Chinese businessman with Tory links hosts a 'secret police station' at his London business address: Report

A Times report alleges that a Chinese businessman who is linked to a “secret police station” in London organised fundraising dinners for the Tory party and has even been photographed with party leaders. The Chinese man in question is Ruiyou Lin and he runs a takeaway food platform in Croydon, whose office address hosts an alleged overseas Chinese police station. The Times reported that Lin has attended Chinese Communist Party (CCP) political conferences in China. He has also held positions in several organisations in Britain that have links to the party department responsible for overseeing the United Front strategy of using Chinese nationals living abroad to push its interests.

The address is on a list of “overseas service stations for police and overseas Chinese affairs” that the public security bureau from the Chinese city of Fuzhou in has set up. These stations claim to help Chinese nationals living overseas with administrative tasks. However, there are indications that they also do the job of coercing Chinese migrants to return to China to face criminal charges.

Lin has served as vice-chairman of a constituency Chinese group, has contacts in the Conservative Party and met former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May. However, he denies that he works for China, saying that he is not interested in politics and is only on the lookout for potential investors when he attends events.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Also Read |Two arrested after FBI discloses China's secret 'police stations' in New York

Lin came to the UK in 2000 and opened a restaurant in 2003. He runs a wider business now and set up All Eat in 2017. He insists that the police station using his office address helps people renew their Chinese driving licence. He says that the station is “neither secret nor involved in any police business”. He says he doesn't work for the Chinese police and had instead volunteered for it. Lin insists he has never held any public office in China and wasn't connected to the Chinese state.

Chinese police stations across the world are becoming a cause of concern for the West as it fears Beijing is trying to influence domestic politics in other countries. On Monday, two men were arrested in New York for allegedly operating a secret police station in Manhattan.

In Britain, Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5, has also warned that China is attempting to influence politics in the country and is willing to wait to "manipulate opinion" in favour of China. Beijing has reportedly been using trying to intimidate members of the Chinese diaspora to push forward its agenda.

MI5, last year, issued a public “interference alert” and warned that lawyer and alleged Chinese government agent Christine Lee had infiltrated parliament.

Laura Harth of Safeguard Defenders, a Spanish NGO, says Lin had “clear and demonstrable ties to the CCP apparatus”. She worked to push ahead the agenda of “telling China’s story well according to his own statements”.

Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP and chairwoman of the foreign affairs committee, told Times that it is the duty of Britain to protect the Chinese diaspora. “Reports from the US and worldwide make clear that the ‘services’ provided by China’s overseas police stations are far from mundane. We have a duty to protect the Chinese diaspora and refugees of the Chinese Communist Party from harassment and transnational oppression."

Safeguard Defenders says there are more than 100 alleged police stations abroad established by four different Chinese provinces.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.