RCMP are investigating reports of criminal activity linked to so-called foreign ‘police’ stations in Canada after a human rights group reports that China operates more than 50 such sites overseas, including three in the Greater Toronto Area.
RCMP are investigating reports of criminal activity linked to so-called foreign ‘police’ stations in Canada after a human rights group reports that China operates more than 50 such sites overseas, including three in the Greater Toronto Area.
Spanish group Safeguard Defenders released a report in September saying China has established at least 54 “overseas policing centers” around the world to carry out what it describes as police operations on the foreign soil.
The report claims the stations are being used to persuade people China claims are fugitives living overseas to return to China to face charges.
The RCMP said it is aware that foreign states may seek to intimidate or harm communities or individuals in Canada, and its investigation is ongoing.
“The RCMP takes threats to the safety of people living in Canada very seriously,” she wrote in a statement.
“It is important that all individuals and groups living in Canada, regardless of their nationality, know that there are support mechanisms in place to assist them when they experience potential foreign interference or harassment and state-sponsored intimidation.
The Safeguard Defenders report says that between April 2021 and July 2022, Chinese police persuaded 230,000 suspected fugitives to return to China.
He said tools for ‘persuasion’ operations included ‘denying children of the target in China the right to education, and other limitations placed on family members, punishing those who did not suspect any wrongdoing. reprehensible by guilt by association”.
The organization’s list of so-called Chinese police stations included two in Markham, Ontario. and one in the Scarborough area of Toronto.
Asked about the report, the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa pointed to a statement by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who said the sites are not “police stations” or “dealing centers.” police departments”, but rather places to help Chinese nationals access government services online. .
“They help overseas Chinese nationals who need help accessing the online service platform to renew their driver’s license and receive physical exams for this purpose,” Lijian said.
“Places are provided by local overseas Chinese communities who would like to be helpful.”
Lijian said people working at the sites are volunteers from local Chinese communities.
“They are not Chinese police,” Lijian said.
Karen Woods, co-founder of the Canadian Committee on Chinese Political Affairs, a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization based in the Greater Toronto Area, said she fears the locations will be used to pressure dissidents and persuade those who have had problems with the Chinese government to return to China.
“The Canadian government as well as our law enforcement and intelligence services need to be very careful about this,” she said.
Woods said sites should be shut down if found to be engaged in coercing or harassing dissidents, or persuading people to return to China.
“I’m very happy to see that the RCMP are currently investigating,” she said.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on November 3, 2022.
Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press
