China's Police Presence in Canada

"During the past two years, the pandemic made international travels not easy and quite a few Chinese nationals found their Chinese ID cards and/or driver's licences expired or about to expire, and yet they could not get the ID  renewed back in China in time..."

Embassy of China in Ireland

Police in the Chinese city of Fuzhou show off seized counterfeit money in this 2009 photo. Fuzhou security services have now set up at least three branch offices on Canadian soil. Photo by STR/AFP/Getty Images

"I thought I'd have a safe, happy life in Canada. But the Chinese Communist Party was already here", said Sheng Xue, a Chinese Canadian living in Mississauga, Ontario since her escape from China in 1989, following the Ti8enanmen Square Massacre. The People's Republic of China has groping tentacles all over the world, keeping track of expatriate Chinese who sought to find a new home and with it security and a base where they could begin life anew. Beijing, however, looks to keep tabs on all Chinese, irrespective of whether they now live elsewhere than China, and they are particularly interested in Chinese who oppose their government back home.

 

Beijing has also made it quite clear to Chinese living abroad that their first obligation is to China, not any other country which they have chosen to live in as loyal citizens. Chinese living abroad with citizenship in other countries are expected to be compliant with any demands that the People's
Republic makes of them, from defending China from criticism in their new countries of citizenship, to conveying useful information to China through its United Front Work Department, which has offices set up across the world. 

Chinese living abroad are also expected to be cooperative with Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, representing China's interests. Most Chinese who emigrate abroad from Mainland China find it expedient to cooperate in support of the Chinese Communist Party mostly because of China's coercive policies of harassing family members back in China if their members living abroad fail to cooperate. Those originally hailing from Hong Kong tend to be opponents of the CCP, and the long, probing, intrusive arm of the CCP makes certain they are acutely aware that Hong Kong is now under direct control of Beijing.

China-dissidents of the Beijing government based in Canada have warned Canadian authorities for years of the organized harassment from Chinese authorities that they face, despite their Canadian citizenship. Now, investigative reporting has revealed that the People's Republic has installed what can only be identified as Chinese police stations in countries abroad, focused on controlling Chinese living as citizens in countries other than China. In Toronto, Canada, there are three 'service stations' in operation by the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau, a police force from the Chinese metropolis of Fuzhou.

 

The Fuzhou police say it has already opened 30 such stations in 21 countries.

 

The Asian human rights group Safeguard Defenders has revealed the presence of these furtively-operated police stations in a recently published report. According to China, the stations' existence relates to the need to give assistance to Chinese expatriates in the completion of administrative documents like the renewal of driver's licenses. However, according to Safeguard Defenders, the function of the stations is that of outposts for "Involuntary Return" policies, a program that compels Chinese nationals to return to China should the country's security service consider they have violated Chinese law.

"These operations eschew official bilateral police and judicial cooperations", the report states. Chinese authorities claim that 230,000 expats were "persuaded to return" as a result of various charges laid against them. Those charged respond to the persuasion of the threat of extreme sanctions to be visited on their families in China, including asset seizures and prohibitions against government health care or education opportunities.

Canada is among several dozen countries that have become outposts of Chinese law enforcement. A report in The Irish Times highlighted the opening of a Fuzhou Overseas Police Service Station in central Dublin. In Dublin the Chinese Embassy declared the station to function as a place for Fuzhou expats to seek assistance in routine paperwork. 

 

An investigation in Canada by the Globe and Mail newspaper found that the Association was founded with direct Chinese government oversight. Leading to the question: why is Canada permitting China to establish its own police stations in Canada? More to the point, why is the government of Canada allowing Canadian citizens of Chinese extraction to be harassed, bullied and terrorized by the People's Republic of China?!!!