China Has Opened Up Secret Police Stations in These Countries

Beijing's law enforcement tactics beyond its borders are under scrutiny after a report revealed dozens of cities-including New York-were hosting Chinese overseas police stations. A pilot program run by the public security bureaus of Fuzhou and Qingtian counties-of coastal Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, respectively-had established 54 "Overseas police service centers" across five continents, 25 cities and 21 countries as of June 21, according to Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders. The overseas service stations were created in the name of combating transnational crime, especially telecommunications fraud, which has already seen the arrest of a large number of Chinese nationals living abroad. Their stated tasks also include the provision of administrative services, such as the renewal of Chinese driver's licenses, the report said. Most of the Chinese overseas police stations were located in Europe, including nine in Spain, the most of any country on the list: three in Madrid, three in Barcelona, two in Valencia and one in Santiago de Compostela. Safeguard Defenders' September report, 110 Overseas, said the open-source figures represented a partial list of activities linked only to the two police bureaus, and that there were likely many more associated with the police of other major Chinese cities. "These operations eschew official bilateral police and judicial cooperation and violate the international rule of law, and may violate the territorial integrity of third countries involved in setting up a parallel policing mechanism using illegal methods," the report said. The service centers "Coerce purported Chinese fugitives abroad to return to China to face legal proceedings," the letter read. "By doing so, China avoids scrutiny on its human rights record in relation to repatriating alleged fugitives overseas by eschewing formal international cooperation mechanisms."