China opening Chinese Police Stations outside its territory

The spread of Chinese overseas police service stations around the world raises concerns among human rights campaigners.

The Chinese government is opening illegal police posts all over the world. China claims that these posts are capable of cracking down on global and multinational crimes. These checkpoints have been opened in many countries around the world including developed countries like Canada and Ireland. According to local media reports, Fuzhou has established informal police service stations affiliated with the Public Security Bureau (PSB) across Canada. At least three of these stations are located in the Greater Toronto Area only.

The presence of similar Chinese police posts has also come to the fore in Dublin, Ireland. These outposts are not only illegal but have been set up to antagonize China’s adversaries. Not only this, but with the help of these police posts, the Chinese government is also influencing the elections in the respective countries. Furthermore, these stations are controlling the activities of the Overseas Chinese Diaspora and espionage cases have also been reported.

The Fuzhou police says it has already opened 30 such stations in 21 countries. Other Chinese cities and provinces also operate their own stations.

The police stations are set up to help Chinese citizens living abroad file local police reports and aid in other bureaucratic processes. According to Chinese state-affiliated media, the “Police service stations” force alleged Chinese criminals to be sent back to China. The organization Safeguard Defenders claims that over 230,000 people have been sent to China through these unofficial negotiations.

110 is the emergency phone number in China, much like 911 and 112 in the US and EU respectively. The Fuzhou city police operation out of Fujian province uses the name “110 Overseas” for its campaign, while other police jurisdictions uses different names.

The spread of the police stations

The presence of these stations all over Europe and in Toronto (Canada) and New York (USA) has left security experts bewildered. Countries like Ukraine, France, Spain, Germany, and the UK have such arrangements for Chinese Police Stations. The leaders of most of these countries question the rise of China and its worsening human rights records on public platforms and are themselves a part of that issue. Following is a map of publicly documented Overseas Police Service Centers from Fuzhou
County and Qingtian County.

In the Global South the presence of these stations can be seen in Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Nigeria, Tanzania, Lesotho, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Cambodia, Brunei and even Japan!!

These police stations cause internal security concerns for the whole world and a threat to sovereignty of the concerned nations.

National sovereignty is an obligation as well as an entitlement. A government that will not perform the role of a government forfeits the rights of a government.

Richard Perle (Former United States Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs)

Sources:

• https://safeguarddefenders.com/en/publications