U.S. Gold medallist Alysa Liu in the Winter Olympics in Italy this year was targeted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during her previous Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.
The only 16-year-old, Alysa Liu was targeted by Chinese spies while she was preparing for the games.
The U.S. State Department took special precautions during her stay there, assigning security guards to her 24 hours a day.
They were after her father, Arthur Liu, who was born in China.
Liu was a student activist who escaped China during the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre.
Decades later, the CCP is still targeting Liu’s family.
FBI agents broke the news to Alysa that her family could face danger and said they would ensure her safety.
The young skater told the media that Chinese spies were trying to intimidate them so that her father would never organise anti-CCP protests again.
She said the experience made her understand her father’s choice to speak out even more.
In contrast with Alysa Liu who was born and raised in California, U.S. and represented the U.S., Aileen Gu, also born and raised in California, chose to compete for China instead.
Aileen Gu won four Olympic medals under Communist China’s flag, including two gold medals when she competed in Beijing.
Gu made $23 million (S$29 million) last year alone after being showered with Chinese endorsement deals.
Her mother is a Chinese immigrant in the U.S.
She also majored in international relations at Stanford University.
When Time Magazine asked her about Beijing’s suppression of the Muslim-Uyghur ethnic group in China’s Xinjiang region, Gu said it is not her business.
