An American citizen has pleaded guilty to helping run what is believed to be the first known secret police station in the United States on behalf of the Chinese government.
Prosecutors say Chen Jinping and his co-defendant Lu Jianwang opened and operated the station in Manhattan’s Chinatown district in early 2022 on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).
At least 100 such stations have been reported in 53 countries worldwide, with human rights groups accusing China of using the outposts to threaten and monitor Chinese nationals abroad.
But China has denied that they were police stations, claiming they were “service stations” that provide administrative services to nationals abroad.
While the outpost, which occupied an entire floor above a ramen stand, provided basic services such as renewing Chinese citizens’ driver’s licenses, it also helped Beijing identify pro-democracy activists living in the United States, federal authorities say.
Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice, called the attempt to operate the undeclared police station overseas “a clear affront to American sovereignty and a danger to our community that will not be tolerated.”
The station closed in fall 2022 after the Federal Investigation Bureau opened an investigation.
But Chen and Lu destroyed text messages they had exchanged with an MPS officer when they learned of the investigation, prosecutors said.
The men, who are both American citizens, were arrested in April last year.
On Wednesday, Chen, 60, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an agent for China and faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced next year.
Chen’s admission of guilt was a “clear reminder of the (Chinese) government’s insidious efforts to threaten, harass and intimidate those who speak out against their Communist Party,” Robert Wells, deputy director of the FBI’s National Security Division, said in a statement.
Lu, 59, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. Prosecutors accuse him of harassing a suspected Chinese refugee returning to China and of helping to locate a pro-democracy activist in California on behalf of the Communist Party.
At the time of Chen’s arrest, authorities said it was the first time the United States had filed criminal charges related to such police outposts.
Mr. Olsen said U.S. authorities would “continue to pursue anyone who seeks to support the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to extend its repressive reach into the United States.”
In September, Linda Sun, a former aide in the New York governor’s office, was indicted She used her position to serve the interests of the Chinese government. In return, she is said to have received benefits, including travel expenses.
Last year, 34 MPS officials were also charged with using fake social media accounts to harass Chinese dissidents in the United States and spread official Chinese government propaganda.
