Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, ran the “illegal overseas police station” for the Chinese Ministry of Public Security branch in Fuzhou province, the US Justice Department said on Monday. The aim was to “monitor and intimidate” Chinese dissidents and government critics in New York.
According to the US judiciary, this police station was based in an office building in New York’s Chinatown district. The police center was opened in early 2022 as China’s first clandestine facility of its kind in the United States. It was closed in the fall of the same year when those responsible realized that the US Federal Police, the FBI, had become aware of their activities.
Imprisonment of up to five years possible
The two arrested are accused of conspiring to act as agents of China, the US Department of Justice said. It carries a prison sentence of up to five years. The two men are also charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying evidence of their communication with an official from China’s Ministry of Public Security. Up to 20 years in prison in the USA.
The Spain-based non-governmental organization Safeguard Defenders said last September that China operates 54 “police centers” around the world. Critics fear that China is using the centers to crack down on dissidents. Beijing, on the other hand, says the facilities offer services for Chinese abroad, such as driver’s license renewals. Western countries have long accused China of taking action against government critics not only at home but also abroad.
Charges against 40 Chinese ministry officials
The US Department of Justice on Monday announced indictments against 40 officials from China’s Ministry of Public Security and four other suspects, in addition to the two arrests in New York. They are said to have been involved in Beijing’s efforts to intimidate Chinese living abroad.
One case involves thousands of fake user accounts on online platforms that were used to bully and threaten Chinese government critics and democracy activists. In another case, the case has been going on for years against an employee of the video conference platform Zoom, who is said to have disrupted online meetings of Chinese government critics. Almost all of the 44 accused are believed to be in China.
