PHOTO ESSAY: In Texas, a former Chinese official targeted by Beijing's surveillance finds refuge

PHOTO ESSAY: In Texas, a former Chinese official targeted by Beijing's surveillance finds refuge

REBECCA BLACKWELL and DAKE KANG

Fri, December 12, 2025 at 5:04 AM UTC

2 min read

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang films a YouTube broadcast from the Mayflower Church community in Midland, Texas, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang reads the Bible to his elderly mother, Shen Shuzi, who is back in China, over a video call in Midland, Texas, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang greets his German shepherd, Hardy, as he returns from a trip to town from the Mayflower Church community in Midland, Texas, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Pumpjacks work to extract oil as the sun rises in Midland, Texas, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang shows one of the few pictures he has of himself, at right, from when he was vice mayor of Jixi, China, in the Mayflower Church community in Midland, Texas, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang holds a Bible as he prays inside the Mayflower Church temple sanctuary in Midland, Texas, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Members of the Mayflower Church, a Christian community which fled religious persecution in China, pray at a church in Midland, Texas, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang, left, shares a meal with other members of the Mayflower Church, a Christian community which fled religious persecution in China, and American pastors who have welcomed the refugees, in Midland, Texas, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang shops for meat at a supermarket in Midland, Texas, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Mayflower Church Deacon Luo Changcheng, wearing a tag with the American name Peter, gets a fist bump from his boss, Eric Smith, as he works at a car wash in Midland, Texas, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Siblings Mo Songhua, left, Mo Songen, center, and Mo Nika, right, from the Mayflower Church community watch, "Peppa Pig," to strengthen their English, inside their family's trailer in Midland, Texas, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Mayflower Church member Chen Jingjing holds her daughter, Mo Nika, as she surveys the landscape from the porch of the family's trailer in Midland, Texas, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A bird flies from a window sill inside the Mayflower Church community hall in Midland, Texas, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The son of Mayflower Church Deacon, Luo Changcheng, who wasn't feeling well, naps in the room he shares with his parents, in Midland, Texas, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A Mayflower Church member walks out of the community's main hall, used for religious education and recreation, in Midland, Texas, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Nong Yitan plays foosball with other Mayflower Church kids inside the community hall in Midland, Texas, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Lights shine inside the Mayflower Church hall, where members of the community gather for religious study or to enjoy downtime, in Midland, Texas, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Zhang Qimiao plays with Li Chuanliang's German shepherd, Hardy, as the sun sets in the Mayflower Church community in Midland, Texas, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang harvests greens from a vegetable garden inside the Mayflower Church community in Midland, Texas, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang sits in his car as he drives between buildings in the Mayflower Church community, Jan. 18, 2025, in Midland, Texas. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang adjusts his cap as he walks inside the Mayflower Church community in Midland, Texas, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Digital Cage Exiled Official Photo Essay

Former Chinese official Li Chuanliang films a YouTube broadcast from the Mayflower Church community in Midland, Texas, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — The Chinese government is using an increasingly powerful tool to control and monitor its own officials: Surveillance technology, much of it originating in the United States, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Among its targets is Li Chuanliang, a Chinese former vice mayor hunted by Beijing with the help of surveillance technology. Li’s communications were monitored, his assets seized and his movements followed in police databases. More than 40 friends and relatives — including his pregnant daughter — were identified and detained back in China.

Deep in the Texas countryside, Li has now found refuge with members of a Chinese church living in exile after fleeing from China like Li.

Here, the Chihuahuan Desert unfurls as a stark, flat expanse of sand, punctured by phone poles and wind turbines. Tumbleweeds roll across roads, past ranches flying the Lone Star flag and pumpjacks extracting oil.

Li and members of the church are building a new life, thousands of miles from China. They cook, eat, and study together. They plant olive trees and design new homes for their budding community. On Sundays, they attend church, singing hymns and reading the Bible.

But even in the United States, Li worries he’s being watched. Strange men stalk him. Spies have looked for him. He carries multiple phones.

Surveillance technology powers China’s anti-corruption crackdown at home and abroad — a campaign critics say is used to stifle dissent and exact retribution on perceived enemies.

Beijing has accused Li of corruption totaling around $435 million, but Li says he’s being targeted for openly criticizing the Chinese Communist Party. He denies criminal charges of taking bribes and embezzling state funds.

Li exudes some of the authority he once wielded as vice mayor. But he’s traded his suit and tie for a jacket vest, the Chinese flag for America’s star-spangled banner, and his podium and phalanx of state journalists for a bright, white LED light and flimsy tripod in a sparse room behind a communal church kitchen.

From here, Li tapes videos for an online audience, fighting a war of words with the party he once swore loyalty to.

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

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