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China has set up dozens of secret police stations around the world, including one in New York City, to track down and retrieve dissidents.
A new report from Safeguard Defenders, a human rights watchdog, revealed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has at least 54 “overseas police service stations” in 30 different countries, including the US.
New York’s station, located on East Broadway between Chinatown and the Lower East Side, was open Feb. 15, according to the Chinese-language news site FJSEN.
Like many police stations around the world, the New York location is being promoted as a place to help Chinese nationals through bureaucracy, but since the programs kicked off in April 2021, China reported that it had “persuaded” 230,000 Chinese nationals to return home.
Although the CCP claims the stations are intended to monitor “fraud and telecom fraud” by civilians living on board, the human rights organization condemned the stations.
Laura Harth, campaign manager for Safeguard Defenders, said it was shocking to hear that China is conducting police operations abroad.
“I think it shows how brutal the CCP is getting and how little respect they have for other governments,” she said. Fox news. “It’s against international law, it’s against territorial sovereignty.”
Pictured: Chinese officials at work in their New York City police station. It is one of at least 54 operating worldwide, and the only one known to operate in the US
Many of the stations are open in Western Europe, with only four in North America
Since the station opened in April 2021, the Chinese government has said it has persuaded 230,000 Chinese to return home.
Not much is known about the New York station, which seems to be hidden in plain sight in the city’s busy Chinatown.
Other stations around the world are disguised and often run in Chinese restaurants or convenience stores.
One of the two stations in London is registered as a real estate agency, and one in Glasgow is located in a Chinese restaurant, the Telegraph reports.
Harth claimed that China used the program to track down dissidents and return them to their native countries.
The nonprofit detailed cases where the family wanted citizens to ask their loved one to come back to China.
Safeguard Defenders said it served as a threat from the CCP that if the civilian did not return, something would be done to their families.
“Nothing seems too impressive or too harsh,” Harth said. “That is a clear message to anyone who wants to leave China, or has already left China: that you are not safe anywhere.”
Safeguard Defenders, a human rights watchdog, reported that the police stations have been used to signal Chinese nationals to return home
Reports claimed CCP agents targeted the homes of ‘fraud’ suspects, cutting off power to family members’ homes to force nationals to return home
The report warned that China was likely expanding its program around the world.
In addition to the list of police stations, Safeguard Defenders also noted that China has designated nine Asian countries as “banned” and is calling on all countries to immediately return from their countries.
Countries include Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia.
According to the report, a Chinese restaurant owner in Cambodia was forced to return to China after police warned her that her mother’s power would be cut off if she did not.
Safeguard Defenders said there have been many reports of police going around the homes of ‘fraud’ suspects and spraying ‘shameful fraud’ on them.