Dissidents fear China’s ‘overseas police’ aim to silence them

China has reportedly established dozens of “overseas police stations” in nations around the world that activists fear could be used to track and harass dissidents as part of Beijing’s crackdown on corruption.

Information about the outposts underscored concerns about the

Chinese Communist Party’s influence over its citizens abroad, sometimes in ways deemed illegal by other countries.

Spanish-based non-government group Safeguard Defenders published a report last month, called “110 Overseas. Chinese Transnational

Policing Gone Wild”, that focused on the foreign stations.

Laura Harth, a campaign director with the group, told the Associated Press that China had set up at least 54 overseas police service stations.

“One of the aims of these campaigns, obviously, as it is to crack down on dissent, is to silence people,” Harth said. “So people are afraid. People that are being targeted, that have family members back in China, are afraid to speak out.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that Beijing wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“Chinese public security authorities strictly observe the international law and fully respect the judicial sovereignty of other countries,” Mao said.

Many of the facilities appeared to have links to the Fuzhou and Qingtian areas, where many overseas Chinese originate.