A Spanish civil rights group says it has discovered two new covert “police” stations operating in Canada, one of which is in Vancouver.
In addition to the 54 stations the group first reported on in September, Safeguard Defenders has issued a study that reveals the existence of 48 Chinese “police service stations” that are run abroad.
A total of 102 stations in 53 countries have been reported by the non-profit human rights organization.
The two most recent stations found in Canada, one in Vancouver and the other in an unidentified location, are in addition to the three stations the group is said to have found in Toronto and are the subject of an ongoing RCMP investigation.
According to Safeguard Defenders, Chinese authorities use overseas police outposts to monitor Chinese citizens living abroad and, in certain cases, to “persuade” alleged fugitives to return to China. The target’s children in China are allegedly denied the right to an education, and family members are subjected to restrictions as part of persuasion strategies.
According to the article, the stations are run out of Nantong, Wenzhou, Qingtian, and Fuzhou in four different Chinese provinces.
Wenzhou, a port and industrial city in China’s Zhejiang region, is purportedly where the Vancouver station, whose exact location is unknown, is run from.
Additionally, the group says that China has employed these tactics to send 230,000 Chinese nationals to their home country to face potential criminal charges.
