Chinese Police Stations Open In…Canada?
According to the National Post, the Chinese government has opened at least three “service stations” in Toronto. These non-descript facilities claim to be more like embassies, supporting Chinese Nationals with administrative work, like identifications and passports.
However, Safeguard Defenders, an Asian human rights organization, has researched that the Chinese government has a campaign to “persuade” Chinese citizens to “voluntarily” return back home from their immigrated countries to face criminal charges for a variety of potential offenses, mostly accusations of online fraud.
SafeGuard Defender’s report, 110 Overseas – Transnational Policing Gone Wild , says that,
“Overseas targets and/or their families back in China are approached directly to “encourage” the return of the target to China to face justice, or else.
In many cases identified in the Involuntary Returns report, methods used under IR Type 1 and Type 2 actions include:
(1) The tracking down of the target’s family in China in order to pressure them through means of intimidation, harassment, detention or imprisonment into persuading their family members to return “voluntarily”;
(2) Direct approach of the target through online means or the deployment of – often undercover – agents and/or proxies abroad to threaten and harass the target into returning “voluntarily”.
The final Involuntary Returns category – Type 3 – involves direct kidnappings on foreign soil. As far as known at the time of reporting, this method has not been used in the operation described in this investigation.”
Yikes. Furthermore,
“These methods allow the CCP and their security organs to circumvent normal bilateral mechanisms of police and judicial cooperation, thereby severely undermining the international rule of law and territorial integrity of the third countries involved. In eschewing regular cooperation mechanisms, the CCP manages to avoid the growing scrutiny of its human rights record and the ensuing difficulties faced in obtaining the return of “fugitives” through legal proceedings such as formal extradition requests. It leaves legal Chinese residents abroad fully exposed to extra-legal targeting by the Chinese police, with little to none of the protection theoretically ensured under both national and international law.”
Is the Chinese government circumventing and undermining foreign authorities to oppress and retrieve their own emigrants? Hard to say with 100% certainty, but if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
