting an honorable discharge despite the injuries (no compensation asked or received), the local, yocal politics of the Guard, the extra difficulty with marriage, jobs, etc.

My cousin started by saying that he went through an AIT to be a helicopter mechanic but was sent to Ranger school. That right there made me more than a little skeptical. I only know of volunteers going to Ranger school. Then, he said that he was then sent to be a door gunner.

He started ranting about how he "killed a lot of people" and went on to say that he was an alcoholic, cruel to his wife, it was a wonder he wasn't addicted to drugs and so on, all because Uncle Sam made him a trained killer. ...said that he has "PTSD." Then he hung up.

That's his contribution: propagandizing against all who did give the ultimate gift to us. I was angry, to say the least. Still am. Check his age with the 1970 draft, and what do you know. Look what we have here. He holds that against all of us. Rangers in the field in a war tour don't have enough time around alcohol to become alcoholics.

When I was an instructor assistant, I trained with Vietnam veterans. Two of them were combat medics in the field. Another one was infantry with the 101st. Not one of them shared my relative's attitude.

That cousin wouldn't see any value in someone risking their life for freedom. I do. And I give anyone who appears to be making such an effort the benefit of the doubt, especially if they're not spewing the crap that I heard from that relative. Still burns me.