1984: Thread

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Sun Dec 4 09:39:03 PST 2022


https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19152/china-police-stations-worldwide
https://safeguarddefenders.com/sites/default/files/pdf/110%20Overseas%20%284%29.pdf
https://safeguarddefenders.com/en/blog/230000-policing-expands

China Operating Illegal Police Stations Worldwide

    China has set up at least 54 overseas police stations in 30
countries, including in the United States (New York), Canada, Spain,
Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Portugal,
the Czech Republic, Brazil, Argentina and Nigeria, according to a
recent report from Safeguard Defenders, a human rights NGO.

    The police stations are part of China's campaign to "persuade"
Chinese citizens suspected of criminal acts – particularly
telecommunications fraud, but also political "crimes" such as
political dissent – to return to China to face criminal prosecution.
China not only threatens the Chinese citizens themselves but also
members of their families who have stayed behind in China. Such
threats have been continuing for years, as FBI Director Christopher
Wray pointed out in 2020, when he mentioned a case from the US in
which a Chinese government "emissary" visited a target in the US and
told him that he could choose between returning to China or committing
suicide.

    China's overseas police stations purport merely to have
administrative or consular functions, but function as means of
threatening Chinese abroad to return to China, thereby skipping the
necessary legal requirements under international law.

    Crucially, the police stations operate without the consent and
knowledge of the host countries, such as in the Netherlands, where one
of the police stations operates out of a plain ground-floor apartment
in Rotterdam belonging to a small Chinese handyman business.

    Beijing, not surprisingly, has denied all wrongdoing. "The
organizations you mentioned are not police stations or police service
centers," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian Zhao
insisted. "Their activities are to assist local Chinese citizens who
need to apply for expired driver's license renewal online...."

    Safeguard Defenders has appealed to countries to take swift action
against the police stations.

    "Action needs also be taken to protect a quickly growing Chinese
diaspora in the target countries, unless the latter are content with
having a foreign government police minority groups on their territory,
often to the intentional detriment of the target country and its
policies, and aimed at intimidating the diaspora into obedience to the
CCP anywhere in the world. Dedicated reporting and protection
mechanisms must urgently be made available." – Safeguard Defenders,
January 18, 2022.

China has set up at least 54 overseas police stations in 30 countries,
including in the United States (New York), Canada, Spain, Italy,
France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Portugal, the
Czech Republic, Brazil, Argentina and Nigeria, according to a recent
report from Safeguard Defenders, a human rights NGO. Most of these
police stations are located in Europe, with nine such police stations
in major Spanish cities, four in Italy, and three in Paris, among
others.

According to Peter Dahlin, director of Safeguard Defenders, those are
just the tip of the iceberg:

    "We are convinced that there are many more, because these only
belong to two jurisdictions – Fuzhou and Qingtian, where most of the
Chinese in Spain come from – and China itself admits that it has
launched the project in ten. So it could be up to five times more."

The police stations are part of China's campaign to "persuade" Chinese
citizens suspected of criminal acts – particularly telecommunications
fraud, but also political "crimes" such as political dissent – to
return to China to face criminal prosecution. China not only threatens
the Chinese citizens themselves but also members of their families who
have stayed behind in China. Such threats have been continuing for
years, as FBI Director Christopher Wray pointed out in 2020, when he
mentioned a case from the US in which a Chinese government "emissary"
visited a target in the US and told him that he could choose between
returning to China or committing suicide.

On August 17, China's Ministry of Public Security stated:

    "The number of cross-border telecom fraud cases targeting Chinese
residents has been significantly decreased in China, with 230,000
telecom fraud suspects being educated and persuaded to return to China
from overseas to confess crimes from April 2021 to July 2022..."

"Official guidelines explicitly outline the different tools made
available to 'persuade' the targets to voluntarily return to China to
face charges," Safeguard Defenders wrote.

    "These include targeting the purported suspects' children in
China, denying them the right to education, as well as targeting
family members and relatives in a similar fashion. In short, a full-on
'guilt by association' punishment to 'encourage' suspects to return
from abroad."

China's overseas police stations purport merely to have administrative
or consular functions, but function as means of threatening Chinese
abroad to return to China, thereby skipping the necessary legal
requirements under international law. According to Safeguard
Defenders:

    "These methods allow the CCP and their security organs to
circumvent normal bilateral mechanisms of police and judicial
cooperation, thereby severely undermining the international rule of
law and territorial integrity of the third countries involved... In
eschewing regular cooperation mechanisms, the CCP manages to avoid the
growing scrutiny of its human rights record and the ensuing
difficulties faced in obtaining the return of 'fugitives' through
legal proceedings such as formal extradition requests. It leaves legal
Chinese residents abroad fully exposed to extra-legal targeting by the
Chinese police, with little to none of the protection theoretically
ensured under both national and international law...

    "Openly labeled as overseas police service stations... for example
in renewing Chinese driver's licenses remotely and other tasks
traditionally considered of a consular nature... [the stations] also
serve a more sinister goal as they contribute to 'resolutely cracking
down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving
overseas Chinese.'"

The police stations are obviously also used to target Chinese abroad
who disagree with the regime.

"One of the aims of these campaigns, obviously, as it is to crack down
on dissent, is to silence people," Laura Harth, a campaign director
with Safeguard Defenders said. "So people are afraid. People that are
being targeted, that have family members back in China, are afraid to
speak out."

Crucially, the police stations operate without the consent and
knowledge of the host countries, such as in the Netherlands, where one
of the police stations operates out of a plain ground-floor apartment
in Rotterdam belonging to a small Chinese handyman business. Several
countries, such as Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Portugal and
Spain, are now investigating the matter and some have already demanded
the closure of the Chinese overseas police stations on their soil.

"[We] have asked the Chinese ambassador for full clarification on the
so-called police service stations carrying out tasks in the
Netherlands on behalf of the Chinese government," Dutch Foreign
Minister Wopke Hoekstra wrote on Twitter.

    "As no permission was sought from the Netherlands for this, the
ministry has informed the ambassador that the stations must close
immediately. In addition, the Netherlands itself is also investigating
the stations to find out their exact activities."

In the US, FBI Director FBI director Christopher Wray said that the
FBI was investigating the matter.

    "We are aware of the existence of these stations. To me, it is
outrageous to think that the Chinese police would attempt to set up
shop, you know, in New York, let's say, without proper coordination.
It violates sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law
enforcement cooperation processes."

Wray added that the FBI was "looking into the legal parameters," and
stated that the FBI has opened charges related to Chinese government
harassment, stalking, monitoring and blackmailing Chinese in the US
who were critical of China's President Xi Jinping.

    "It's a real problem and something that we're talking with our
foreign partners about, as well, because we're not the only country
where this has occurred."

Beijing, not surprisingly, has denied all wrongdoing. "The
organizations you mentioned are not police stations or police service
centers," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian Zhao
insisted.

    "Their activities are to assist local Chinese citizens who need to
apply for expired driver's license renewal online, and activities
related to physical examination services by providing the venue."

Nevertheless, the Spanish newspaper El Correo quoted an unnamed
official from the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Shanghai, who reportedly
acknowledged that the police stations abroad are part of how China
operates:

    "The bilateral treaties are very cumbersome, and Europe is
reluctant to extradite to China. I do not see what is wrong with
pressurizing criminals so that they are brought to justice."

Safeguard Defenders has appealed to countries to take swift action
against the Chinese police stations.

    "We call on Members of Parliament to raise this issue with their
Governments: ask if and how this practice is being monitored; to what
extent such operations take place in their country, and what measures
are being formulated to counter them. Action needs also be taken to
protect a quickly growing Chinese diaspora in the target countries,
unless the latter are content with having a foreign government police
minority groups on their territory, often to the intentional detriment
of the target country and its policies, and aimed at intimidating the
diaspora into obedience to the CCP anywhere in the world. Dedicated
reporting and protection mechanisms must urgently be made available."

Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a
Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

    Follow Judith Bergman on Twitter


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