The FBI is now sounding the alarm on the Chinese government setting up its own secret police stations in the United States. A September report from a European human rights group documented dozens of secret Chinese police stations that have been set up in major cities around the world, including New York. It alleges these units are an extension of Beijing’s efforts to track Chinese nationals living abroad, and their goal is to return them to China for whatever criminal charges they may be facing.
It violates sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial law enforcement cooperation processes,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said. “Harassing, stalking, surveilling, blackmailing. We have seen a clear pattern of the Chinese party exporting their repression right here in the U.S.”
These concerns come on the heels of the Department of Justice charging 7 Chinese nationals in October for conspiring to act as tools of surveillance and illegal agents of the PRC.
So far, China’s been accused of having secret police station setups across 5 continents in at least 25 cities.
The FBI said it is still working to determine if the ones identified in the U.S. actually break the law.
“I can tell you, from an FBI director perspective, I am deeply concerned about this and I’m not just going to let it lie,” Wray said.
