What Are China’s Alleged ‘Secret Overseas Police Stations’? – The Diplomat

Police in New York have arrested two males for allegedly establishing a secret police station for a Chinese language provincial police company to gather info on opponents of the ruling Communist Get together.

Such workplaces have been reported throughout North America, Europe, and in different nations the place Chinese language communities embody critics of the Communist Get together who’ve household or enterprise contacts in China. China denies that they’re police stations, saying that they exist primarily to offer citizen providers corresponding to renewing driver’s licenses.

Get together chief and head of state Xi Jinping has waged a marketing campaign in opposition to corruption that has additionally focused criticism of his regime at house and overseas, whereas searching for to chase down these accused of monetary crimes.

The arrests Monday in New York got here alongside prices in opposition to 34 officers with China’s nationwide police power in China for utilizing social media to harass celebration critics in america, authorities stated Monday.

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The 2 males who had been arrested had been appearing beneath the route and management of a Chinese language authorities official, the Justice Division stated in a press release Monday.

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The arrests of the boys, recognized as “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan, each U.S. residents, are the primary of their sort anyplace on the earth.

The 2 didn’t register with the Justice Division as brokers of a international authorities, U.S. legislation enforcement officers stated. And although the workplace did carry out some providers corresponding to serving to Chinese language residents renew their Chinese language driver’s licenses, it additionally served a extra “sinister” operate, together with serving to the Chinese language authorities find a pro-democracy activist of Chinese language descent dwelling in California and threatening a fugitive whom police wished to return to China, officers stated.

On Tuesday, International Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated there was “no such factor as an abroad police station,” and accused america of “smears and political manipulation.”

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“China firmly opposes the smear and political manipulation by the U.S., who maliciously fabricated the narrative of so-called cross-border suppression and blatantly prosecuted Chinese language legislation enforcement officers,” Wang stated.

China’s International Ministry says it operates the facilities overseas to assist residents with bureaucratic duties, corresponding to renewing drivers’ licenses, that sometimes are executed at police stations in China.

However the Spain-based nongovernment group Safeguard Defenders accused Chinese language police of utilizing the workplaces to spy on critics overseas and to harass or threaten each residents and non-citizens in a report revealed final yr.

A Chinese language official claimed final yr that 210,000 suspects of fraud had been “persuaded to return” to China in 2021 as a part of a crackdown on phone scams, though the researchers wrote that not all had been charged with crimes. Nations together with Canada and Eire requested China to shut such stations or opened investigations of their very own following the Safeguard Defenders report.

In response to prosecutors in New York, the station in New York was operated by the Fuzhou department of the Ministry of Public Safety; they wrote that it had no authority to function there and infringed U.S. legislation and nationwide sovereignty. Nations are required by worldwide treaty to tell one another of when and the place they function their diplomatic missions.

In a February 2002 information launch, the federal government of Fujian province – the place Fuzhou is the provincial capital – stated it had established a primary batch of 30 “Fuzhou Police Abroad Service Stations” on 5 continents. The province has historically despatched waves of migrants to Southeast Asia, North America, Australia, and Europe.

Scores of service workplaces – Safeguard Defenders estimates greater than 100 – have been reported around the globe, from Canada to New Zealand. Some are based mostly in embassies, whereas others have operated out of business facilities frequented by members of the Chinese language diaspora.

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In Italy, Chinese language police made an settlement with the federal government in 2016 to conduct joint patrols with native police to help Chinese language-speaking vacationers. Italy ended this system final yr following the Safeguard Defenders report.

China-U.S. political relations are at a historic low. In February, america canceled a go to by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing amid a furor over a Chinese language spy balloon that overflew the U.S. Suspicion of China is among the few areas the place the Democratic and Republican events discover widespread floor, and the accusations of unlawful Chinese language police stations will seemingly impress sentiment for banning of Chinese language manufacturers corresponding to Huawei and TikTok.

It’s not clear if China will search the discharge of the 2 males arrested in america, who’re each U.S. residents. China has in previous been accused of hostage diplomacy, together with imprisoning two Canadian nationals over the detention of a high government of the electronics large Huawei.