Monday, April 17, 2023
Intimidation of dissidents? FBI arrests fake Chinese police officers in New York
A New York Police Department car is parked in Chinatown.
(Photo: Portal)
The FBI takes action against an illegal police station in the Chinatown district of New York, two people are arrested. They say they worked for the Chinese government and destroyed evidence. It is said that there are numerous “police stations” all over the world.
US authorities have arrested two men who allegedly set up a secret police station in New York for China. Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, were in charge of the “illegal overseas police squad” of China’s Ministry of Public Security branch in Fuzhou province, the US Department of Justice said. The aim was to “monitor and intimidate” Chinese dissidents and government critics in New York.
According to the US judiciary, this police station was located in a commercial building in the Chinatown district of New York. The police center opened in early 2022 as the first clandestine facility of its kind in China in the United States. It was closed in the autumn of the same year, when those responsible realized that the United States Federal Police, the FBI, had become aware of its activities.
The two arrested are accused of conspiring to act as agents for China, the US Department of Justice said. He carries a prison sentence of up to five years. The two men are also accused of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying evidence of their communication with an official at China’s Ministry of Public Security. Up to 20 years in prison in the US.
More than 50 China’s “police centers” around the world
The Spanish-based non-governmental organization Safeguard Defenders said last September that China operates 54 “police centers” around the world. Critics fear that China is using the centers to crack down on dissent. Beijing, on the other hand, says the facilities provide services for overseas Chinese, such as driver license renewals. Western countries have long accused China of taking action against government critics not just at home but abroad.
In addition to the two arrests in New York, the US Department of Justice also announced indictments against 40 officials from China’s Ministry of Public Security and four other suspects. They are said to have been involved in Beijing’s efforts to intimidate Chinese living abroad.
One case involves thousands of fake user accounts on online platforms that were used to intimidate and threaten Chinese government critics and democracy activists. In another case, the case has dragged on for years against an employee of the video conferencing platform Zoom, who allegedly disrupted online meetings of critics of the Chinese government. Almost all of the 44 accused are believed to be in China.
Source: ntv.de, as/dpa
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