In early June 2020, at the tail end of the city's first Covid lockdown, a fleet of small planes baffled New Yorkers. They circled overhead towing banners that read: "Congratulations to the New Federal State of China" and flew an unfamiliar-looking blue flag. Was it a prank? A stunt? Weird propaganda?
The mystery was solved a few days later when Guo and former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon appeared live online. Together on a boat near the Statue of Liberty, with the same blue flag in the background, they awkwardly took turns speaking to the camera. "We must eliminate Marxism-Leninism, the pariah and totalitarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party," Guo declared.
