Explainer | What are China’s ‘secret police stations’ and is their role exaggerated by foreign governments?
- German and Canadian ministers comment on Chinese operations in their countries but Beijing denies conducting extraterritorial law enforcement or overseas spying
- Analyst says focus on these overseas posts may be part of a trend to consider ‘everyone with perceived ties to China … as a potential agent of the CCP’
On May 15, Germany’s foreign ministry said it believed China had continued to operate the “illegal overseas police stations”, despite earlier promises from Beijing it would close what it called “service stations”.
A day earlier, Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said there could be more “secret police stations” operating across the country, months after investigations were launched into two centres in Montreal.
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Beijing categorically denies the stations are used for extraterritorial law enforcement or overseas spying, and some analysts say the role of these stations could be exaggerated.
What are the allegations?
The outposts, which have allegedly been operating as far back as 2016, were established by regional police bureaus from cities in southeastern China, such as Fuzhou, Nantong, Wenzhou and Qingtian.