中国国安人员赴美劝返郭文贵 各方交锋堪比谍战片

choi

Kate O’Keeffe,  Aruna Viswanatha and Cezary Podkul, 中国国安人员赴美劝返郭文贵 各方交锋堪比谍战片; 今年5月四名中国官员在纽约与流亡商人郭文贵见面，敦促郭文贵放弃激进行为并回到中国，这引发了特朗普政府的激烈反应，并致使FBI在宾夕法尼亚车站和肯尼迪机场与这些中国官员对峙. 华尔街日报, Oct 23, 2017
http://cn.wsj.com/gb/20171023/BGH140150.asp

, which is translated from

Kate O’Keeffe,  Aruna Viswanatha and Cezary Podkul, China Pursuit of Critic Roils US; Case of Guo Wengui pressured by Chinese officials sparks frantic response;; A JFK standoff. Wall Street Journal, Oct 23, 2017 (front-page MAIN report).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chi ... thriller-1508717977
http://u.osu.edu/mclc/2017/10/25/chinas-pursuit-of-guo-wengui/

Note:
(a) If you click the second link (URL), here is a reminder that the report stops at so-and-so “contribute t this report.”
(b)
(i) "US law-enforcement authorities, whom Mr Guo had told about the impending visit [on May 26, 2017], decided it was time to act. The US Attorney's office [a field office of US Department of Justice]in Brooklyn prepared charges alleging visa fraud and extortion"
(ii) Needling "State Department official Laura Stone * * * The FBI’s assistant director of the counterintelligence division, Bill Priestap, deadpanned in response: 'Was it because you had been trying to kidnap and extort someone in China?' "

When I first read "extortion" in (b)(i), I thought it was an error on the part of the journalists. Then the report quoted a lawman as saying "extort" in (b)(ii). It is hard to believe an lawman makes that error. However, though it is common to call what is described in this report as extortion, the legalese is "coercion" and "coerce." In fact, it took United States Supreme Court to explain the difference.

Scheidler v National Organization for Women, Inc, 537 US 393 (2003)
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/537/393/case.html

Just read the syllabus (which is what Supreme Court calls a summary of its opinion) at page 394. In sum, since ancient time English word "coerce" means forces somebody to do or not to do certain things, whereas "extort" means getting MONEY (at the very least: something of value, such as a wage-paying job), from an otherwise reluctant person. (When extortion is done by a government employee, it is also known as taking a bribe.)

(c) "In a written statement about the events provided to the Journal, a Justice Department spokesman said: 'It is a criminal offense for an individual, other than a diplomatic or consular officer or attaché, to act in the United States as an agent of a foreign power without prior notification to the Attorney General.' "
(i) Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)
https://www.fara.gov
("The FARA Registration Unit of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD [of US Department of Justice] ) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Act")
(ii) Click "Legal Authority" in the left column of the above Web page, you will learn that the FARA is codified as "22 USC § 611 et seq"

That is Title (equivalent to "Chapter") 22, starting from section 611. The "et seq" is a short form of Latin words "et sequens," meaning "and the subsequent sections" (my translation).
(iii) FARA was what US charged with sleepers, such as Anna Chapman and her cohorts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Chapman
("Chapman pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government" in 2010)

After all, they did nothing illegal (like spying) but to lived a normal life (under pseudonyms).