Canadian Federal Police said Thursday they are investigating reports that China has set up police stations and harassed Chinese expatriates in Canada.
“The RCMP is currently investigating reports of criminal activity relating to so-called police stations,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
In particular, she adds that she is “aware that foreign states may seek to intimidate or harm communities or individuals in Canada”.
“Maintaining order on foreign soil”?
The announcement follows a September investigation by human rights group Safeguard Defenders, which found there were 54 similar police stations around the world, including three in the Greater Toronto Area.
According to the NGO based in Spain, some of these posts collaborate with the Chinese police to carry out “operations to maintain order on foreign soil”.
For his part, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described this information as “completely false”, during a regular briefing, assuring that Beijing “fully” respects the sovereignty of other countries.
“The main purpose of the overseas service station is to provide free assistance to Chinese citizens” around the world to renew their driver’s license and enjoy other services, the Chinese embassy told AFP. in Canada.
The institution notably specified that the people working in these stations were “local volunteers” and not “Chinese police officers”, while adding that they were in no way involved in “any criminal investigation”.
persuade to return
Safeguard Defenders, however, maintains that it has several pieces of evidence indicating that individuals linked to these stations have sought to persuade nationals suspected of having committed crimes to return to China to face criminal proceedings.
A court document made public in the United States notably exposes a case of foreign interference against seven Chinese nationals.
He describes the example of a person accused of embezzlement and living in Canada who, in 2018, was pressured to return to China, which she eventually did “despite initially not wanting to return”. , relates the document.
He also indicates that the Chinese government would have coordinated some of these activities from Toronto.
For its part, Radio-Canada quotes a Chinese journalist and activist who, after leaving the country to settle in Canada in 1989, claims to have been harassed online on several occasions by Chinese officials.
“Now the Chinese police station [est] here, a few miles from my home, so I wonder where to escape,” Sheng Xue told CBC.
On Wednesday, Dutch authorities also announced they were investigating similar “illegal police stations” in the Netherlands.