Photo/Illutration A six-story glass facade building, second from left, is believed to be the site of a foreign police outpost for China in New York’s Chinatown district on April 17. (AP Photo)

The notion that a country would have the temerity to set up covert police stations overseas, where it has no sovereignty, is truly shocking.

But that outrageous accusation has been leveled at China. The veracity of the allegation is still under investigation.

What is clear is that the Xi Jinping administration is continuing to crack down on Chinese citizens living abroad, in an overt display of its disregard for human rights. This must not be allowed to go on.

According to a report last year by Safeguard Defenders, a human rights NGO based in Europe, Chinese local police forces were involved in setting up 102 “overseas police stations” in more than 50 nations, including Japan.

The police are suspected of contacting Chinese nationals living abroad and exerting pressure on some to return home to face criminal charges.

Last week, the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested two suspects for allegedly running a covert Chinese police station in Manhattan and monitoring and threatening dissidents.

If the charges prove true, it was an unforgivable violation of U.S. sovereignty and a possible breach of the U.N. Human Rights Covenant that guarantees the freedom of movement and residence.

China’s foreign ministry has flatly denied the existence of “covert police stations” overseas, stating that facilities exist simply to provide administrative services to Chinese nationals, such as renewing driver’s licenses.

However, it is a widely known fact that Chinese expat communities around the world are closely monitored in all sorts of ways. There have been cases of Chinese law enforcement authorities contacting students critical of Beijing, or their families back home being warned by police.

We are reminded of the 2015 disappearances of staff members of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, an incident that sent shockwaves around the world. Chinese Public Security Bureau officials entered Hong Kong in violation of the latter’s jurisdiction and abducted five employees of the bookstore for publishing and selling books on scandals in which members of Beijing’s top leadership were involved.

The suppression of human rights at home and the monitoring of Chinese expats have intensified since the Xi administration came into power in 2012. And now, the domestic crackdown on human rights is “spilling” over to other countries. Under the Chinese Communist Party’s single-party rule, we sadly cannot say the leadership acts with restraint or that human rights are fully protected.

And that is precisely why it is all the more important for every nation to object to what China is doing and take action. We understand that moves are now afoot, following the Safeguard Defenders report, to order the closure of covert police stations and pursue aggressive investigations. Perhaps, the report had a certain degree of “restraining power” over the Xi regime.

There is a universality to all issues related to human rights. Beijing must understand that its usual excuse--“each nation has its own way of doing things”--does not apply here.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 26

Related News