Li Chuanliang, a former vice mayor of Jixi in Heilongjiang province, says he has been tracked by Chinese authorities across New York, California, and the Texas desert since he exposed his boss’s corruption and fled the country. The surveillance network that followed him – and that detained or interrogated more than 40 of his relatives, friends and associates, according to an Associated Press investigation – was built in part with software from IBM, Oracle and Microsoft, leaked emails and procurement records show.
After Li reported Xu Zhaojun, the local party boss, for embezzling more than $100 million, Xu was sentenced to 14 years in prison. But Li says the retaliation quickly turned against him. “I saw through the nature of the system,” Li told AP. “So I quit.” He later founded the Chinese Tyrannical Officials Whistleblower Center from abroad and began speaking out publicly, which he says made him a target.
The Chinese government’s pursuit intensified under Operations “Fox Hunt” and “Sky Net,” launched in 2014 and 2015 to bring back fugitives suspected of corruption. State media reports that more than 14,000 people, including roughly 3,000 officials, have been returned from over 120 countries through coercion, arrests, and pressure on relatives. Critics say the campaigns are used to stifle dissent and exact retribution on perceived enemies.
“They track you 24 hours a day. All your electronics, your phone — they’ll use every method to find you, your relatives, your friends, where you live,” Li said. “No matter where you are, you’re under their control.”
The AP’s review of hundreds of leaked emails, government procurements, and internal corporate presentations found that IBM’s i2 surveillance software was sold to China’s Economic Crime Investigation Bureau, while Oracle and Microsoft software was procured by the same division. IBM said it sold the division that made i2 in 2022 and has “robust processes” to ensure responsible use. Oracle declined to comment, and Microsoft did not respond.
Yaqiu Wang, a fellow at the University of Chicago, said the overseas pursuit of officials serves a political purpose. “They’re actively pursuing those people who fled China… as a way to demonstrate power, to show there’s no way you can escape,” she told AP. “The chilling effect is enormously effective.”
Within China, the anti-corruption campaign has been used to sideline political rivals. President Xi Jinping removed term limits in 2018, enabling him to rule indefinitely, and the campaign’s scope has widened. Nearly 900,000 officials were punished in China last year alone, state figures show – nearly five times the number in 2012.
“China places enormous emphasis on the political discipline of even former officials and (Communist) Party members,” said Jeremy Daum, a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center. “So when one becomes a vocal critic of the country’s leadership, it doesn’t go over well.”
Li’s allies and family have faced legal proceedings in China that his lawyers say were riddled with anomalies. One lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AP that authorities “didn’t show any evidence” but “told a story.” Three former associates of Li have died in detention, and Li’s own aunt was released from a hospital in a vegetative state with bruises on her body, according to documents seen by AP.
Former FBI attaché in Beijing Holden Triplett said the U.S. initially cooperated with Chinese requests for information, but quickly grew suspicious. “It was such a low level of information, not even really evidence, it was not enough for us to take any action ever,” Triplett said. “What they tended to focus on were things that frankly were threatening to the state and threatening to the party potentially, or somehow would make the party look bad.”
Chinese authorities did not respond to AP’s requests for comment, but the foreign ministry said Chinese officials protect suspects’ rights and urged other countries to “drop double standards and avoid becoming a safe haven for corrupt officials.”
Li’s future in the U.S. remains uncertain. The Trump administration has paused all asylum applications, and if he is deported he could face life in prison. Still, he continues to speak out on YouTube. “Why am I speaking up?” he said. “Today, it’s me. Tomorrow, it might be you.”