The US State Department has publicly designated Zhao Fugang, director of the Overseas Chinese Service Center in Fiji, accusing him of paying bribes to Fijian citizens to advance Chinese government, business and criminal interests. The designation makes Zhao and his immediate family generally ineligible to enter the United States, and Washington says his actions harmed US interests in the Pacific nation. The move follows February sanctions on two other Pacific officials over alleged China-linked corruption, and comes as rights groups say such overseas service centres (which Beijing describes as help desks for citizens abroad) are used to extend Chinese influence and target dissidents.