Two men have been arrested on charges they helped establish a secret police outpost in New York City on behalf of the Chinese government, and more than three dozen Chinese national police officers have been charged with using the networks. social networks to harass dissidents within the United States, the Justice Department reported Monday.
The cases, taken together, are part of a series of Justice Department prosecutions in recent years aimed at disrupting Chinese government efforts to locate pro-democracy activists and others in the United States who are outspoken critics of Beijing’s policies.
One of the cases concerns a local branch of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, which operated out of an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown before closing last fall amid an FBI investigation. The two men accused of setting up the branch were acting under the direction and control of a Chinese government official, and deleted communications with the official from their phones after learning of the investigation, according to the Justice Department.
The men, identified as “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan, were arrested at their homes Monday morning.. It was not clear if they had lawyers who could comment on their behalf.
The men never registered with the Justice Department as agents of a foreign government, according to US security forces. And while the police post provided some basic services, such as helping Chinese citizens renew their Chinese driver’s licences, it also performed a more “sinister” function, such as helping the Chinese government track down a pro-democracy activist of Chinese descent living in California, according to officials.
“New York City is home to the best of New York – the New York Police,” US Attorney Breon Peace, the top US attorney in Brooklyn, said at a news conference announcing the arrests. “We do not need or want a secret police station in our great city.”
