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A United States (US) jury has convicted a man for operating a secret “police station” in New York to monitor US-based dissidents.
The Justice Department, in a statement, disclosed that the 64-year-old man, “Harry” Lu Jianwang, faces up to 30 years in prison for acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government in running the “overseas police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
Lu and another man, Chen Jinping, were arrested in April 2023 and accused of operating a secret police station in an office building on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
Canada and several European governments have cracked down on similar “police stations,” whose existence was first revealed by Spain-based rights group Safeguard Defenders.
The secret police operators often run the clandestine operation with little or no indication they are there, though US officials said the Manhattan office had been visited by officials from the Chinese consulate in New York.
Safeguard Defenders revealed that the stations have been involved in pressuring Chinese nationals to return home to face criminal charges.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr said Lu Jianwang used a police station in New York City to target PRC (People’s Republic of China) dissidents in furtherance of the Chinese government’s political agenda.
AFP reported that FBI agents first searched the outpost in October 2022 and found a blue banner reading “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station, New York, USA,” referring to a city in southeastern China.
“The New York police station was part of a global initiative by the MPS (Ministry of Public Security) to establish overseas police service stations all over the world,” the Justice Department said.
“Lu was tasked by his MPS handler with collecting information on behalf of the Chinese government, such as locating a pro-democracy advocate who had fled from China and moved to the US,” it added.
Beijing said in December last year that there was no “so-called police station.”
“China is a country governed by the rule of law and has always strictly abided by international law and respected all countries’ judicial sovereignty,” said foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian when asked about the case at a regular news conference.
Lu’s co-defendant Chen Jinping is awaiting sentencing.
