NEW YORK—The FBI arrested two people on April 17 on charges of operating a secret police station in New York City on behalf of China’s regime, according to the Justice Department (DOJ).
The duo, Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, conspired to work as agents of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and took orders from the regime in order to track down and silence Chinese dissidents living in the United States, prosecutors said.
The police station is believed to be one of more than 100 overseas stations operated by the Chinese regime in 53 countries, according to Safeguard Defenders, a Spain-based nonprofit.
The effort revealed an immense violation of U.S. sovereignty by the CCP and a flagrant violation of international law, according to U.S. District Attorney Breon Peace.
“This prosecution reveals the Chinese government’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City,” Peace said at a news conference in Brooklyn.
“Just imagine the NYPD opening an undeclared secret police station in Beijing.”
Peace said that the two defendants established the secret police station in New York at the behest of the CCP and conducted transnational repression schemes in coordination with the regime’s Ministry of Public Security.
Additionally, he said, the pair sought to destroy evidence of the conspiracy when they found out the FBI was investigating the site.
“As alleged, the defendants were directed to do [China’s] bidding, including helping locate a Chinese dissident living in the United States, and obstructed our investigation by deleting their communications with a Chinese Ministry of Public Security official,” Peace said.
In addition to the charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice, court documents allege that Lu had conducted work for the CCP regime in the United States since at least 2015.
The investigation found Lu to have a “longstanding relationship of trust” with the Chinese authorities, according to the complaint.
By Andrew Thornebrooke and Eva Fu
