by Giuseppe Gagliano –
US authorities have arrested two New York City residents for allegedly conspiring to set up and operate a Chinese government-run clandestine police station in the borough of Manhattan. The arrests come a month after Canadian authorities launched an investigation into allegations that the Chinese government operated at least two clandestine police stations in Montreal and four others in Toronto.
The allegations first surfaced in a 2022 report by Safeguard Defenders, a Spain-based non-governmental organization that focuses on the state of human rights in China. The report, entitled “110 Overseas: Chinese Transnational Policing Gone WildChina’s Ministry of Public Security, in association with Chinese diplomatic structures around the world, has operated dozens of clandestine police stations in more than 50 countries, he said. Their official mission, according to the report, was to cater to the needs of Chinese citizens living overseas, as well as visitors from China. Yet these clandestine police stations were “actively (…) engaged in covert and illegal police operations” against Chinese nationals and expatriates, according to Safeguard Defenders.
Two New York City residents, Chen Jinping, 59, and Lu Jianwang, 61, were arrested on Monday and charged with conspiring to operate as unregistered agents of the People’s Republic of China. They were also charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the Justice Department’s investigation into their activities. US government prosecutors allege that Chen and Lu were behind the establishment of an underground police station in Manhattan. According to the indictment, the Manhattan police station, the first of its kind in the United States, was operated by China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS). The station was reported to have been shut down by the MSS in late 2022, soon after Chinese officials learned of an investigation into the station’s activities by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A representative of the US attorney accused the Chinese government of engaging in a “flagrant violation” of US sovereignty with “actions that go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct”. Meanwhile Chen and Lu went before a judge federal in Brooklyn on Monday. They risk up to 25 years in prison.