The Chinese government has been accused of establishing at least two undeclared “police stations” in the Netherlands and other European countries.
Dutch media found evidence that the “overseas service stations”, which promise to provide diplomatic services, are being used to try to silence Chinese dissidents in Europe.
A spokeswoman for the Dutch foreign ministry said the existence of the unofficial police outposts was illegal. The Chinese foreign ministry has rejected the Dutch allegations.
The investigation was sparked by a report entitled Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild, by the Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders.
According to the organisation, the public security bureaus from two Chinese provinces had established 54 “overseas police service centres” across five continents and 21 countries. Most of them are in Europe, including nine in Spain and four in Italy. In the UK, it found two in London and one in Glasgow.
The units were ostensibly created to tackle transnational crime and conduct administrative duties, such as the renewal of Chinese drivers’ licences. But, according to Safeguard Defenders, in reality they carry out “persuasion operations”, aimed at coercing those suspected of speaking out against the Chinese regime to return home.
RTL News and the investigative journalism platform Follow the Money shared the story of Wang Jingyu, a Chinese dissident who said he was being pursued by Chinese police in the Netherlands.
Speaking in English, Wang told Dutch journalists he received a phone call earlier this year from someone claiming to be from one such station. During the conversation, he said he was urged to return to China to “sort out my problems. And to think about my parents”.
Since then, he described a systematic campaign of harassment and intimidation, which he believes is being orchestrated by Chinese government agents.
In response to the revelations, the Chinese embassy told RTL News it was not aware of the existence of such police stations.
Dutch foreign ministry spokeswoman Maxime Hovenkamp told the BBC: “The Dutch government wasn’t made aware of these operations through the diplomatic channels with the Chinese government. That is illegal.” BBC
