Chinese ‘law enforcement’ set up shop on US soil

The Chinese Communist Party has set up “police stations” in Europe and in North America. Individuals assigned to these stations are tasked with “persuading” Chinese nationals, in the nation they are located in, to return to China to face prosecution. “Persuasion” includes threats to family members still in China, to include banning children from attending school as well as shutting down bank accounts.

From Fox News:

Some reported tactics used to compel Chinese nationals to return include threatening and intimidating family members in China. A suspect’s children can be banned from attending school, and their family’s bank accounts can be frozen and their property confiscated.

“They will interrogate people, maybe detain people,” Harth said. “There’s also guilt by association. There are accounts of people being prosecuted or arrested for the presumed charges against their family members” abroad.

China will “do anything really to convince them to persuade their family members to come back,” she added. “Nothing seems to be too impressive or too harsh” for the CCP.

If those tactics fail, the CCP will deploy its international officers to directly approach the suspect as a means of “persuasion,” according to Harth.

“That’s a clear message to anyone seeking to leave China, already having left China, that you’re not safe anywhere,” she said.

China’s reported extradition missions operate without knowledge or approval from the local government, Harth told Fox News.

“This is obviously completely illegal. This is no regular international police cooperation,” she said. “These have been set up without any knowledge of local authorities, without any requests.”

The Chinese government has claimed that the stations provide services to its citizens living abroad, like renewing IDs and driver’s licenses, the Chinese embassy told The Irish Times. While that may be true in part, Harth said, the stations are largely used to enhance China’s overseas law enforcement capabilities.

The CCP’s idea of “enforcement” is broad. Chinese nationals exercising their freedom of speech in the host nation could find themselves in violation of one or a combination of Chinese laws. These individuals would be subject to “persuasion” to return to China to face prosecution.

Fox News has additional information here.

Category: China, International Affairs