American Thomas Pauken II is in court Friday, charged with acting as an unregistered Chinese agent on US soil. Has he been hiding in plain sight, all along?
I look forward to the day when all citizens of Western countries in China who are acting as agents are revealed.
And also — it makes sense as to why so many “expats” in China had such a visceral response to me speaking publicly about how China targets people to commission reports for the MSS.
Also, I feel vindicated as more information comes out. I hope those who thought I was concocting some sort of story to “reintegrate into Austrian life” can have a think about their own biases & assumptions. Because speaking publicly was risky, but I felt it important. And now, I do not regret speaking out at all.
And the hilarious thing? These people are all in group chats together. I hope that his phone provides important evidence that proves he is by far not the only one doing this.
I was approached numerous times. I declined, which did put myself in some danger. It was a very scary couple of months for me.
And then you hear about these (alleged) idiots, and it is no surprise why we get targeted.
I am proud that I chose honesty & stuck to my values. Also, I was grieving my late husband, and actually dealing with the political fallout from being a visible face on Chinese state media, plus so much more. So… for him to say yes? What pressure was he under?? Coward!
People like this? Visions of grandeur, self-importance, and… a lot of the time, they are cold-blooded narcissists. They don’t care about China, just how important China fools them into feeling they are.
And also — some of these people like to go around dropping hints that they are somehow connected to the government. Why? Because in the little hierarchy of “China supporter foreigners” that they’ve established, there is always a fight to get to the top.
Thank you for sharing this. I appreciate the time & effort you put into writing this.
Gross all around. Size-able silver lining in that the PRC wasted time and bandwidth on him.
Great coverage as always Whipling!
$100,000 and multiple holidays. The thing I kept coming back to was what poor value for money MSS were getting.
Probably where my salary payments went every time they were delayed hahaha
Honestly, this infuriates me.
I look forward to the day when all citizens of Western countries in China who are acting as agents are revealed.
And also — it makes sense as to why so many “expats” in China had such a visceral response to me speaking publicly about how China targets people to commission reports for the MSS.
Also, I feel vindicated as more information comes out. I hope those who thought I was concocting some sort of story to “reintegrate into Austrian life” can have a think about their own biases & assumptions. Because speaking publicly was risky, but I felt it important. And now, I do not regret speaking out at all.
And the hilarious thing? These people are all in group chats together. I hope that his phone provides important evidence that proves he is by far not the only one doing this.
I was approached numerous times. I declined, which did put myself in some danger. It was a very scary couple of months for me.
And then you hear about these (alleged) idiots, and it is no surprise why we get targeted.
I am proud that I chose honesty & stuck to my values. Also, I was grieving my late husband, and actually dealing with the political fallout from being a visible face on Chinese state media, plus so much more. So… for him to say yes? What pressure was he under?? Coward!
People like this? Visions of grandeur, self-importance, and… a lot of the time, they are cold-blooded narcissists. They don’t care about China, just how important China fools them into feeling they are.
And also — some of these people like to go around dropping hints that they are somehow connected to the government. Why? Because in the little hierarchy of “China supporter foreigners” that they’ve established, there is always a fight to get to the top.
Thank you for sharing this. I appreciate the time & effort you put into writing this.
This guy looks like a washed up Homer Simpson, this is half sad half hilarious and another half I don’t even know what
I couldn't find the last quote online. is there a reference?
Yes. But the post features his personal contact details. So I'm reticent to share it publicly. 😕