Law enforcement officials from federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the state of New York, announced the arrest of two individuals accused of establishing and operating an illegal Chinese regime police station in New York City. These were the first arrests made in the United States for these crimes.
Also facing charges of engaging in “transnational repression” against anti-communist dissidents based in the United States, are dozens of others, mostly Chinese nationals currently believed to be in China. These charges stem from accusations that these individuals, established an online army of fake social media accounts to harass and threaten the dissidents.
The DOJ, regarding 40 people identified as Chinese national police officers, in a separate series of law enforcement actions, have been charged with engaging in social media campaigns to “harass PRC dissidents” and intimidate an unnamed American “telecommunications company” into barring dissidents from holding meetings to discuss human rights topics online.
“The complaint alleges how members of the Group created thousands of fake online personas on social media sites, including Twitter, to target Chinese dissidents through online harassment and threats,”
-DOJ Details of Alleged Charges
In September, as revealed by the NGO Safeguard Defenders, China has established dozens of illegal police stations around the world in America, Japan, Brazil, Canada, and Spain, among other locations. According to a September 22, report by Breitbart News-
“Among the cities boasting a “service station” are Dublin, Ireland; Prague, Czech Republic; Budapest, Hungary; Paris, France; Madrid, Spain; London, England; New York, America; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Toronto, Canada; Tokyo, Japan; and two cities in Nigeria and Tanzania”.
- September 2022 Report, Breitbart News
China’s arm’s reach is clearly global. These police “stations”, reportedly are used to intimidate and silence dissidents. They are also used to threaten Chinese nationals, considered to dissent from Communist Party orthodoxy, to return to China and face the brutal repressive consequences there.
Currently engaging in ethnic cleansing, genocide and persecution of the Turkic people of East Turkistan, Tibetans and Mongolians, China’s human rights violations are staggering. China is a repressive - totalitarian communist state.
That they have blatantly set up shop here in the U.S. is shocking and reprehensible! It is like finding the fox literally in the hen house, licking his chops.
In addition to persecuting individuals who do not conform to the dominant Han ethnic group, people of faith face extreme violence and oppression in the country. This is demonstrated by the CCP bulldozing churches, killing Falun Gong practitioners to sell their organs, and according to new research by a Uyghur rights group, “China has imprisoned or detained at least 630 imams and other Muslim religious figures, since 2014 in its crackdown in the Xinjiang region”.
According to the DOJ charges, China is attempting to export its human rights violations around the world. During a press conference on Monday, Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, accused China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), which runs the Communist Party’s law enforcement operations, of-
“repeatedly and flagrantly violat[ing] our nation’s sovereignty by opening and operating a police station in the middle of New York City”
-Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
Authorities identified the two men in custody as “Harry” Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping of the Bronx and Manhattan.
Allegedly having established the illegal police station, using it in an attempt to terrorize critics of the Communist Party in America, the men are facing charges of conspiring to act as agents of the Chinese government, a charge that carries a maximum of five years in prison. Further, they are charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly deleting mobile phone conversations, with an unnamed Chinese government official, a charge that could result in up to 20 years in prison.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said –
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China], through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government,”…. “The PRC’s actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression.”
-Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General, Justice Department’s National Security Division
As Peace, the U.S. attorney, said in the press release –
“This prosecution reveals the Chinese government’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City,”…. “As alleged, the defendants and their co-conspirators were tasked with doing the PRC’s bidding, including helping locate a Chinese dissident living in the United States, and obstructed our investigation by deleting their communications. Such a police station has no place here in New York City – or any American community.” AND
“As alleged, the PRC government deploys its national police… as a troll farm that attacks persons in our country for exercising free speech in a manner that the PRC government finds disagreeable, and also spreads propaganda whose sole purpose is to sow divisions within the United States,”
Targeted for the creation of an illegal “police station” and other illicit activities, New York appears to have been chosen due to both the presence of a Chinese consulate there and a large population of dissidents. New York is apparently home to a significant Cantonese-speaking population from Hong Kong, to sizable community of Tibetans and home to a massive protest movement the Communist Party crushed during the coronavirus pandemic.
In October, in their clearly weak response, when this situation came to light, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin claimed-
“Due to [coronavirus], a large number of overseas Chinese nationals have been unable to return to China in time for services such as renewing their driving license. As a solution to these difficulties, relevant sub-national authorities have opened up an online licensing platform,”
-Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Sure why not blame everything on COVID-19? The list includes: invasion of American cities by the CCP, violation of U.S. National Airspace, telecommunications spying, purchasing influence into our schools of higher education - our political elite and economic base, stealing trade secrets, and the list goes on and on. China is an insidious cancer we seemingly allow to grow for monetary gain? At what cost?
America needs to break free of the tentacles of China, before it strangulates our very democratic republic. So many are their violations of our nation’s laws, space and sovereignty that it seems sadly commonplace. America needs to not be so inwardly distracted, that we are increasing and outwardly vulnerable. America’s very borders have been breached, how long will this be allowed to go on? China is our enemy – nothing else. They are well studied in America, it shows.
From their own-
"Know thy enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle."
-Chinese General Sun Tzu