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Comment by billy99k | Hacker News Reader

With all the speculation, how do we know the US government 'disappeared' him. He's originally from China. How do we know that the Chinese government didn't do this (which is known to happen) and now the FBI is involved to find out what happened?

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Isn’t it more likely that he was out when they raided his house, heard of the raid (perhaps from the woman on the phone when she emerged from the house on the phone) and fled to avoid arrest?

It sounds like he was “out” for weeks possibly, though? Seems like an overall very strange situation.

> How do we know that the Chinese government didn't do this (which is known to happen)

Source?

> How do we know it was the US government

We don't but its 100000x easier for the US government to disappear someone on US soil than it is for China to disappear someone on US soil.

Is it really that much more easier?

I've heard of CCP affiliated Chinese nationals who essentially act as CCP police on foreign soil and force nationals to return to China.

Yes moving him to a different house would be an incredibly difficult thing for the Chinese govt to do. And of course, this would be something that he couldnt possibly do himself without some sort of secret govt involvement.

I'm sorry, are you arguing that he's in Chinese witness protection inside the US?

Obviously not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_police_overseas_servic...

You clearly didn't read this Wiki (Wiki is not a source BTW) because it says basically the opposite of what you're implying. Same goes for everyone in this thread talking about Chinese police on foreign soil.

The "CCP Police on foreign soil" aren't extracting people from the West so they can avoid persecution from the West. They're pressuring Chinese citizens to go back to China to face punishment for crimes China thinks they committed.

You added the part about exfiltration from the country. It is possible he has been kidnapped by Chinese secret police in the country and remains in the country (at least until they manage to coerce him to return "willingly".) Anyway, nobody said anything about witness protection either, that part was your hallucination too.

By the way, before you get yourself all worked up, I think the much more likely possibility is that he has disappeared for a mundane reason, such as murder, or else he has deliberately disappeared himself for some reason.

The witness protection thing was a joke to make it clear how absurd what you're proposing is. Clearly some people got the joke.

Y'all read "CCP Police stations" and your imaginations started going wild. There is no evidence nor is there even an accusation that these "police" stations are used to kidnap US citizens.

> You added the part about exfiltration

.... bro how are they going to coerce someone to leave the country "willingly" if the FBI is looking for that person? His passport is obviously going to get flagged.

And if your answer is "get him a fake passport" then congratulations, you just described exfiltration.

No I'm arguing that moving him from one house to another is something the Chinese govt could assist with.

So what's the end game? They're being hunted by the FBI I don't think Trading Spaces™ is going to get this guy out of trouble

Exactly...nobody knows what the actual end game is at this point. So all the hyperbolic speculation is ridiculous.

Hold up, let’s not pretend these ideas are all equally feasible.

Spies do flee countries. People do get disappeared. The idea that China has a presence on US soil helping criminals evade the FBI is a *conspiracy theory*.

Why would they tacitly admit to performing warrantless searches?

Did you read the article?

A bureau spokesperson issued a statement: “I can confirm we conducted court-authorized activity at the address in Carmel today.

Sounds like possible espionage. Chinese spies spook easily and flee the country long before the FBI gets its shit together.

Moreso than spying, sounds like a long time US-based researcher suddenly had a reason to commit immediate espionage.

Believe everyone can put together the type of events that cause sudden behavior changes like that. (Hint: money offers or family threats)

It's all the same to me but that's often how it goes. Everyone is a sleeper agent until compelled to act by whatever means. Israelis do the same thing under the sayanim program (appeal to loyalty). Malware agents are staged until called upon using the same strategy.

I don't know what motivated this guy's disappearance but you don't get quietly fired, scrubbed from public association and have the FBI raid your apartment when you're a victim of abduction. We know some sort of federal crime took place to justify the raid so my guess is the guy is not an abductee but a fugitive.

Here's one possible way it went down: His wife kills him and hides the body. The university then fires him because he doesn't show up and won't respond to any messages. Eventually the university gets suspicious and calls the FBI. The FBI raids the apartment because they think it might be a crime scene. The reason its the FBI and not local cops is because the university mentioned that he was Chinese and working on sensitive research so the feds step in, due to them perceiving some possible espionage angle.

I am not saying that definitely happened, but it's a narrative which more or less fits the facts.

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