In the US as well as other countries throughout the world, the Chinese government has a sizable intelligence network. Media outlets revealed in October 2022 that there was a purported Chinese police station operating in New York City under the auspices of a non-profit that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had banned.
The lower Manhattan police station was one of more than 100 similar establishments worldwide, according to the New York Post at the time.
Arrests connected to the undercover station were recently revealed by the Department of Justice.
The complaint accusing two defendants of allegedly running the police station in lower Manhattan was unsealed in federal court, according to the Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, which made the announcement on Monday, April 17. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security reportedly requested the station’s creation.
The defendants, “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, were taken into custody by law authorities that morning at their residences. Ramon E. Reyes Jr., a US Magistrate Judge, heard their initial appearances. They are accused of impeding justice by destroying evidence, according to the accusation made against them. Text communications between them and their MPS handlers were used as proof, according to The New York Times. Additionally, they are accused of planning to work as agents for the People’s Republic of China.
After the FBI learnt about it last autumn, the police station was closed. The fact that the MPS got away with “establishing a secret, illegal police station” on American soil was described as “simply outrageous” by Kurt Ronnow, the acting assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division.
Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, charged that China had flagrantly violated our country’s sovereignty. He continued by saying that everyone engaged was carrying out Beijing’s instructions. They allegedly attempted to impede the investigation by deleting their communications while assisting the Chinese government in finding dissidents in America.
The secret Chinese police station in Manhattan, according to Peace, has “no place here in New York City — or any American community.”
In two further incidents, US authorities accuse 34 Chinese police officers of harassing Chinese citizens who were residing in New York City. Eight further Chinese officials are charged with ordering a Zoom employee there to remove dissidents off the site.
Other officials have urged the Chinese government to stop similar operations, including those in Canada.
