Notorious Chinese police illegally in Serbia: Shocking report reveals that Xi Jinping’s men are terrorizing citizens in more than 100 countries

Beijing has established more than 100 overseas police stations around the world that monitor, harass and in some cases deport Chinese citizens living in exile, using bilateral security agreements with countries in Europe and Africa. A major research by the human rights activist group Safeguard Defenders showed that this phenomenon is present in Serbia as well as neighboring Croatia, writes CNN.

The Madrid-based group claims to have found evidence that China has an additional 48 police stations abroad since the group first revealed the existence of 54 such stations across Europe in September this year. The countries involved in this network are Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Romania and many others.

The report, titled “Patrol and Reassurance,” examines the role that joint police initiatives between China and several European countries have played in the previously unknown expansion of Chinese influence, CNN writes.

The organization claims that a Chinese national was forced to return home by undercover operatives at a Chinese police station in a suburb of Paris specially recruited for the purpose. Earlier revelations showed that two more Chinese exiles were forcibly returned from Europe – one from Serbia, the other from Spain.

A search of publicly available official Chinese documents for evidence of alleged human rights abuses identified four different police jurisdictions of China’s Ministry of Public Security active in at least 53 countries, spanning all four corners of the globe. Their job is supposedly to help Chinese expats with their needs abroad.

Chinese police across Italy, video surveillance in residential buildings

As the world’s second-largest economy, China has developed deeper relationships with many of the countries where the new police stations have reportedly been found, raising questions for national governments balancing commercial interests with national security. Italy, which has signed a series of bilateral security agreements with China since 2015, has largely remained silent during the revelations of alleged activities on its territory.

Between 2016 and 2018, Italian police conducted multiple joint patrols with Chinese police, first in Rome and Milan, and later in other cities including Naples.

In this city, evidence has been found that a video surveillance system has been installed in Chinese residential buildings, which were allegedly installed to combat crime.

An Italian police official told NPR in 2016 that joint policing “will lead to broader international cooperation, sharing of information and resources to combat criminal and terrorist groups affecting the two countries.”

The NGO revealed that Italy hosted 11 Chinese police stations, including in Venice and Prato near Florence. The 2018 ceremony in Rome to mark the opening of the new station was attended by Italian police officials, according to footage posted on Chinese websites, which indicate close ties between the two countries’ police forces.

Earlier this year, Italian newspaper La Nazione reported that a local investigation of one of the Chinese stations had not revealed any illegal activity. Il Foglio quoted police chiefs as saying recently that the stations do not pose any particular problem because they appear to be merely bureaucratic.

China concluded similar agreements with Croatia and Serbia

China also entered into similar joint police patrol agreements with Croatia and Serbia between 2018 and 2019 as part of the nation’s growing strategic influence under Xi’s Belt and Road foreign policy initiative.

Chinese police officers were seen on a joint patrol with their Croatian colleagues on the streets of Zagreb in July of this year.

A Zagreb police official interviewed by the Chinese agency Xinhua said that the patrols are crucial for “protection and attraction of foreign tourists”.

Also, a 2019 Reuters report stated that Chinese police officers joined Serbian police officers on patrol in Belgrade to help deal with the influx of Chinese tourists. A Serbian policeman emphasized that the Chinese do not have the authority to arrest.

Beijing claims it is in the middle of defamation

Beijing has denied that it has undeclared police forces outside its territory, and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that such “smearing” of China is unacceptable.

China claims that the disputed facilities are administrative centers, set up to assist Chinese citizens with administrative matters, such as renewing their driver’s licenses. China has also said that these offices are a response to the covid pandemic, which has left many citizens stranded in other countries and outside China unable to renew their documents.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated that the overseas stations are operated by volunteers.

However, the organization claims that one police network it investigated, employed 135 people for its 21 stations. The organization also reached a three-year contract with employees at the Stockholm station.

Unreported activities outside official missions are illegal

Otherwise, undeclared consular activities outside of a country’s official diplomatic missions are illegal, unless the host country has given its express consent, and the Safeguard Defender report claims that Chinese offices abroad existed several years before the pandemic.

The reports have so far prompted investigations in at least 13 countries and sparked an increasingly bitter diplomatic row between China and countries such as Canada, which has a large Chinese diaspora. China is not the only superpower accused of using extrajudicial means to achieve law enforcement or political persecution goals abroad.

Russia, for example, has twice been accused of planting deadly chemical and radioactive substances on British soil to try to kill its former spies. Russia has always denied these accusations. In the United States, the CIA was embroiled in a scandal over the extraordinary extradition of terror suspects from the streets of Italy to Guantanamo Bay after the 9/11 attacks.

Still, the indication of widespread repression of Chinese citizens abroad comes at a crucial time for a nation struggling with unrest at home, amid public fatigue over a restrictive zero-covid policy and the start of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s third term.

They have also expanded to South Africa

Safeguard Defenders also says Chinese stations have been established in South Africa and nearby countries thanks to similar agreements.

China began laying the groundwork for closer police ties with South African police agencies almost two decades ago, later establishing a network officially called “China Service Centers Abroad”.