Here’s the latest example of why @RadioFreeAsia is worth preserving. I can verify from my experience on Capitol Hill that congressional staff take these investigative reports seriously and often build legislation around them. “For Chinese dissidents abroad, harassment from Beijing is nothing new — surveillance, cyberattacks and threats to family members are routine. “But a lawsuit filed in a U.S. court based on a judgment in China marked a chilling escalation. Legal experts say Ma’s case is in fact part of a growing trend: the use of U.S. courts to seek penalties against dissidents like Ma, even as Washington regularly warns of efforts by the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, to extend its reach into other countries. “China and other authoritarian regimes “are using frivolous lawsuits in U.S. courts to impose financial and psychological costs on dissidents,” said Diego A. Zambrano, a legal scholar at Stanford University who has studied similar cases involving Turkey, Venezuela and Russia. He told RFA, “The Chinese government has been one of the worst offenders.” “RFA Investigative reviewed hundreds of pages of legal filings from the U.S. and China and spoke with legal experts and former law enforcement officials in both countries. Many raised concerns with Beijing’s latest strategy to quell criticism. “U.S. authorities recognize the implications of the Chinese Communist Party’s use of law as a weapon. Yet, as Ma’s case and several others illustrate, they remain ill-prepared to counter it.”