Senior US justice officials on Monday accused the Chinese government of a relentless campaign by intelligence officials to undermine the American judicial system and steal trade secrets.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray described three separate cases in which Beijing’s spies allegedly harassed dissidents in the United States, attempted to interfere in law enforcement against a Chinese telecoms giant believed to be Huawei, and pressured US academics to work for them.

Thirteen Chinese nationals alleged to have worked for Beijing’s spy agencies have been charged in the cases and two of them have been arrested.

The cases showed that China “was trying to encroach on the rights and freedoms of individuals in the United States and undermine our justice system that protects those rights,” Garland said.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by any foreign power to undermine the rule of law on which our democracy is based,” the top US law enforcement official said.

Garland, Wray and other senior judicial officials addressed the cases at a news conference in Washington, a day after Xi Jinping secured a historic third term as China’s leader.

US officials have linked Xi to what they see as a growing effort by Chinese intelligence agencies over the past decade to steal US intellectual property and crack down on Chinese political dissidents in the United States.

When asked whether Monday’s announcements were aligned with Xi’s confirmation as all-powerful Chinese Communist Party general secretary on Sunday, Wray avoided any specific connection.

“We bring cases when they are ready. And that’s probably the simplest and most direct answer as far as the signal they’re sending out,” the FBI chief said.

“If the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party, continues to violate our laws, they will continue to meet with the FBI,” he said.

In a case cited Monday but revealed last week, seven Chinese nationals allegedly attempted to force a US citizen to return to China. Two people were arrested, but five others – all alleged employees of Chinese intelligence services – remain at large, probably in China.

In the second case, two Chinese intelligence officials working out of China attempted to recruit a US government official to provide them with inside information about the Justice Department’s pursuit of Huawei.

In 2019, Huawei was charged with a systematic campaign of stealing US trade secrets, evading sanctions and other charges.

The two agents believed they had recruited a US government official to work for them and paid the person $61,000 worth of bitcoin to provide internal documents related to the case against Huawei.

But the informant was actually a double agent working with the FBI on the case.

The third case involved Chinese intelligence agents working for the Ministry of State Security posing as academics to recruit agents in the United States.

From 2008 to at least 2018, they targeted professors, former security officers, and others with access to sensitive information and technology for recruitment.

“In all three cases, and frankly thousands of others, we have found that the Chinese government is threatening established democratic norms and the rule of law while working to undermine US economic security and basic human rights,” Wray said.

The US Department of Justice has announced at least half a dozen similar cases against suspected Chinese intelligence officials so far this year.

Wray said the threat is constant and the FBI opens an investigation into Chinese counterintelligence “roughly every 12 hours.”