NEW YORK: United States federal agents arrested two New York City residents for allegedly operating a Chinese “secret police station” in the Chinatown district of Manhattan on Monday, which prosecutors said was part of the crackdown on Beijing’s alleged targeting of dissidents.
Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping face charges of conspiring to act as agents of the government of China without informing the United States authorities and obstruction of justice. They’re released on bond following an initial appearance in Brooklyn federal court.
An investigation published in 2022 by Spain-based advocacy group Safeguard Defenders reported that China had set up overseas “service stations,” including New York, that illegally worked with Chinese police to pressure fugitives to return to China.
The government of China has said there’re centres outside China run by local volunteers, not Chinese police officers, that goal to help Chinese citizens renew documents and offer other services.
Political opponents living in US
The Justice Department has been ramping up probes into “transnational repression” by United States adversaries such as Iran and China to intimidate political opponents living in the United States.
The federal prosecutor in Brooklyn said, “We can’t and will not tolerate the government of China’s persecution of pro-democracy activists who sought refuge in this country,” Breon Peace.
Prosecutors unveiled charges against 34 Chinese officials for allegedly operating the “troll farm” and harassing dissidents online, including by disrupting their meetings on United States technology platforms.
They added eight Chinese government officials as defendants in the case announced in 2020, charging an ex-China-based executive of Zoom Video Communications Inc with disrupting video meetings commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
