NEW YORK (AP) — Two men have been arrested on charges they helped set up a Chinese secret police outpost in New York City and more than three dozen officers from China’s national police force have been accused of using the social networks to harass dissidents within the United States, the US Department of Justice reported Monday.
The cases are part of a series of Justice Department prosecutions in recent years aimed at stopping Chinese government attempts 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 China’s Ministry of Public Security that operated out of an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown before closing last fall amid an FBI investigation.
The two men tasked with setting up the outpost were acting under the direction and control of a Chinese government official and deleted conversations they had with that 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. At the moment it is unknown if they have lawyers who can make statements on their behalf.
At no time did the men register with the Justice Department as agents of a foreign government, according to US law enforcement authorities. And while the police station performed some basic services, such as helping Chinese citizens renew their Chinese driver’s licences, it also performed more “sinister” functions, including helping the Chinese government track down a pro-democracy activist of Chinese descent who lives in California, according to US authorities.
“New York City is home to the best of New York: The New York Police,” Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, said at a news conference announcing the arrests. “We do not need or want a secret police station in our great city.”
Tucker reported from Washington.
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