RCMP ‘actively investigating’ Chinese government police stations following arrests in U.S.
Investigations into allegations that China runs illegal “police stations” in Canada are still ongoing, the RCMP said, adding that two people accused of running one such police station in the U.S. It said it was still ongoing following the arrest of the suspect.
The RCMP has identified a small number of uncharacteristic offices in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver that Beijing allegedly used to promote political interests and to harass and intimidate Chinese Canadians.
Although no charges have yet been filed in Canada, the FBI announced Monday that it has arrested the leader of a US nonprofit organization accused of running a similar Chinese police station in New York City.
Beijing denies running a secret police station, but an unsealed FBI investigation provides new details about the Chinese government’s foreign influence program and hints at its expansion into Canada.
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U.S. indicts two suspected of involvement in Chinese police station in New York City
The FBI said photos found on the phone of one of the suspects, Lu Jianwang, show the official opening of overseas police stations in Spain, France, the Netherlands and Canada.
This photo may help you further your RCMP investigation. The RCMP declined to discuss details of the investigation, but said it was “working closely with its Five Eyes partners to respond to all threats to national security and maintain situational awareness.” I was.
The United States has indicted Jian Wang and Chen Jinping for acting as unregistered agents of the Chinese government. According to US charity records, Jianwang was president of the American Changle Association.
The address on a Changle Association tax return obtained by Global News matches the location of what the FBI will open in New York City in 2022, dubbed a “police service station for overseas Chinese.”
Manhattan’s “police station” was set up by the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau, a branch of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security (MPS). FBI Alleges in ComplaintFuzhou is a city in the Fujian province of China.
An alleged Chinese government police station in New York City.
U.S. Department of Justice
“MPS regularly monitors, among other things, Chinese political dissidents in the United States and elsewhere outside of China,” the FBI wrote in its complaint against Lu and Jinping, both U.S. citizens.
“MPS has used its cooperating contacts both within China and around the world to influence, intimidate, and coerce overseas political dissidents. I am aware of the intimidation and coercion they are trying to silence the Chinese political dissidents who live there.”
Despite widespread complaints that China used the same tactic in Canada, no arrests have been made. The RCMP believes Chinese police stations operating in Canada have closed or moved.
Unlike the United States, Canada does not require foreign agents to register with the government. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched public consultations on the registry in March, following news reports of foreign interference in Canada’s elections.
But the proposal has met with backlash from within the liberal caucus, with Rep. Chandra Aria sponsoring a petition against it and Prime Minister Trudeau citing World War II internment as the reason for the warning.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has begun to actively work abroad to counter the five poisons of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, anti-democracy opponents, and Taiwanese independence supporters.
The Ministry of Public Security, a key part of foreign intervention efforts, has been accused of running police stations in dozens of countries to silence critics of the Communist Party and promote the Beijing narrative.
The RCMP launched an investigation last year after Spanish nonprofit Safeguard Defenders identified three police stations in the Toronto area. One was on a property owned by the Toronto Fuqing Business Association of Canada.
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In British Columbia, the RCMP is investigating the Wenzhou Friendship Society, a member of the Canadian Chinese Association. Suspected police stations in Montreal and Brossard are also being investigated by the Quebec RCMP.
“The RCMP is actively investigating reports of criminal activity nationwide involving so-called ‘police stations,'” said RCMP spokesman Robin Percival on Tuesday.
“The RCMP is aware that Chinese Canadians are victims of the activities we are investigating. These forms of intimidation, harassment or harmful targeting of Canadian Diaspora communities and individuals. or any other form is not acceptable.”
A US investigation found that Jianwang had a “long-standing relationship of trust” with the Chinese government, particularly the Ministry of Public Security and the United Front Work Department, which is responsible for attacks on adversaries in Beijing.
Lu Jianwang has been accused of helping run a Chinese government police station in New York.
U.S. Department of Justice
The FBI complaint filed in U.S. District Court alleges that he worked with Chinese security officials to organize pro-Beijing anti-government demonstrations in Washington, D.C., track down “persons of interest” with ties to China, claims to have helped establish a police station in
“According to a survey, on or around January 10, 2022, the FPSB (Fuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau) announced plans to set up overseas police station facilities around the world at a ceremony held at Wuyi Square Park in Fuzhou. It has been revealed that it has formally launched an initiative with China,” the FBI wrote.
According to the FBI, Jianwang confirmed his attendance at the ceremony and took a picture with a Chinese security official holding a sign reading “Fuzhou Public Security Bureau, Foreign 110 Report to Police Station.” 110 is the Chinese emergency number, equivalent to 911, according to the FBI.
The FBI said it interviewed three victims of harassment from an association run by Jianwang and Chen. One of her victims “received repeated unsolicited calls from an alleged member of the association and threatened with violence,” he said, according to the FBI.
Another victim said he received “a car break-in and harassing phone calls and electronic messages from individuals he believed to be agents of the Chinese government shortly after giving a speech calling for democracy.” , I was harassed many times.”
In an interview with the FBI, Jianwang said he was part of a group on the social media application WeChat and was moderated by an official from China’s Ministry of Public Security who was the head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Bureau.
Titled the Fuzhou Overseas Chinese Service Group, the group had about 65 members and included other Fuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau officials, the FBI claims. Jianwang was also in his second WeChat group called “First Batch of Overseas Service Centers”.
According to the FBI, around the time Safeguard Defenders released a report identifying police stations around the world, Chinese officials used WeChat groups to urge Jianwang and Chen to “suspend operations” to police departments in New York. was notified.
