US-China relations: China calls US accusations of secret Chinese police stations ‘groundless’

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin says 'there is no such thing as an overseas police station'. Photo / AP

China has denied all accusations of an overseas police presence, saying on Tuesday that the United States was making “groundless accusations” after US law enforcement arrested two men in New York for establishing a secret police station.

“The relevant claims have no factual basis, and there is no such thing as an overseas police station,” spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday.

US authorities arrested two men, identified as “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, both US citizens, on Monday morning. Under the direction of an official in China, the two men allegedly set up a station where they offered some basic services, such as helping Chinese citizens renew their Chinese driver’s licenses.

The station, however, also took on roles beyond ordinary bureaucracy, including locating Chinese dissidents living in the US, officials said.

The US Justice Department also charged 34 officers in the Ministry of Public Security on Monday with creating and using thousands of fake social media accounts on Twitter and other platforms to harass dissidents abroad.

Wang said China does not interfere in other countries’ sovereignty.

China has shown that it is willing to target its own citizens even after they have left China for various reasons, whether political or economic. The Associated Press has previously reported that a Chinese woman was detained in Dubai at a Chinese-run detention facility.

In recent years, Beijing has been running two separate campaigns to bring suspects wanted mostly for economic crimes back to China as part of an anti-corruption drive. It has begun flexing its muscles abroad to bring people back home, whether through the use of extradition treaties or unofficial methods, such as putting coercive pressure on relatives back home in China.

“China firmly opposes the smear and political manipulation by the US, who maliciously fabricated the narrative of so-called cross-border suppression and blatantly prosecuted Chinese law enforcement officials,” Wang said.