France and Germany, which are among dozens of countries believed to host a network of alleged foreign stations used through Chinese security forces to monitor and harass dissidents, are investigating operations on their own soil similar to the problem.
Such sites, as Newsweek reported in December, appear to exist in the U. S. It has been used in the U. S. and in more than 50 countries around the world. They have attracted increased attention since the FBI arrested two Chinese nationals accused of running an “illegal police station” on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security in Manhattan on Monday.
As for his own country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in comments shared with Newsweek that “France will under no circumstances tolerate attacks on its sovereignty. “
“It intends to vigorously fight foreign influences on its territory and will allow foreign regulations offering admission to those citizens to undermine our intelligent relations with certain nations,” he added, “whether it is China or any other country. “
Darmanin also said France’s Directorate General of Internal Security Forces (DGSI) “pays attention to the revelations” made through Spanish NGO Safeguard Defenders, which reported on two service centers run by China’s public security bureaus in Wenzhou and Qingtian and two contact problems. through the Fuzhou public security bureau in Paris.
He said that the DGSI “worked on this factor prior to the publication of these revelations” and that it had “asked the DGSI to intensify its intelligence investigation. “
“More than 4 years ago, in front of all the countries that have incredibly competitive counter-influence operations in France, President [Emmanuel] Macron asked for the DGSI to get more support,” Darmanin said.
“Let me assure you that France will never tolerate this kind of behavior,” he added. “As for the 4 police stations in France discussed through the NGO, they have not yet been confirmed. “
Germany has also been investigating possible sites connected to Chinese surveillance and surveillance since at least October last year. Reports from Safeguard Defenders and Newsweek know about a possible service center through the Qingtian Public Security Bureau in Frankfurt.
A spokesperson for Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI) told Newsweek that the company “assumes, based on previous findings, that so-called ‘overseas Chinese police stations’ in Germany tend to be organized non-publicly. “and that no permanent office has been established.
“The Chinese embassy asked without delay to stop its activities outside the Vienna conventions on diplomatic and consular relations and to close the existing ‘overseas Chinese police stations’ in Germany,” the spokesman said. “There is an exchange with the Chinese embassy about this. “
“The federal security government continues to monitor the matter and any indications of so-called ‘overseas Chinese police stations,'” the government spokesman added.
In reaction to Newsweek’s questions on Tuesday, the spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the U. S. U. S. Secretary of State Liu Pengyu denied the lifestyle of any government-run operation to persecute dissidents on foreign soil. a position for Chinese who want to access consultations and assistance,” he said. “The service staff is made up of friendly local people who serve as volunteers. “
“There is no employment or partnership with any Chinese government enterprise (including subnational governments and public security agencies),” Liu said, “and those sites are also legal or delegated to provide the service. “
Such service, he said, “is a non-unusual practice identified and followed in countries around the world. “
“During the COVID pandemic, Chinese people have submitted online programs for purposes such as driver’s license renewal to the corresponding public security agencies in China,” Liu added. any violation of the judicial sovereignty of the host country”.
France and Germany have had complex relations with China, while relations between Beijing and Washington have deteriorated considerably in recent years. Both European nations have expressed distrust of Beijing’s prominence as well as its human rights record. At the same time, they are under presión. la importance of maintaining strong industrial ties with the world’s second-largest economy.
Alongside a European Union delegation led by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Macron traveled to China earlier this month to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. After the trip, the French president suggested Europe pursue a policy of “strategic autonomy. “Neither in Beijing nor in Washington, a call that European Council President Charles Michel later said would resonate on the continent.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also met Xi on a stopover in Beijing in November, marking the first holiday through a Group of Seven (G7) leader in the country in three years. The Chinese counterparts, Foreign Minister Qin Gang and the director of the Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission, Wang Yi, in Beijing.
In addition to France and Germany, other countries are investigating the presence of illicit activities by Chinese police in their countries, joining Canada, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea.
Speaking to Newsweek a day after the arrests in New York, a senior official in the U. S. president’s management said he was a senior official in the U. S. president’s office. U. S. Joe Biden said that “the U. S. government. The U. S. Department of Defense has made clear that we will use all available equipment to protect U. S. citizens and other U. S. persons from transnational risks. “Repression and other bureaucracy of malign foreign influence. “
“We will tolerate the government of the People’s Republic of China, or any other foreign government, harassing or threatening American citizens,” the official said.