Republicans demand answers from Biden govt on report of Chinese police presence in NY

In a letter to US President Joe Biden's Cabinet Secretaries Antony Blinken and Merrick Garland, a number of Republican House lawmakers demanded information on a reported Chinese police presence in New York City. According to the Fox News report, Representatives Michael Waltz of Florida and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin along with Republican Study Committee chairman Jim Banks of Indiana led the letter to Garland and Blinken asking for explanations on how China's Fuzhou police were allegedly able to open a police division in the United States. 

Banks said in a statement to Fox News Digital that "the Department of Justice and State Department must explain why the Biden administration has allowed CCP (Chinese Communist Party) police to set up an office on US soil." He continued, “When Republicans take back the House, we will hold the Biden administration accountable for their continued efforts to aid and abet the Chinese Communist Party," Fox News reported.  

Republicans' opinion on Chinese police presence in New York

The Chinese Communist Party, according to a statement by Gallagher, has employed Fuzhou foreign police service stations to spread propaganda and spy on Chinese citizens abroad. The Wisconsin Republican went on to say that the installation of one of these units in New York City "raises serious human rights concerns" as well as questions about "whether the United States is allowing a hostile foreign adversary to conduct its own law enforcement activities within our borders." 

It is "mind-boggling that we are allowing China’s Fuzhou police to operate on American soil", Waltz also told Fox News Digital. 

According to reports that surfaced last month, China has established a dozen of "overseas police service stations" throughout the world to keep tabs on its nationals who were living abroad, including three in Toronto and one in New York City, New York Post reported. 

The New York Post further quoted Safeguard Defenders as saying that these operations "eschew official bilateral police and judicial cooperation", breach the global rule of law, and may breach the territorial integrity in third countries that are setting up a parallel policing process using illegal methods. 

The Chinese government has established multiple illegal police stations throughout the world, including in affluent nations like Canada and Ireland, in its drive to become a worldwide powerhouse, raising worries among human rights activists, ANI reported. 

According to Investigative Journalism Reportika, citing local media, such unofficial police service stations connected to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) across Canada have been formed to enrage China's rivals. Local media reports claimed that Fuzhou has set up unofficial police service stations across Canada that are connected to the Public Security Bureau (PSB). Only the Greater Toronto Area is home to at least three of these stations. Investigative Journalism Reportika also claimed that the Chinese government uses these illegal police stations to sway elections in other nations.  

(Image: AP)