A computer technology director for a U.S.-based Chinese newspaper was brutally beaten and robbed Wednesday by a group of Asian men who invaded his Duluth home.
Peter Li, chief information technology engineer for Epoch Times, believes the men who pistol-whipped and attempted to suffocate him were sent by the Chinese government to intimidate him and other employees at the newspaper into backing off their anti-communist stance.
Fulton County police spokesman Gary Syblis said the case was still under investigation Thursday, and he couldn?t say yet whether Li?s theory was correct.
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Victim suspects Chinese Communist Party
The intruders never made any reference to Li?s work at Epoch Times or China. Yet he suspects their motive was to intimidate and discourage him from continuing his work for the newspaper.
Li said it may be difficult for Americans to understand the pressure he and other journalists at Epoch Times face as adversaries of the Chinese Communist Party, because here the media has unfettered freedom of speech.
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The newspaper seeks to tell the truth about what is going on inside China, exposing corruption and detailing the implications of accidents and breaking news. However, its reporters are often barred from Chinese events, even those on U.S. soil, Li said.
Li claimed the Chinese government tries to discourage Epoch Times advertisers from doing business with them. People working for the government have also made verbal threats to at least four other newspaper employees and their families back home in China.
?In China, it is very different than here,? Li said.
?They control the media. Our newspaper, we are determined we are not going to do that. What CCP is doing is not right. It is not legal. It destroys good values of Chinese culture.?
Li said the home invasion hasn?t deterred from his work.
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