The FBI has arrested 2 individuals operating an illegal Chinese police station in New York City

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The FBI has arrested 2 individuals operating an illegal Chinese police station in New York City

The FBI has arrested two individuals on charges of operating an illegal Chinese police station in the heart of New York City, with the aim of intimidating and influencing dissidents critical of the Chinese government in the US. The Justice Department has charged Harry Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan with conspiring to act as agents of the Chinese government and obstruction of justice. The defendants reportedly established a secret police station in a Manhattan office building under the direction of China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

According to the Justice Department, the two individuals helped establish the outpost in 2022, and later deleted their communications with an MPS official once they became aware of the FBI's investigation. The charges are part of the US government’s ongoing efforts to combat transnational repression of foreign dissidents living in the US. Last year, the Justice Department charged over a dozen Chinese officials with allegedly participating in schemes to repatriate critics of the Chinese government, and recruit spies to act as agents of the Chinese regime in the US.

In a separate complaint, the Justice Department charged nearly three dozen MPS officers with using fake social media accounts to intimidate Chinese dissidents in the US, and to disseminate official propaganda and narratives to counter the pro-democracy speech of Chinese dissidents. These defendants are believed to reside in China and worked as part of an elite task force called the “912 Special Project Working Group” to locate and harass Chinese dissidents worldwide in an effort to silence criticism of the Chinese government.

The group allegedly operated a troll farm of thousands of fake social media profiles on sites like Twitter, with the aim of disseminating Chinese government propaganda and recruiting agents inside the US to do the same. The defendants also reportedly disrupted online meetings where topics critical of the Chinese government were discussed.

The US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, said in a statement that the PRC government deploys its national police and the 912 Special Project Working Group not as an instrument to uphold the law and protect public safety, but rather as a troll farm that attacks people in the country for exercising free speech in a manner that the PRC government finds disagreeable. Monday’s charges are just the latest in the Justice Department's efforts to counter Chinese transnational repression of foreign dissidents living in the US.