The Department of Justice charged two men with opening and operating an illegal overseas police station in Manhattan, New York, for the Chinese government. “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan, were arrested earlier this morning at their homes in New York City.
“The PRC, through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“The PRC’s actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression.”
“This prosecution reveals the Chinese government’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York.
“As alleged, the defendants and their co-conspirators were tasked with doing the PRC’s bidding, including helping locate a Chinese dissident living in the United States, and obstructed our investigation by deleting their communications. Such a police station has no place here in New York City – or any American community.”
“It is simply outrageous that China’s Ministry of Public Security thinks it can get away with establishing a secret, illegal police station on U.S. soil to aid its efforts to export repression and subvert our rule of law,” said Acting Assistant Director Kurt Ronnow of the FBI Counterintelligence Division.
“This case serves as a powerful reminder that the People’s Republic of China will stop at nothing to bend people to their will and silence messages they don’t want anyone to hear.
‘The FBI is dedicated to protecting everyone in the United States against efforts to undermine our democratic freedoms, and we’ll hold any state actors – and those who help them – accountable for breaking our laws.”
In addition to the case in New York, the Department of Justice has announced two other cases accusing dozens of Chinese nationals of spying on US soil.
Many of the reported illegal Chinese “police stations” are open in Western Europe, with four known in North America.
Two separate cases have come to light, involving Chinese government officials and members of Beijing’s Municipal Public Security Bureau (MPSB). In one case, 34 members of the MPSB are implicated, while the other involves a group of 10 individuals, including eight Chinese government officials. The details of these cases are currently under investigation.
The MPSB is accused of creating fake social media accounts to harass Chinese dissidents in the US and promote propaganda from China, including misinformation related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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