Explained | How China targets dissidents in 53 countries with its overseas 'police stations'

The United States on Monday arrested two men of Chinese descent for allegedly setting up a Chinese 'police station' in New York city's ChinaTown. While these are first arrests of such kind anywhere in the world, the existence of such overseas policing operations by Beijing is known since September 2022.

China's overseas 'police stations': The '110 Overseas' operation

Chinese authorities claim that from April 2021 to July 2022, 230,000 nationals had been "persuaded to return" from abroad to face criminal proceedings in China. Beijing justifies this operation as part of a nationwide campaign to combat telecommunication frauds.

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Spain-based human rights organisation Safeguard Defenders, in its September 2022 report titled '110 Overseas, Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild', extensively delved on the matter.

So far, it is revealed that China established its first overseas Chinese police 'service station' in 2016, as part of '110 overseas', after the country's national emergency number akin to USA's 911, it said.

Across 53 countries, these 'service stations' act as de-facto policing operation centres meant to police the Chinese overseas deemed as targets by Beijing for a number of reasons. The most commonly used justification is combating online frauds and ensuring that fugitives in the concerned cases return to China. But often, the targets are Chinese dissidents who oppose Beijing's repression in regions of contested territorial ambitions, such as Xinjiang and Taiwan.

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Other than that, individuals who had fled religious or ethnic persecution, have been targeted by these police stations.

Openly labelled as overseas police service stations to accommodate the growing administrative needs of Chinese residents abroad – for example in renewing Chinese driver’s licences or passports remotely and other tasks typically considered of a consular nature – the "110 Overseas stations", both in their online and physical overseas form, also serve the so-called goal of "resolutely cracking down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving overseas Chinese."

China's overseas police stations: Where all do they exist?

According to Safeguard Defenders, Beijing operated at least 102 'Chinese Overseas Police Service Centres' in 53 countries around the world.

These countries are Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sudan, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia.

China's overseas 'police stations': The case ofLi Qingqing

A Safeguard Defenders report cites the story of a Chinese national in Cambodia, Li Qingqing (real name withheld).

In March 2022, Li was asked by an overseas police station in Cambodiato return to China.

She argued that she is not a suspect of any crime and is just doing business in Cambodia. The police told her that according to China’s policy, Chinese citizens staying in the nine fraud-related countries (Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines and Indonesia) are required to return unconditionally. After that, she continually received messages from the local police asking her to return.

On 5 May 2022, police informed her she had been put on the telecom suspect list and warned her that her mother’s house would be cut off from power and water supplies. Her mother’s house was later spray-painted with the words "House of Telecom Fraud" and a policy notice was posted next to the spray painting.

Her mother was then called to the village committee and asked to persuade her daughter to return by 31 May. Li’s current fate and whether she has or has not returned is unknown.

Chinese 'police stations' abroad: Tactics used

The Safeguard Defenders' report cites official statements that detail upon depriving the target person's children the right to education back in China, and actions against relatives and family members in a 'guilt by association' campaign. Following which, the target person abroad is forced to return to China.

Chinese authorities also track down the target's family in China in order to pressure them through means of intimidation, harassment, detention or imprisonment into persuading their family members to return "voluntarily".

China's overseas police stations: Isn't it a violation of international law?

China has established overseas police stations in lieu of providing 'consular services' to its citizens.

Some countries have explicitly agreed to their set-up and local law enforcement, as well as the Chinese embassies and/or consulates, closely cooperate with the stations in those locations.

In other countries, such as Italy, where such consent is absent, Chinese authorities, by virtue of existing bilateral policing cooperation mechanisms, furthers its policing goals overseas.

These operationsviolate the territorial integrity of third countries involved as China sets up a parallel policing mechanism using clandestine methods.

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