China’s illegal police stations in 53 countries | 60 Minutes Australia

it's well known China won't stand for any criticism they're opponents of the Communist Regime are simply not tolerated but it seems Beijing now thinks it also has the right to ignore International borders and silence dissent anywhere it sees fit around the world it's setting up illegal outposts called Chinese overseas police service stations and as the name suggests their objectives are clear our law enforcement agencies deny there are any of the stations here even though Chinese authorities publicize their existence but either way that's not the end of the intimidation Australians are also being targeted in other bizarre ways for daring to speak out about China how's that that better okay the worst thing Andrew Phelan has ever done is accumulate a few minor speeding tickets taking care of his frail and elderly mum keeps him well and truly on the straight and narrow [Music] I was sitting in my chair and the blind was down and I saw footsteps coming so in on Australia Day this year he was suddenly arrested at his Melbourne home he was in deep shock did you think it was a joke did you feel like it was very serious thought on police in plain clothes with an arrest warrant reading out um what were very serious criminal uh offenses so it was certainly no joke and I'll confess I was rattled China's been very good at exposing our soft underbelly which is Andrew a television commentator and Keen critic of the Chinese Communist party was taken to his local police station does anyone else have access to your phone I don't know he was accused of sending a violent email threatening to rape and kill a Chinese Australian journalist even on hearing the extraordinary charges against him Andrew had no idea what was going on threatening to kill are threatening to cause serious injury committing a sexual act and or stalking yeah that was the charge in that moment what was that like surreal incredibly confronting it was horrible I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy it was during this police interview that Andrew heard for the first time the vile words he was accused of writing and sending in the email so you go back to China [ __ ] and if you don't I'm going to come find you pound your yellow oh have your throat at least then you'll bleed red in color of the CC's vegan [ __ ] I would never ever in a Month of Sundays use that kind of language to a woman or anybody else yeah you've heard it now full yeah I mean it upsets me hearing it again makes me so angry what makes you angry about that that this is done from the Shadows anonymously but he's in no doubt who's responsible I believe that this has been done under the auspices of the MSS China's Ministry of State security yeah I do I believe they're targeting westerners that are being non-critical of the CCP in the Public Square to me it's Christmas cases Crystal Clear um somebody's created a fake email address sent an abusive email after lengthy questioning police accepted Andrew was not the author of the email the message certainly did not come from his email address and he was not charged but Andrew's terrible experience is not unique Monash University academic Kevin Caraco is the victim of very similar tactics did you expect to be watched targeted followed in Australia did you expect it to happen here no what I was not prepared for right was the ongoing harassment sending you know horrendous messages to random people like Andrew a sexually offensive email was recently sent in his name to a Chinese journalist in the UK ongoing punishment Kevin assumes for daring to write two books critical of the Chinese Communist Party it says um how's the BJ of white folk going BJ here of course refers to um oral six Kevin took a more direct hit when another fake email was sent to nearly 70 people in his Department saying he quit if the intent was to cause confusion and inconvenience it worked whoever was doing this had set up an email account in my name and sent a a false resignation letter to my entire school this is quite a bit of effort for a supposed superpower to go to to harass a lowly lecturer in Melbourne that harass Australians it seems it doesn't matter who you are if you dare to criticize prepare for payback from China and no matter how blunt or brutal they'll do anything to disrupt your life at the ripe old age of 24 human rights activist Drew pavlou is a veteran at attracting the attention of Chinese authorities even on home soil I was annoying them a lot with my protest I argue that's my right as an Australian Citizen and I knew that would make me a Target but I didn't realize that they're going to try a bomb threat and I didn't realize that they're going to have me arrested as a terror suspect last year Drew was arrested protesting outside the Chinese Embassy in London after it's alleged the regime made a false bomb threat in his name until it was established Drew had not made that threat he faced 12 years in jail the police said we received an email in your name and um I just stood there stunned like a like a stunned mullet we do not get worried about lots of things however in China for example if you talk about Taiwan Independence it's a cry China's former Foreign Affairs Diplomat Victor GAO is frighteningly clear anyone who criticizes Beijing over its treatment of minorities or argues for Independence be warned so if you are a dissident for an activist or a protester in Australia making those claims about Tibet Taiwan the uyghurs are you safe or are you unsafe that's a violation of the one child policy and so what happens to them they will be very much looked at don't violate the Chinese sovereignty and territorial Integrity otherwise there will be no free Haven anywhere in the world because if you do that then sooner or later Justice may be served it's a strange kind of justice but in a six-month period Drew received more than 40 emails threatening to kill him which he's tracked back to a mercenary working for the Chinese Communist party to get an email that talks about kidnapping you drew and cutting you up into little bits for a fifty thousand dollar reward what's that like to be honest it did really knock me out for you know a good chunk of the year like it's tough to admit that that in a way they kind of won that round if that isn't bad enough Drew's mum Vanessa is now in the crosshairs her only crime is to be Drew's mum she's never even criticized the Chinese Communist party but like her son now has a fifty thousand dollar bounty on her head and appallingly her reputation is also under attack this ludicrous email was sent late last year to Major shopping centers in Brisbane in the hope one would reach the boss of the shop Vanessa works at she's running an illegal prostitution service and is a cocaine addict yeah um and whoever whosoever shall terminate her first will receive remuneration the method doesn't matter scaring I always am looking out of my shoulder if I'm walking to my car if I'm you know I'm always aware I'm a lot more aware but I just try and live a normal life because otherwise I learned aren't they yeah I mean this is your home Vanessa this is your country and you're being threatened like this well where else are we supposed to go that's the thing this is our country this is where we were born so along with fear and how much anger is there well to me I get angry they think that they should be able to silence us through these kind of Mafia style tactics these gangster tactics China has so many things to care about we have 1.4 billion people to feed and clothe do you really think we are Superman and we still have enough energy and resources to engage in what you talk about it would seem so this is really not pragmatic perhaps to allow the Chinese to focus on what we need to do at home rather than care about things like what you describe in Australia but the intimidating attacks on our very freedoms are on the increase both here and overseas anyone who offends China will be killed no matter how far the target is so no matter how far you are in Australian American Europe if you are a fan China then it will be killed on strict condition of not revealing his whereabouts so as not to expose him to Danger Australian political artist body is showing me his work in progress as he prepares for a major show in Poland I just have to be careful with myself even now I you know sold us miles away from China in Australia but still safety is not really an option and I just have to be very very cautious even while you're making art that the world will see exactly yeah body who lived in China for 20 years before exiling to Australia is considered an enemy of the state for his art which often daringly Paints the Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping as a tyrant so from this image as we can see that Xi Jinping is actually eating a baby's torso of course this image is a metaphor itself but I think it's accurate enough to reflecting what is really going on inside of China do you like being this close to this plug it's very dramatic maybe I'm one of the artists in the world that depicting his face the most [Music] you clearly poke the bear your art is very graphic and and not at all complementary um no in this case I want to say poke the panda um yes I think to be honest the worst part of China is we have this very uh authoritarian regime and now this kind of brutality is spreading all over the world so it doesn't matter where you are in the world exactly body says Chinese authorities have put so much pressure on galleries here he can't get his work shown in Australia and as his International reputation has grown inside China the artist's family has been targeted and interrogated by authorities it means to continue his fight against repression the human rights Defender has had to cut ties with loved ones to keep them safe the Chinese are sorry want me to giving up making art or the consequence is quote unquote as they say there'll be no mercy to me no mercy to you exactly but you did not give up your art yeah because I do not believe that you can exchange freedom for your safety body is a brave man but China's campaign of intimidation is Relentless and outrageous his Australian citizenship offering scant protection in Melbourne I've been experiencing being followed by a very suspicious person I was on the bus suddenly I find myself surrounded by four Asia middle aged male all dressed very similar um and they're all actually equipped a Bluetooth ear gear do you have any ideas actually sending you these as much as it all sounds like a Hollywood fiction body says to keep one step ahead to ensure his safety and survival he must constantly move between cities and countries this set us up I really should beat you to death but staying in the shadows doesn't stop the almost daily death threats which body is certain come from China anyone who offends China will be killed no matter how far the target is yeah so no matter how far you are in Australian American and Europe if you are a fan China then it will be killed you will be killed Wizards very long from China yes this week that long arm reached into Poland with officials from the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw demanding bardi's latest art exhibition be closed down the gallery operators refused to be intimidated how is it that China with all its power can be so wounded by someone like you um is this insecure feeling among our dictators they have turned themselves into this control freak they cannot trust anyone so even if it's one voice even if it's one individual they will crack down on them like they're at war with them at war with you exactly and that war has been stepped up to an audacious and terrifying New Height with the discovery of a secret Chinese police force operating throughout the world it is almost Unthinkable and it's definitely designed to be monitoring harassing and creating some kind of intimidation against anyone who want to criticize the Chinese government 21 year old Wang Jing Yu who lives in the Netherlands has first-hand experience of this secret Force intent on flexing its muscle anywhere anytime he fled China four years ago after posting his support for Hong Kong democracy operating out of Rotterdam the overseas police station Tracked Down The Young dissident to repeatedly harass him every day the Chinese overseas police stations they make over 100 times don't go to me Jing new says he was bombarded by calls one after the other and all through the night to pressure him to return to China they asked me go to rotterdal Chinese or versus police station surrender talk to them and go back to China because I refused what would happen to you if you returned to China if I returned to China I think probably I will go in prison yeah it's very terrible how when you heard that there was a police station in Rotterdam that was Chinese so I feel very terrible I'm so scared because they can't do anything we are not deceased yeah back in China in 2021 jinyu's parents were taken into custody to pay for the crimes of their son and as a brutal bargaining chip to ensure jinyu's return how long were your parents detained for it's over one year yeah over one year and are they safe now actually I don't know I don't know anything about my parents to be honestly I I don't know where is my parents are you ever tempted to be silent to make your life easier and no I will not because of you know if I accept this I just you know stop talking under the Chinese Authority will think this place work under and they will use this plan to attack another Chinese dissidents so I would not do this yeah Rotterdam is just one of a network of secret police stations set up on foreign soil so far more than 100 have been identified in 53 countries including here you believe there are two police stations in Australia the Chinese authorities lists at least two police stations in Australia in an extraordinary escalation that ignores international law or borders China now stands accused of running a secret police force in 53 countries around the world it's believed there are more than a hundred of these individual stations and they operate in the shadows out of restaurants private homes and small businesses tracking down stalking and intimidating critics who've escaped China and the allegation is two have been found in Australia we have the risk that the Chinese police have been trying to covertly operate in Australia without the consent of the Australian government and that of course is a serious concern The Senator James Patterson the head of our foreign interference committee the emergence of these police stations is a shocking clandestine incursion we have to say that our borders are not up for negotiation that you can't come and operate behind our borders that's the whole purpose of this that it's covert and that it's Secret the Chinese is certainly happy to acknowledge the existence Chinese service stations on state media in 2018 they proudly announced the opening of the first station in the Sydney CBD along with 20 others around the world currently the wengzhou public Security Bureau has established 20 liaison points in 11 cities including Vancouver Sydney Paris and New York these stations were all set up by the public Security Bureau which is the police department in the city of wenjo but it's this list which is truly compelling because it identifies a second Chinese overseas police station in Australia it comes from another public Security Bureau this one from the city of nantong and it's extraordinary for its detail on it are the addresses and phone numbers of a further 29 overseas police stations set up on foreign soil now for legal reasons I can't give you their exact locations but they're in France Peru Canada South Africa even New Zealand but most alarming item number 17 clearly shows a residential address deep in Suburban Sydney this is what the Chinese authorities public security authorities in China say they have done so it is thumb that state that they have set up such stations in in Australia in Sydney to be specific director of human rights organization Safeguard Defenders using open source material collected from the Chinese web Laura's team last year uncovered more than a hundred police stations China proudly claims they're designed to provide services to Chinese Nationals living abroad as well as catch criminals who fled the mainland but the fact they were set up without the permission of many host countries makes them illegal and in Laura's view a dangerous front for so much more the public security bureaus that have been setting up these stations these are really the police authorities within the People's Republic of China the link between the overseas police stations and the public security bureaus in effect means police from mainland China are running an international Shadow police force wherever they like but according to the Australian federal police those Chinese police stations are not active here we don't have that situation in Australia it would be obviously utterly unacceptable if there was a Undeclared unauthorized China's police presence in Australia wouldn't it be completely unacceptable great and um and if your organization became aware of it you would act on it ah correct why is there suspicion then that there are two in Australia if we're being told that or not it should be Crystal Clear one way or the other and it would be unusual if you think about it that Australia was one of the only countries in the world that didn't have any of these sites operational documents out of China point to this address being one of the secret police stations in Sydney and while the AFP won't comment our months of Investigation can reveal this non-descript home is owned by the executive president of an organization in China that helped set up the underground police force around the world is that the case that the Australian authorities did not know that they set up here our understanding is that the vast majority of targeted countries of these clandestine overseas Police Service Centers indeed did not know that those were set up but Victor GAO a former Foreign Affairs Diplomat for China doesn't know what all the fuss is about he maintains the police stations are there mainly to provide to the overseas Community the same admin Services carried out in China for instance renewing driver's licenses I would say that the demand for such services are very legitimate and very normal for example what about a divorce or asset disposal for example and kids education going to school in China you do need to have access to the ministry of public security or the provincial Municipal bureaus to get certificates for example in order to make sure that your daily lives are not disrupted it's just unusual isn't it and quite unique that China of all the nations in the world requires this system no one else does you don't have Australian police stations in China you don't have American police stations operating in China to supply the citizens with driver's licenses it's completely unnecessary it's com it's just it's just a fur fee I do hope major countries like Australia and the United States should also realize that lots of services need to be provided to the Chinese communities news of the Chinese overseas police stations made world headlines in April this year when the FBI shut down one operating in Manhattan investigators did not accept the services on offer were legitimate accusing two men of harassing and intimidating a U.S resident the pair has been charged with conspiring to act as agents for the People's Republic of China the Chinese National Police appear to have been using the station to track a U.S resident on U.S soil Victor gal unashamedly argues though that as well as providing administrative support it's the Communist party's right to track down and return to China criminals from anywhere in the world the point Victor is you've not been invited into these countries you're operating without them knowing hey it's illegal but B it's completely unacceptable if countries cooperate it's an easy job if they don't cooperate then I think you need to understand why sometimes they go to the extreme to find out who these criminals are where they are what they have done so what you're saying Victor is if the host nation doesn't cooperate you're coming anyway it doesn't matter well between China and Australia China and the United States for example such government to government corporation is not in the best shape and sometimes you right into difficulties but the demand for such Services still exist and how do you provide such demand and also to hunt down criminals it certainly would be totally unlawful for a foreign Police Service to operate any sort of liaison office in Australia without the consent of the Australian government and I'm not aware of the Australian government ever giving consent for those to be operated there's this sort of sense of impunity or arrogance that they can go around the world doing what they like Andrew Phelan who dared to criticize China and invoked its Fury is equally outraged about the discovery of this Shadow police force part of a growing club of Australians being strong-armed by death threats and smear campaigns by the Chinese authorities to silence criticism but Andrew refuses to be cowed by these dirty tactics and he says it's imperative to protect those in China's sites the idea is to rock you it's to shake your foundations it's to make you afraid to intimidate to coerce they're very good at this sort of thing will it work in my case no as we said the Australian federal police is adamant there are no Chinese police stations here but they've agreed to look at the information we've uncovered the Chinese Embassy in Canberra also denied the existence of the police stations dismissing our story as misinformation hello I'm Tara Brown thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia subscribe to our Channel now for brand new stories and exclusive Clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minutes segments and full episodes of 60 Minutes on nine now.com dot a u and the nine Now app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 1,027,232

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Tom Steinfort, 60Mins, Amelia Adams, news, world news, news australia, investigative journalism, 60 minutes australia youtube, 60 minutes youtube, 60 minutes episodes, 60 minutes australia episodes, 60 minutes australia, 60 minutes, china, ccp, people's republic of china, chinese communist party, china communist, police stations, foreign police station, china overseas, intimidation tactics, badiuco, chinese dissident

Id: 7L9ubuwBDkI

Length: 28min 4sec (1684 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 18 2023

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[u/operontronic]

I'm in Australia and I can't watch the video released by 60 Minutes Australia??

[u/heels_n_skirt]

Fuck the CCP!

[u/Occylou]

Fuck the ccp

[u/jamughal1987]

What is their purpose?

[u/jameskchou]

Apparently Canada tolerates their presence while the Americans are actually working to shut them down.

[u/WPackN2]

I'm waiting for the day when Western CEO's who are in bed with Chinese government get the shaft by these shady entities.

[u/_over-lord]

If you want to learn more about this topic go to advchina, they’ve been shining a spotlight on this issue for quite a while.