Thursday FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed his concern that the Chinese government is operating unauthorized police stations in the U.S., more specifically in New York.
“I’m very concerned about this. We are aware of the existence of these stations,” Wray responded to questions from the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“But to me, it is outrageous to think that the Chinese police would attempt to set up shop, you know, in New York, let’s say, without proper coordination. It violates the sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes,” he added.
Wray did not know if the stations are legal. And promised to find out more to report back to the committee.
In 2020, in a little-publicized event, China had a consulate in Austin, Texas. When the Feds were closing the consulate down Chinese officials burned barrels of paperwork and hard drives as they were leaving.
Unauthorized police stations run by United Front
The issue first came up in September when a report from Safeguard Defenders went public. Safeguard, a European human rights organization, spotlighted the presence of dozens of Chinese police “service centers” in major cities internationally.
