The chief of Wenzhou Public Security Bureau, Luo Jie, said at the ceremony that the contact point was a “positive response” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has been accused as a “debt trap” diplomacy to seek hegemony.

The Wenzhou police department’s official WeChat account referred those seeking the Sydney contact point to the Australia Wenzhou Chamber of Industry, while a spokesperson for the Chamber told the ABC that the contact point was closed and had not been operational for some time.

POLICE

Wenzhou police in China, however, said that the contact point should still be operating, according to ABC.

The disclosure of the Sydney contact point comes after a recent report which reveals that the CCP has set up similar police stations around the world for transnational repression.

The report, 110 Overseas: Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild, which was last month published by international human rights group Safeguard Defenders, warned that the CCP had set up “at least 54 police-run ‘service centres’ across five continents”.

These stations are also called 110 Overseas, named after China’s police emergency services phone number.

The report identified 54 Chinese overseas police stations in 30 countries. The stations are all under the jurisdiction of two local-level police services in China – the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau in Fuzhou City and the Qingtian County police in Zhejiang Province.

The real number of covert police stations, however, remains unclear.

“There is no complete list of such ‘110 Overseas’ police service stations available,” the report reads. “The number is undoubtedly larger and such stations more widespread.”

While these stations serve administrative purposes on the surface, such as extending China’s driving licence and processing official documents, they have a “more sinister goal, as they contribute to ‘resolutely cracking down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving overseas Chinese”,” the Safeguard Defenders report said.

Some stations have already been “implicated in collaborating with Chinese police in carrying out policing operations on foreign soil,” the report noted.

From April 2021 to July 2022, an estimated 230,000 overseas Chinese nationals have been “persuaded to return” to the country to face criminal charges, according to a Chinese State media report.

Safeguard Defenders noted such “persuasion to return” involves harassment and intimidation of the target’s relatives in China.

When the target refuses to comply, their families could face punishment, such as their children being denied education.

ORGANS

“These methods allow the CCP and their security organs to circumvent normal bilateral mechanisms of police and judicial cooperation, thereby severely undermining the international rule of law and territorial integrity of the third countries involved,” the report states.

“It leaves legal Chinese residents abroad fully exposed to extra-legal targeting by the Chinese police, with little to none of the protection theoretically ensured under both national and international law.”

The campaign director of Safeguard Defend, Laura Harth, said the station ought to be reviewed as “a matter of urgency and investigations initiated into the illegal practices taking place on Australian soil.”

“The existence of such an undisclosed agreement is an integral part of the CCP’s ongoing campaign to instil further fear in the overseas Chinese community and may severely impact their ability to enjoy the fundamental freedoms guaranteed under Australia’s legal framework,” she told The Epoch Times.

“Furthermore, we call for coordinated, targeted sanctions on the PRC’s institutions and individuals engaged in these illegal operations.”

The Safeguard Defenders report has sparked widespread concerns around the world.

In the United States, Frank Gaffney, the executive chairman of the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, is urging the US Government to press other countries to shut down Chinese police outposts.

“This Chinese Communist Party is not just a mortal threat to us, it is a horrific, indeed mortal threat to its own people,” he said.

In Canada – which has no bilateral policing treaties with Beijing – has launched an investigation into China’s covert policing activities.

“What’s being alleged would be entirely illegal, totally inappropriate and would be subject to very serious representations and follow-up diplomatically,” said Canada’s Director General of Global Affairs Weldon Epp.

Ireland and Spain have also initiated investigations after the report was published.

The CCP’s activities have been described as “not unexpected” by China experts.

“It is not really ‘news’ that the Chinese authorities operate overseas police presence in Australia and around the world,” Australia-based political scientist Lin Bin said.

MILITARY

“In every Chinese embassy or consulate, military attaches are part of its staff. Ostensibly the military attaches work as security guards to keep an eye on the security of the embassy or consulate.”

“However, they may not tell you that they have some other duties. They may try to collect information about the military of other countries.”

Lin said the Australian Government had not done enough to deal with such foreign interference.

“It should employ more staff to keep the safety of all people living in Australia,” he said.

The chair of the Federation for a Democratic China Dr Chin Jin – who is also based in Australia – agreed that China’s overseas policing presence was no surprise.

“The CCP’s long-armed jurisdiction takes place under the noses of Western countries, which is the result of the West opening its door to thieves for a long time,” Chin said.

“The West’s cognitive ability and level of awareness of the CCP is so low that it is numb to its long-arm jurisdiction and unknowingly acquiesces to the infringement of its sovereignty.

“Beijing is the world’s largest criminal organisation, but most western countries do not realise this.”

He said that as soon as Australia wakes up, Beijing’s extra police presence will disappear “like a monster in the dark in broad daylight”.

“It’s like criminals on a crowded bus victimising unwary passengers. With just one shout from the alert passenger, the crime can be stopped at once,” he said.

The AFP has signed several agreements with China’s State police agency, the Ministry of Public Security, to combat transnational crime and cooperate in a range of areas.

A senior lecturer in Chinese Studies at Monash University, Kevin Carrico, said this is an area where he would advise caution.

TOOLS

“There’s nothing that the AFP can do to change the fact that, unfortunately, police in China are basically just tools of the Party,” Mr Carrico said.

“But while understanding that a degree of cooperation may be necessary, I think that there does need to be real discussion and reflection on the nature of these agreements.”

“This needs to be done transparently and needs to be done in a way that serves Australia’s interests rather than just serving the interests of oppressive dictatorship, but far too often, these types of agreements with China are mired in secrecy.”