The Biden administration must act on reports that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently opened a police station in New York City, said U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) and 20 of her GOP colleagues.
“We are writing to express our grave concern over reports of the law enforcement presence of the People’s Republic of China in New York City,” Rep. Hinson and the lawmakers wrote in an Oct. 7 letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. “There should be no room for the Chinese government to exercise extraterritorial law enforcement unilaterally on U.S. soil.”
According to their letter, the Public Security Bureau of Fuzhou, China, announced in January that it had opened the “first batch” of 30 overseas police service stations in 25 cities in 21 countries. In the United States, the Fuzhou police’s overseas service station is hosted at the American Changle Association, an overseas Chinese hometown organization in New York City.
Rep. Hinson and her colleagues pointed to a recent report by Safeguard Defenders, a Spain-based human rights NGO, that says overseas Chinese hometown associations have become overwhelmingly co-opted by the CCP’s United Front organizations, which seek increasing control over the Chinese diaspora.
“The report indicates that at least some of those Chinese hometown associations hosting the overseas police service stations are linked to the CCP’s United Front,” they wrote. “It is deeply troubling that the Chinese government could use these service stations as its long arm policing abroad.”
And while claiming to provide Fuzhou residents abroad with certain administrative or consular services in the U.S., the Fuzhou overseas police service stations are reportedly involved in fulfilling Chinese law enforcement functions at least in some countries, wrote the lawmakers.
“They coerce purported Chinese fugitives abroad to return to China to face legal proceedings, which is euphemistically dubbed as “persuading to return” in Chinese parlance,” Rep. Hinson and her colleagues wrote. “By doing so, China avoids scrutiny on its human rights record in relation to repatriating alleged fugitives overseas by eschewing formal international cooperation mechanisms.”
To “safeguard the liberty of U.S. persons and the sovereignty of the United States from foreign encroachment,” the members asked Blinken and Garland to respond to several questions by Oct. 21, including if any federal government agency invited or approved China’s Fuzhou police to establish a presence in New York City; if any other Chinese law enforcement presence exists in the U.S.; and if the Biden administration has rescinded the visa restrictions imposed by the previous administration on Chinese nationals engaged in United Front work activities.
Among the members who joined Rep. Hinson in signing the letter were U.S. Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), and Troy Balderson (R-OH).