Some U.S. House Republicans are asking the Biden administration important questions related to the Chinese overseas police station China established and operated in the country as reported by a nongovernmental organization recently.
A recent report from NGO Safeguard Defenders revealed that the communist Chinese government established 54 "overseas police stations" in 30 countries across five continents.
These police stations, linked to China's United Front system, operated from agencies supposedly created to assist Chinese nationals in administrative tasks such as renewing drivers' licenses.
However, the said administrative functions merely served as a cover for the Chinese Communist Party to continue policing Chinese citizens located abroad. One such station used to monitor and coerce Chinese dissidents to return to China to face criminal proceedings was established in New York City.
A group of 21 Republican lawmakers issued a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the Chinese police station in New York City, The Epoch Times reported.
In the letter, the lawmakers expressed their "grave concern" over the People's Republic of China's "law enforcement presence" outside of its territorial jurisdiction, which is but a violation of the U.S.'s national sovereignty, among other concerns.
"The Chinese overseas police service station established in New York City earlier this year appears to be a further step of China's illicit long arm policing on U.S. soil that violates our sovereignty," Republican Representatives Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), and 18 other Republicans in the House wrote in the letter.
Human Rights Violations
The Republican representatives noted in the letter that the Chinese government avoids complying with "formal international cooperation mechanisms" to repatriate Chinese nationals through the use of these stations.
These police stations force Chinese nationals to return to China to face criminal proceedings through different means such as threatening them and their families. Earlier reports these include cutting off water and electricity from homes belonging to purported Chinese fugitives' families.
The Chinese government, however, escapes scrutiny by saying they merely "persuade" the said people to return.
Why Are They Here?
It's worth noting that during President Donald Trump's administration, some CCP officials involved in the United Front Work Department faced visa restrictions preventing their entry into the U.S. Then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted in 2020 that these officials "engaged in malign activities to co-opt and coerce those who oppose Beijing's policies."
That said, the House Republicans are asking the Biden administration whether it has rescinded the visa restrictions on the CCP officials, if it has approved the establishment of a Chinese overseas police station in New York City, and if it has any information about other potential Chinese overseas police station in other places in America.
