April 25,2023: A hotel in Stockholm, an estate agent’s office in London and a space above a noodle shop in New York City’s Manhattan might seem like innocuous places, but they are among several locations around the world that have played host to alleged Chinese police stations.
With most of the identified facilities in Europe and North America, Chinese citizens who have fled repression at home fear they could now be ensnared by the increasingly long arm of Beijing’s law enforcement.
“People are afraid that it is becoming impossible to escape Chinese repression even in places like London,” said Simon Cheng, who was once detained in southern China and is the founder of London-based Hongkongers in Britain.
The existence of the police stations was revealed at the end of last year when Spain-based nongovernmental organisation Safeguard Defenders revealed in two reports based on open-source research that at least 100 police stations had been established outside China by several different Chinese police jurisdictions since 2018.
Aside from a location in Dublin that had a plaque in front reading “Fuzhou Police Service Overseas Station”, most of the stations have operated clandestinely and outside public knowledge.
Among the diaspora communities — from Chinese and Hong Kong dissidents to Tibetans and Uighurs — the stations stand as a warning that without concrete action by the democratic countries in which many of the alleged facilities are operating, there will be few places left in the world where they can be safe from the Chinese state.
After months of inaction, the United States announced its first arrests in connection with the Chinese police stations last week.
At a press conference on April 17, the Justice Department said it had arrested Liu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, on charges of operating a police station on behalf of China, accusing them of engaging in transnational repression against members of the Chinese diaspora community in the US.
The department added that the two reportedly admitted to having deleted correspondence with a Chinese official once they realised they were under investigation. It did not confirm the location of the alleged police station, but the case is suspected to be linked to the Manhattan site, which closed towards the end of last year.
Lu Jianwang leaving the Brooklyn federal court. He is wearing a baseball cap and a face mask and followed by his son who is in a hoodie with the hood up and a facemask.
US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace sought to reassure those diaspora communities that have traditionally been targets of Chinese repression.
“My office and our law enforcement partners are here to protect you and your rights, and no foreign country will stop us from doing that,” he said at the press conference.
Slow response
Other Western countries have yet to make progress on the issue, including the United Kingdom where Cheng was given political asylum in 2020.
Cheng said he was not surprised by the Safeguard Defenders revelations, noting close relationships between several Chinese community leaders in London and Chinese officials not only in the UK but also back in China.
He believes the presence of Chinese police stations is an indication that Chinese law enforcement is becoming more formalised abroad, and that has stirred concern among Hong Kong people in the UK, many of whom left the Chinese city following the imposition of the National Security Law (NSL) nearly three years ago.
“We are particularly concerned that the police stations will be used to implement the National Security Law abroad,” Cheng told Al Jazeera.
The broadly-worded NSL essentially outlawed political action not approved by the Chinese government, but it also threatened extraterritorial application under Article 38 (PDF), which technically gives Chinese authorities the power to prosecute those accused of violating its provisions anywhere in the world.
In Stockholm, meanwhile, the founder of the Swedish Uyghur Committee, Shukur Samsak, is also concerned.
He sees the Chinese police station as a sign of increasing Chinese surveillance of the Uighur community in Sweden.
“When you attend a Uighur demonstration or rally today, there will more and more often be suspicious-looking people on the sidelines that take pictures of you and film you,” he told Al Jazeera.
The establishment of alleged Chinese overseas police stations mirrors the increased repression in China itself, which has become endemic since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.
Now in an unprecedented third term and set to rule for life, Xi has presided over a crackdown on dissenting voices from civil society to activists and journalists, and expanded China’s system of detention and incarceration.
A much-trumpeted crackdown on corruption has also netted prominent entrepreneurs and officials, including China’s first-ever president of Interpol who was based in France and disappeared on a trip to China in September 2018.
Eighteen months later, Meng Hongwei was found guilty of corruption by a Chinese court and sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison.
‘They are illegal’
Operating police stations overseas is a major development in Chinese law enforcement, not least because such facilities outside a diplomatic compound are in violation of international law.
In October last year, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin dismissed accusations that China is running illegal police stations as “simply untrue”.
He characterised such stations as “service centres” targeted at Chinese citizens needing help with administrative tasks such as the renewal of passports, which was especially difficult for Chinese living overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic when China closed itself off from the world.
Wang did not elaborate on why such mundane work would need to be carried out covertly.
Laura Harth, the campaign director for Safeguard Defenders, is sceptical of the Chinese denials.
“The first of these stations were established years before COVID so COVID was clearly not a deciding factor,” she said.
“We also found that there is a police station in Frankfurt not far from one of the largest Chinese consulates in Europe so if they were just offering consular services why would they need a space for that right next to a large consulate that already offers these services?”
Even if the police stations are indeed service centres providing administrative services, operating such offices from undisclosed locations in foreign countries would remain illegal under international law, as established in Articles 2 to 5 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (PDF).
“The Chinese authorities had not informed the host countries or gained consent to establish and operate such services so in either case they are illegal,” Harth said.
And while some of these stations might very well have provided administrative services, their purpose goes beyond that.
Chinese dissident Wang Jingyu has said that he was pursued by Chinese police in the Netherlands and received phone calls from people who claimed to be from a Chinese police station in the country. They urged him repeatedly to return to China.
In both domestic and diaspora Chinese media, there have been numerous stories of representatives from several different Chinese police jurisdictions acknowledging and praising the establishment of Chinese overseas police offices throughout the world and the role these have played in returning as many as 230,000 Chinese citizens to China to face allegations of criminality.
In order to convince such overseas Chinese to return to China for prosecution, authorities have also targeted family members back home using threats and intimidation to secure a “voluntary” return. In some cases where such pressure has proved inadequate, the Chinese authorities have resorted to kidnappings instead.
In 2015, Chinese human rights defender Dong Guangping was awaiting resettlement to Canada in a Thai immigration detention centre when Chinese police arrived. They handcuffed him in front of Thai officers and led him away.
When people like Dong are detained and taken to China, their conviction is mostly a foregone conclusion. Chinese courts, controlled by the Communist party, have a conviction rate of more than 99 percent, and during detention and trial defendants often cannot communicate with their lawyers.
Chinese incarceration has also become increasingly opaque in recent years as more and more people are directed through what is known as Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location, a form of secret and extrajudicial detention, and the Liuzhi system where people can end up detained for months without the knowledge of friends and family.
After disappearing from Thailand, Dong eventually resurfaced in China’s detention system. He was released in 2019.
European help
The trail of open-source material left by Chinese media and Chinese authorities in their hunt for people like Dong alerted Safeguard Defenders to the existence of the overseas police stations, Harth told Al Jazeera.
The stations’ contributions to law enforcement operations abroad were regularly praised by Chinese authority figures, and congratulatory stories were published in Chinese state media.
But there are signs that Chinese law enforcement operators had help. In several cases, willing Western governments themselves opened the door to the establishment of secret police stations.
In Italy and Romania, the police stations first appeared following the signing of bilateral police cooperation agreements with China.
In the Italian case, a series of joint police patrols subsequently took place between 2016 and 2019 in major Italian cities such as Milan, Naples and Rome.
Over the same time frame, six Chinese overseas police stations were reportedly set up by a single Chinese police jurisdiction. In the summer of 2018, an unveiling ceremony was held to mark the opening of a Chinese police station in Rome, which was attended by the current head of the Italian State Police Press Office.
The Italian State Police did not reply to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the matter.
Joint police patrol agreements with China were also inked by Croatia in 2018 and by Serbia the following year.
Such cooperation is an overlooked part of the story, according to Chinese activist and Milan resident Jack Wei.
“There is definitely a lot to blame the Chinese government for, but it’s also important to look at how other governments deal with the Chinese government and what they are willing to accept from it,” he told Al Jazeera.
“I think people should take a look at their own government’s involvement first before criticising China’s government.”
More than 14 governments have launched investigations into the issue since Safeguard Defenders’ revelations last year.
But campaigners say investigations need to go deeper.
“These Chinese overseas police stations are just the tip of the iceberg in a campaign of transnational repression consisting of different actors and different methods that the Chinese authorities employ to intimidate and harass people across the world,” Harth told Al Jazeera.
So far, several police stations in countries including the Netherlands, Sweden and the US have reportedly closed, but few think that closed doors spell an end to Chinese policing itself.
“In that sense the reports on these police stations really just confirmed what we already know: that the Chinese government is increasing its policing and repression efforts both at home and abroad,” said Wei.
New Delhi, April 25,2023: In a fresh crackdown against the cadres of the banned Popular Front of India, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is carrying out searches at more than a dozen locations in parts of the country including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The places being searched by the NIA include 12 in Bihar, two in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Punjab’s Ludhiana and Goa.
The agency is conducting raids in Darbhanga’s Urdu market in Bihar.
According to police sources, the team has reached there to investigate the activities related to the banned PFI organization.
The raid is being done on Dr Sarik Raza, a dentist located in the Urdu Bazaar of Darbhanga city and one Mehboob, a resident of Shankarpur village in Singhwara police station area, in connection with the banned organisation PFI.
In another place in Bihar, Motihari, the NIA team raided the Kuanwa village of Chakia subdivision in the East Champaran district.
A raid is being conducted at Sajjad Ansari’s residence in a case related to PFI. Sajjad is working in Dubai for the last 14 months, sources said.
The NIA team has confiscated Sajjad’s Aadhaar card, PAN card and some documents from his residence, sources added.
The Union Home Ministry had in September last year declared the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates an ‘Unlawful Association’.
It had said that PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been found to be involved in serious offences, including terrorism and its financing, targeted gruesome killings, disregarding the constitutional set-up of the country, disturbing public order etc. which are prejudicial to the integrity, security and sovereignty of the country.
The Home Ministry said it found it necessary to curb the nefarious activities of the organization. It declared the Popular Front of India (PFI) along with its associates or affiliates or fronts including Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala as “unlawful association” under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Guwahati, April 24 ,2023: Pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh has been placed under solitary confinement at the Dibrugarh central jail in Assam.
Amritpal Singh was brought to the Dibrugarh jail in Assam after Punjab police arrested him from the Moga district in the state on Sunday (April 23).
The radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh has been booked under the national security act (NSA).
The nine associates of Amritpal Singh, who are also lodged at the Dibrugarh jail in Assam, have also been booked under NSA.
Interestingly, Amritpal Singh and nine of his associates are the only prisoners in the Dibrugarh jail in Assam to be booked under the NSA.
The government has moved two Indian Air Force (IAF) planes and a Navy ship to evacuate stranded Indians in Sudan, as the situation remained volatile in the African country with reports of fierce fighting at various locations in its capital, Khartoum.
This comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked officials to prepare contingency plans for evacuation of about 3,000 Indians stranded in Sudan.
“As part of our preparations, and in order to move swiftly, the Government of India is pursuing multiple options. Two Indian Air Force C-130J are currently positioned on standby in Jeddah. And, INS Sumedha has reached Port Sudan,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Sunday.
It said the government is making “all out efforts” to ensure the safety and security of stranded Indians. “We are closely monitoring the complex and evolving security situation in Sudan. We are also coordinating closely with various partners for the safe movement of those Indians who are stranded in Sudan and would like to be evacuated,” it said.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia on Saturday evacuated 157 people, including Indians. The Saudi foreign ministry reported that 91 of its citizens and 66 from friendly nations, arrived in Jeddah in the first announced evacuation of civilians since fighting began in the northeast African nation.
The evacuation was carried out by Saudi naval forces with the support of other branches of the Army, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Besides Indians, citizens of Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, the Philippines and Burkina Faso were among those evacuated.
Among those who arrived in Jeddah on Saturday was the crew of a Saudi passenger plane that was hit by gunfire while preparing to take off from Khartoum at the start of the fighting on April 15, according to Saudi news reports. Sources said the crew included Indian nationals.
Apart from the Sudanese authorities, the MEA and the Indian Embassy in Sudan are also in regular touch with the UN, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and the US among others.
However, the MEA struck a note of caution. “Contingency plans are in place but any movement on the ground would depend on the security situation, which continues to be volatile with reports of fierce fighting at various locations in Khartoum. Sudanese airspace currently remains closed for all foreign aircraft. Overland movement also has risks and logistical challenges,” it said.
New Delhi, Apr 21,2023: Assam and Nagaland have in-principle decided to go in for an agreement on oil exploration in the disputed areas for economic benefit, an official said on Friday.
The lastest development came after Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio met his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma at the Assam House here last night, the official said.
During their meeting, they discussed issues of mutual interests and collaboration on oil exploration along the inter-state border, he added.
“We have discussed about our border issue and development issues. Because we have to work together, support one another and how to go forward. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh signed an agreement on border dispute today, likewise we are also discussing how we should settle our border dispute outside the court with the (support of) ethnic groups from both sides,” Rio told reporters last night after the meeting.
The Nagaland CM further disclosed that both states have in-principle decided to go in for a MoU on oil exploration in the disputed areas along the inter-state boundary so that oil can be extracted and royalties shared between the neighbouring states.
“Once it is formalised, there is huge potential for exploration of oil inside Nagaland also. And to move forward as the country needs oil in a big way,” he added.
Earlier, the Assam CM while apprising about the meeting in a tweet wrote,
“We had engaging discussion on bringing closure to the ongoing boundary issue and other areas of mutual gains and collaboration.”
On Thursday, government of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh signed a MoU to resolve the decades old boundary issues between both the state.
New Delhi, April 18,2023: Nearly a month after the national flag at the Indian high commission in London was pulled down during a protest by pro-Khalistan activists, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case to investigate the matter, sources said.
According to inputs, the case was handed over to the NIA by the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization (CTCR) division of the Ministry of Home Affairs a few days back.
The anti-terror agency registered a First Information Report (FIR) based on the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and began its probe.
The agency took over the case from Delhi Police, which registered an FIR in the matter under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and is currently investigating it.
The MHA took the decision to hand over the case to the NIA following a meeting with UK representatives last week, the sources indicated.
It is learnt that a special team of the NIA, including a Deputy Inspector General rank officer, may visit London “very soon”, said a source privy to the development.
A tricolour flying atop the Indian High Commission in London was grabbed at by a group of protesters waving separatist Khalistani flags and chanting pro-Khalistani slogans on March 19.
The national flag was pulled down during the protest by pro-Khalistani elements. Videos of the incident showed several protesters carrying the yellow and black Khalistan flag and calling for radical Sikh preacher and Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh to be “freed”.
The videos showed one of the protesters clambering onto a balcony and pulling down the Indian flag from a pole at the front of the high commission to cheers from the other men. British policemen arrived on the scene and prevented the protestors from approaching an entrance of the Indian high commission. The protesters shouted slogans and abused Indian officials within, the videos showed.
Centre amended the NIA Act in August 2019, empowering the agency to investigate terror activities against Indians and Indian interests abroad apart from cyber crimes and human trafficking.
In the fifth India-UK Home Affairs Dialogue held on April 12, India raised concerns on the misuse of the UK’s asylum status by the Pro-Khalistani elements aid and abet terrorist activities here and requested better cooperation with the UK and increased monitoring of UK based Pro-Khalistan Extremists and take appropriate proactive action.
India also pointed out its concerns over the breach of security of the Indian High Commission.
Both sides reviewed the ongoing cooperation and identified further steps that can be taken to explore opportunities and synergies in advancing cooperation in counter-terrorism, cyber security and global supply chains, drug trafficking, migration, extradition, and anti-India activities in the UK including Pro-Khalistan Extremism among other issues.
The Indian delegation was led by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and the UK delegation was led by Permanent Secretary, of Home Office, Sir Matthew Rycroft. The meeting was also attended by other senior officials of both countries.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) last month summoned the UK deputy high commissioner after pro-Khalistan protestors took down the Indian flag at the high commission in London. The pro-Khalistan groups were protesting against the Punjab police’s crackdown on Sikh hardliner Amritpal Singh.