NewsUSAThe arrests of two Chinese nationals in an alleged secret "police station" in New York deepen the confrontation between Washington and Beijing

The arrests of two Chinese nationals in an alleged secret “police station” in New York deepen the confrontation between Washington and Beijing

(CNN) — “We do not need or want an undercover police station in our great city,” Breon Peace, US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said Monday, expressing the likely sentiment of many Americans at the news that the FBI had arrested two suspected Chinese government agents accused of working to harass and silence their critics in the US.

The Justice Department also indicted 34 Chinese national police officers, all of whom are believed to be living in China, with related crimes.

The revelations threaten to push already sour US-China relations into further crisis, and had the immediate effect of hardening bipartisan suspicions about Beijing on Capitol Hill in a way that will have serious diplomatic implications.

Prosecutors allege China opened an “unreported police station” in New York City that was used at least once to track down a pro-democracy activist of Chinese descent living in California.

Chinese USA

The two men, Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping, both US citizens, allegedly created the “first known overseas police station in the United States,” on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security, according to the Justice Department.

The FBI also accused a group of Chinese officials of flooding an online video conference, yelling at and threatening Chinese dissidents in the US who were discussing democracy.

This is not surprising activity by a foreign intelligence agency on foreign soil; Washington’s penchant for favoring the work of democracy activists in totalitarian countries, for example, has long been seen as meddling by repressive governments.

And the FBI has outposts in many foreign embassies.

The office’s work, however, involves fighting organized crime, combating terrorism and drug trafficking, and forging ties with local police and law enforcement. It is not designed to monitor American expatriates and police their political activity.

If proven, the alleged activities of the two agents represent an attempt by the Beijing Communist Party to extend its crackdown on dissent and democracy outside the country and onto the soil of a nation where such freedoms are protected.

“The efforts of the People’s Republic of China to export authoritarian methods to stifle free speech in the United States are a threat to American democracy that we will not tolerate,” said David Newman, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Department’s Homeland Security Division. . of Justice.

So far there has been no comment from Beijing on the charges.

But the notion that Beijing is operating foreign police stations is not new.

According to a new report from the Madrid-based human rights group Safeguard Defenders shared with CNN last year, the government of President Xi Jinping established more than 100 such posts to monitor the activity of large Chinese diasporas, using agreements security forces as a cover.

Beijing has denied such accusations, arguing that the offices help expatriate citizens with services such as issuing new driver’s licenses. Any activity that goes beyond consular services and targets Chinese exiles would be in breach of international law.

While China has police patrol agreements with several nations, including Italy and South Africa, reports of undeclared police posts have led to investigations in at least 13 other countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain.

Dangerous diplomatic consequences

The revelations by authorities in New York on Monday are already having a detrimental impact on China’s already tarnished reputation in Washington and will further complicate the Biden administration’s efforts to defuse rising tensions with Xi.

The alleged police station scheme is seen as another example of China’s growing global reach, a perceived threat to the United States and its values, and a willingness to reduce political enemies wherever they may be.

“It is absolutely absurd that the Chinese Communist Party thinks it can establish its own police station in a place like New York City,” Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, a member of the new House Select Committee on the Party, told CNN. Chinese communist.

How is the relationship between the US and China? 1:31

“The story that the Americans and the Chinese are escalating tensions is not really accurate. This is China ramping up tensions. This is the Chinese Communist Party trying to impose its repressive regime on the entire world.”

The arrests contribute to a sense in Washington that China is indulging in increasingly provocative behavior and ever disdainful of US sovereignty.

They follow the flight of an alleged Chinese spy balloon across the North American continent earlier this year that was seen by many Americans as an insult and was a first tangible sign of how a potential new Cold War could play out with a new enemy superpower.

The events of this Monday are also likely to increase uncertainty (some would say paranoia) about the level of clandestine activity that China may be conducting on US soil.

Every escalation in the confrontation between Beijing and Washington comes at a diplomatic cost.

The level of anti-China antipathy is so strong on Capitol Hill that it is hard for President Joe Biden, who is ultimately in charge of managing this critical diplomatic relationship, not to toughen his stance. This, in turn, causes diplomatic and political upheavals in Beijing, sparking more anti-American rhetoric and behavior.

Challenging the idea that the United States and China are rushing toward confrontation seems increasingly like heresy in Washington. This is a dangerous new reality, as it reduces the space for sober strategic reasoning about the implications of a potential clash of generations in the Pacific.

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