• jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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      1 hour ago

      In Montreal, not New York City, or France:

      https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/two-arrested-operating-illegal-overseas-police-station-chinese-government

      As alleged in the complaint, Lu and Chen are charged with conspiring to act as agents of the PRC government as well as obstructing justice by destroying evidence of their communications with an MPS official. The defendants worked together to establish the first overseas police station in the United States on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the MPS. The police station – which closed in the fall of 2022 after those operating it became aware of the FBI’s investigation – occupied a floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown. While acting under the direction and control of an MPS Official, Lu and Chen helped open and operate the clandestine police station. None of the participants in the scheme informed the U.S. government that they were helping the PRC government surreptitiously open and operate an illegal MPS police station on U.S. soil.

      “The PRC, through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The PRC’s actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression.”

      https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/06/18/france-shuts-down-clandestine-chinese-police-stations-operating-on-its-territory_6754608_7.html

      “Since early 2026, French counterintelligence services have dismantled nine clandestine structures operating in France under the direction of China’s Ministry of Public Security. The sites were notably used to track down dissidents.”