Arthur Liu, a long-standing dissident and California-based critic of the Chinese government was not surprised to receive a call from the FBI.
He told BBC that he was told by Chinese officials that spies had been sent to the Bay Area to obtain my passport information and that my daughter's. "I wouldn’t say that I was shocked. But then I thought, "Wow! They take this seriously."
Mr Liu initially didn't see the connection. A "fishy" call from a man claiming he was from the US Olympic Committee. He claimed to be conducting a readiness check ahead of his daughter's February 2022 trip to Beijing for the Winter Olympics.
Mr Liu said that he didn't realize it was from the Olympic committee. "I decided to do the right and not give any information. This is not the way we usually submit passports.
According to US authorities, the man at the other end was Anthony Ziburis (a former Florida correctional officer who also served as a bodyguard).
His mission was to spy on and discredit Chinese dissidents for China's intelligence services. Two Americans were among the dissidents, Yan Xiong and Mr Liu, a former US Army chaplain who was also a congressional candidate. They had been previously involved in Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
The US Justice Department charged Mr Ziburis with spying on behalf of the Chinese government in March. He is not the only one. At least 12 US officials were charged this year with stalking, harassing, and spying on Chinese residents.
Two other individuals, who were allegedly part in the same scheme that Mr Liu was targeting, were also charged on 8 July.
The case of Mr Liu comes amid growing concern in Britain and the United States about Chinese spying activities.
The heads of the US security services and the UK made a rare joint public appearance at MI5 headquarters in London this week. They warned of a massive cyber-espionage program and hacking network - more than any other country combined – being run by China.
These programs are part of a larger, more complex intelligence effort to give China an advantage over its rivals. They also help suppress or silence perceived threats to China's Communist Party rule.
These efforts can take many forms, from computer scams to spying at your door,
Ex-intelligence officials from the US noted that those most likely to be targeted include those who are believed to have links to the Chinese government's "Five Poisons," which it has called the "Five Poisons that Threaten It". These Poisons include the Falun Gong spiritual movement and the Faligong Tibetan and Uyghur separatists.
These efforts will only grow in the face of deteriorating Sino-US relations. Americans are not secure, alarmingly.
The prospect of being spy upon was familiar to Mr Liu, who fled China via Hong Kong after the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.
He said that a previous attempt ended when he became friends with a potential agent. This student was introduced to him by a local Chinese diaspora network contact. He had helped the student find housing in the US.
"A year later, he informed me that they had asked him to spy upon me. He had to agree to travel [to the USA] as a condition," Mr Liu stated. "But then, he didn’t want to do that."
There are many ways to spy on Chinese citizens abroad, including hacking their email accounts and planting human agents in their expatriate networks.
Electronic methods can often be used to "enable" human spying.
Christopher Johnson, a former senior China analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, said that you could "survey someone online and get a feel for their contacts." You might then approach them. "One thing leads to another."
Mr Johnson said that Mr Liu is one of the targets because the Chinese government thinks they are part in a "global narrative war" between China's West and China.
China's attempts to present itself as a positive country could be hindered by those who speak out against it.
He said that this has gained "renewed significance in the last couple of years." They use the Marxist term "Discourse Power" This is the idea that they should tell China’s story through their own propaganda.
For comment, the Chinese government was not available. When Mr Ziburis was arrested in March, Zhao Lijian, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, accused the US "unwarranted denigrating and smearing" China.
However, former and current US intelligence officials have warned repeatedly of a massive Chinese spying campaign in the US.
John Wray, FBI Director, stated that Chinese espionage in the US is "more brazen than ever" during a speech earlier in the year.
This is especially true considering the Biden administration's portrayal of US-China rivalry in a struggle between democracy and autocracy, stated Mr Johnson.
According to him and two other officials, the recent indictments are unlikely make China give up on its efforts.
According to the FBI the bureau opens a new counter-intelligence case relating to China every 12 hours. More than 2000 cases had been opened as of February.
Johnson however, called US efforts to stop Chinese spying "dismal".
He said, "They are willing to put in a lot more effort to do it than we are trying to deter them."
According to the FBI, there are "hundreds of" dissidents living in the US that China wants to target in its increasingly aggressive campaign for political and personal retribution.
Director Wray stated that most of the targets were green card holders or naturalized citizens, people with important rights under US law.
For his part, Mr Liu said that he does not believe that the espionage against him will cease.
However, the latest attempt had an additional problem. It was almost certain that Alyssa Liliu, who had posted content on social media about China's treatment its ethnic Uyghur minority, would be heading to Beijing at the time the FBI called.
Liu stated that he was "tremendously concerned" about her safety, but chose to not tell her.
He said, "I didn’t want her to travel to China with a heavy load on her shoulders." "I wanted her go to the Olympics and have a great time."
He said that he wouldn't be surprised if he was contacted by the FBI again after a year, but he hopes "not to have to do it again".
"I have learned to live like a normal person. They [the Chinese government] have the right to do what they want. I cannot stop them. He said, "I don't care."
"I will continue to speak out against such conduct and against any type of human rights violation. I will continue to do that.
