China on Tuesday slammed the UK for “hyping” the claim around the Chinese government's overseas police stations meant to spy on its dissidents.
“Political Manipulation”
A spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the UK said that China has “made it clear many times” that “there are no so-called overseas police stations.”
Citing proven “facts,” the spokesperson said that the allegations are “an outright political lie” and that the issue’s “hype up […] by some individual politicians is just political manipulation.”
The official urged London to “stop spreading disinformation, stop hyping up the issue, and stop smearing China.”
No Illegal Activity
Criticism from China comes after British Minister of State Tom Tugendhat said in a written ministerial statement to the Parliament earlier this week that China has shut down all three of its alleged “police service stations” across the UK.
Notably, Tugendhat added that police investigations of the sites did not reveal any illegal activity by the Chinese government.
The Chinese Embassy in the UK refuted claims from the British side about closing down China's police service stations, urging them to stop spreading false information and hyping up the issue to smear China. The embassy stated that the so-called overseas police station is a… pic.twitter.com/zsJEsjMofj
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 6, 2023
“I can confirm that they have not, to date, identified any evidence of illegal activity on behalf of the Chinese state across these sites. We assess that police and public scrutiny have had a suppressive impact on any administrative functions these sites may have had,” he said.
The UK has previously claimed that it was aware of about 100 such overseas stations worldwide being run by Beijing.
“The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have told the Chinese embassy that any functions related to such ‘police service stations’ in the UK are unacceptable and that they must not operate in any form. The Chinese Embassy have subsequently responded that all such stations have closed permanently. Any further allegations will be swiftly investigated in line with UK law,” Tugendhat said.
China’s Overseas Police Stations
According to a report released by Safeguard Defenders last September, China has established numerous police stations across different countries to surveil its citizens residing abroad. The countries where these stations have been identified include Cambodia, the UAE, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia, Turkey, and Indonesia.
The findings also highlight that Beijing has been employing various tactics to convince and coerce Chinese nationals living overseas to return to their home country and "face justice" in response to the escalating issue of fraud and telecommunications scams involving Chinese citizens abroad.
Between April 2021 and July 2022, the report reveals that Chinese authorities successfully persuaded approximately 230,000 suspects involved in telecom fraud to return to China.