Two agents of the People’s Republic of China are accused of running an illegal overseas police station for the Chinese government in New York City and then destroying evidence when confronted by the FBI, according to the feds.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York also announced on Monday that 40 officers of China’s National Police have been charged with targeting U.S. residents whose political views are disfavored by the Chinese government.
In the police station case, two defendants were charged in connection with opening and operating an illegal overseas police station in lower Manhattan — for a provincial branch of the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China. “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan, were arrested at their homes in New York City.
Lu and Chen are charged with conspiring to act as agents of the PRC government, as well as obstructing justice by destroying evidence when confronted by the FBI.
The pair allegedly worked together to establish the first overseas police station in the U.S. on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the MPS. The police station — which closed in the fall of 2022 after those operating it became aware of the FBI’s investigation — occupied a floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
“The PRC, through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“The PRC’s actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct,” Olsen added. “We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression.”
In the other case announced on Monday, the dozens of officers with China’s National Police allegedly harassed Chinese nationals residing in the New York metropolitan area and elsewhere in the U.S.
The defendants, including 40 MPS officers and two officials in the Cyberspace Administration of China, are accused of transnational repression schemes targeting U.S. residents whose political views and actions are disfavored by the PRC government, such as advocating for democracy in the PRC.
In the schemes, the defendants allegedly created and used fake social media accounts to harass and intimidate PRC dissidents residing abroad, and sought to suppress the dissidents’ free speech on the platform of a U.S. telecommunications company.
“These cases demonstrate the lengths the PRC government will go to silence and harass U.S. persons who exercise their fundamental rights to speak out against PRC oppression, including by unlawfully exploiting a U.S.-based technology company,” Olsen said. “These actions violate our laws and are an affront to our democratic values and basic human rights.”