According to numerous reports, Communist China has opened several “overseas police service stations” throughout the world to “monitor its citizens” living outside of the country, including one station located in the United States and Canada.
“These operations eschew official bilateral police and judicial cooperation and violate the international rule of law, and may violate the territorial integrity in third countries involved in setting up a parallel policing mechanism using illegal methods,” human rights watchdog Safeguard Defenders stated in a blog post earlier this month.
“As these operations continue to develop, and new mechanisms are set up, it is evident that countries governed by the standards set by universal human rights and the rule of law urgently need to investigate these practices to identify the (local) actors at work, mitigate the risks and effectively protect the growing number of those targeted,” the report concludes.
The Chinese law enforcement stations are said to assist Chinese authorities in “carrying out policing operations on foreign soil,” with most of them being located across Europe in London, Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest, Athens, Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt, reports say.
China has opened police stations in US and Canada to monitor Chinese citizens: report https://t.co/2hzX5bLOQ4 pic.twitter.com/bN6FvYiwJI
— New York Post (@nypost) September 30, 2022
The eastern hemisphere is home to four of the Chinese police stations, with three locations in Toronto and one in New York City.
In total there are 54 communist Chinese police stations spanning across 34 different countries, which are used to “spread Chinese government propaganda and monitor the behavior and opinions of Chinese nationals.”
The Chinese government maintains that the police stations “provide vital services to its citizens living abroad.” However, some reports have argued that the police stations have been used to “enhance China’s overseas law enforcement capabilities in possible violation of international law.”
