The sabotaging of The Epoch Times, one of the few Chinese language newspapers not controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has intensified again in the past year, according to staff in the UK.
In Hong Kong and the United States, there have also been violent attacks on employees and the smashing of printing presses.
Theft, Arson, and Vandals
In the UK, newspapers would often disappear at an unusual pace, according to staff in London, Cambridge, Liverpool, and Glasgow.Emily Li, an office manager at The Epoch Times in London, said she believes the newspapers have been stolen by both CCP agents and shop owners who may have been influenced by the party’s smear campaign against the publication.
“I want to read The Epoch Times, but couldn’t get any from your stands,” said one reader in the UK, who warned in an email in 2023 about supermarkets using the newspapers as free wrappers and tissue.
According to Ms. Emily Li, earlier this month, 700 copies of The Epoch Times disappeared in just one day from Chinatown in London, while the amount should have lasted four to six days.
In Liverpool, other newspapers have also been stolen, while in Glasgow, readers reported that The Epoch Times is the target, staff said.
In Cambridge, mobile paper holders near the University of Cambridge have been repeatedly smashed, vandalised, or set on fire.
Chen Ping, who distributed newspapers in Cambridge, said there had been three arson incidents and many others in which the boxes were damaged.
Caught Red-handed
Elsewhere in the world, newspapers in two supermarkets near Seattle, the United States, were stolen a total of four times over one weekend in February 2023. According to staff who witnessed and filmed the incidents, in three of the instances, the copies were taken in piles by a group of black people, a caucasian woman, and a man who appeared to be Hispanic, respectively, who didn’t appear to speak Chinese.In Toronto, Canada, a man was reported to the police in August 2023 after repeatedly taking copies of The Epoch Times and the Vision Times, another publication critical of the CCP.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Chinese embassy in Canada for comment.
The recent intensification of newspaper theft came after Western governments and universities were warned about the CCP’s activities, including the monitoring and forced repatriation of Chinese expats and dissidents.
