In an office park a few miles away, a travel agent sorts passports, arranges visas and books tickets for her Chinese clientele. And on a quiet street in a nearby suburb, one resident is frustrated that he and his family have become embroiled in an international row over an alleged network of secret Chinese police stations. “I don’t know what that is,” said the man. “There is some kind of mistake. We have nothing to do with it. I am looking. This is just a house.” All three addresses have been linked to an alleged network of unsanctioned and illegal Chinese “police stations” around the world, used to pressure exiles and expatriates. The allegations follow a series of cases around the world in which China has been accused of overstepping diplomatic and legal rules to prosecute its citizens far beyond its borders. In a report released last month, Madrid-based NGO Safeguard Defenders listed 54 alleged Chinese police stations around the world, prompting authorities in a number of countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, to launch police investigations. . One of three noted locations of foreign police stations in the greater Toronto area, a convenience store. Photo: Cole Burston/AP “It’s crazy how brazen they’ve become with these businesses,” said Laura Harth of Safeguard Defenders. “The message from the Foreign Office – that you are not safe anywhere, that we can find you and that we can contact you – is very effective. The operations are linked to police in Fuzhou, a city in China’s Fujian province, Harth said, and have been set up in close cooperation with the United Front Work Department, an organization in Beijing that monitors and attempts to influence Chinese nationals abroad. In most countries the “stations” are made up of people with ties to China’s security service or intelligence network. Ireland is so far the only country where the police station is explicitly advertised as such. “In most cases, it seems to fly under the radar, which obviously makes sense given the activities they’re involved in,” Harth said. The alleged goal of the stations is to force citizens to return home to face China’s judicial system. In June, China’s Vice Minister of Public Security, Du Hangwei, said that in the past year the government had “persuaded” 210,000 people to return to face telecom fraud charges. Newly unsealed documents from a New York court provide a glimpse into the extent to which China has allegedly engaged in a campaign of foreign interference. In one case, a Chinese citizen living in Canada was forced to return to China to face charges of embezzling nearly C$380,000 (US$280,000) in public funds. In the court filing, the US claims the pressure campaign is related to China’s Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection and Operation Fox Hunt, a widespread campaign against members of the diaspora that has been used to target corruption and dissent. The allegations – and a recent incident in which a diplomat attacked protesters outside the Chinese consulate in the British city of Manchester – further highlight the escalating tactics the Chinese government is using against the pro-democracy movement abroad. China’s embassy in Canada denied the locations were staffed by police but confirmed the addresses, describing them as “service stations” where expats can renew their driver’s licenses and access other services. “For services such as driver’s license renewal, it is necessary to have sight, hearing and physical examination. The overseas station’s main purpose is to provide free assistance to overseas Chinese citizens in this matter,” the embassy said in a statement, adding that the staff at the stations are volunteers and “are not involved in any criminal investigation or related activity.” But no one at the three known Toronto addresses said they knew about the “service stations.” The tour operator rents space in two units occupied by the Canada Toronto Fuqing Business Association, which also denied knowledge of the police stations. The allegation that Chinese police officers are operating on Canadian soil is likely to heighten tensions between Ottawa and Beijing, a year after the two nations ended their standoff following the arrests of Huawei executive Meng Wenzhou in Canada and Canadian businessmen Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in China. It is an outrageous and brazen invasion of Canadian sovereignty Canadian MP Michael Chong “It’s an outrageous and brazen invasion of Canadian sovereignty — especially since Beijing has admitted these stations exist and confirmed their locations,” said Michael Chong, a Conservative lawmaker and foreign affairs critic. “And the establishment of these illegal police stations is symptomatic of a much deeper problem.” The Chinese government has been interfering in democracies for years, he said, pointing to allegations of election interference in Canada’s most recent federal election, as well as cases where Uyghurs, Tibetan students and Hong Kong democracy activists faced harassment. Chong, who is banned from visiting China because of his outspoken criticism of Beijing, said Canada’s federal government should “move the ambassador [Cong Peiwu] for defiance’ – or a formal diplomatic reprimand – and demand an explanation for the ‘violation of international law’. Chong called on the government to review the accreditation of all Chinese diplomats in the country to ensure they are not involved in the operation, as well as the immigration status of anyone working in the offices involved in “intimidation operations”. “Beijing does not believe that democracies are capable of standing up to Beijing’s authorities on their own soil. And that has to end,” Chong said. The federal government has not publicly commented on the police departments and the RCMP has said little, only confirming the existence of an investigation. But for dissidents, the revelations only confirm their perception that China is becoming increasingly brazen. The interior of one of the buildings reported to be linked to a network of secret Chinese police stations in Toronto. Photo: Leyland Cecco Cheuk Kwan of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China said the alleged police stations signal an escalation in Beijing’s tactics. “There have been phone calls in the middle of the night that family members won’t get a job if you don’t cooperate with the government, or that your parents’ phone number will be posted online and they’ll be harassed. Or with the Uyghurs, that the rest of your family will go into camps,” he said. “[But] the physicality of this – that there are actual locations – is troubling. This is just a visible kind of milestone for the coercion, the harassment, that has been around for a long time.” RCMP say they have advised residents to contact police if they experience harassment from a foreign government. But Cheuk said he and others have repeatedly asked federal police to intervene in cases of harassment and bullying only to be told the issues are better handled by local police or even police in China. “They were just telling us it was a family dispute or something that didn’t deserve an investigation,” he said. “And that’s the most insidious part of it, the naivety [of the federal police] – by those who didn’t take it seriously for so long.”
