Man admits running secret Chinese ‘police station’ in New York

An American citizen has pleaded guilty to helping run what has been described as the first known secret police station in the United States on behalf of the Chinese government.

Prosecutors say Chen Jinping and his co-defendant Lu Jianwang opened and operated the station in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood in early 2022 on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

At least 100 such stations have been reported to exist in 53 countries around the world, and human rights groups accuse China of using the outposts to threaten and monitor Chinese citizens abroad.

But China has denied that they are police stations, saying they are “service stations” that provide administrative services to citizens abroad.

The outpost, which took up an entire floor above a ramen stand, provided basic services such as renewing driver’s licenses for Chinese citizens, but also helped Beijing identify pro-democracy activists living in the United States, police say. federal authorities.

Matthew Olsen, deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice, called the attempt to operate the undeclared police station overseas “a clear affront to American sovereignty and a danger to our community that will not be tolerated.”

The station was closed in fall 2022 after the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation.

But Chen and Lu destroyed text messages they exchanged with an MPS official when they learned of the investigation, prosecutors said.

The men, both U.S. citizens, were arrested in April last year.

On Wednesday, Chen, 60, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent for China and faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced next year.

Chen’s guilty plea is a “stark reminder of the insidious efforts made by the (Chinese) government to threaten, harass and intimidate those who speak out against its Communist Party,” said Robert Wells, deputy executive director of the Security Branch. FBI National in a statement.

Lu, 59, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. Prosecutors accused him of harassing a suspected Chinese fugitive into returning to China and helping locate a pro-democracy activist in California on behalf of the Communist Party.

At the time of Chen’s arrest, authorities said it was the first time the United States had brought criminal charges in connection with such police outposts.

Olsen said U.S. authorities “will continue to pursue anyone who attempts to assist the People’s Republic of China in its efforts to extend its repressive reach into the United States.”

In September, Linda Sun, a former aide in the New York governor’s office, was charged with use your position to serve the interests of the Chinese government. He was said to have received benefits in return, including travel.

Last year, 34 MPS officers were also accused of using fake social media accounts to harass Chinese dissidents in the United States and spread official Chinese government propaganda.