A man has admitted to running a secret Chinese “police station” in New York

A US citizen has pleaded guilty to helping run what has been described as the first known secret police station in the US on behalf of the Chinese government.

Prosecutors say Chen Jinping and his co-defendant Lu Jianwang opened and operated the station in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood in early 2022 on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

At least 100 such stations have been reported worldwide in 53 countries, and human rights groups accuse China of using the outposts to threaten and monitor Chinese citizens abroad.

But China denies they are police stations, saying they are “maintenance stations” that provide administrative services to citizens abroad.

The outpost, which took up an entire floor above a ramen stand, did provide basic services such as renewing driver’s licenses for Chinese citizens, but it also helped Beijing identify pro-democracy activists living in the United States, federal authorities say.

Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general at the US Department of Justice, called the attempt to operate an undeclared police station abroad “a clear affront to US sovereignty and a danger to our community that cannot be tolerated.”

The station was closed in the fall of 2022 after the FBI opened an investigation.

But Chen and Lu destroyed text messages they exchanged with a police officer when they learned of the investigation, prosecutors said.

Men who are American citizens were was arrested in April last year.

Chen, 60, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to act as a Chinese agent and faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced next year.

Chen’s guilty plea is “a stark reminder of the (Chinese) government’s insidious efforts to threaten, harass and intimidate those who oppose their Communist Party,” said Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s national security division. statement.

Lu, 59, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. Prosecutors accused him of stalking a suspected Chinese fugitive to return to China and helping locate a pro-democracy activist in California on behalf of the Communist Party.

At the time of Chen’s arrest, authorities said it was the first time the US had brought criminal charges against such police posts.

Mr Olsen said US authorities would “continue to prosecute anyone who attempts to assist the PRC’s efforts to extend its repressive actions to the United States”.

In September, Linda Sun, a former aide in the New York governor’s office, was charged with using his position to serve the interests of the Chinese government. They say that in return she received benefits, including travel.

Last year, 34 MPS officers were also charged with using fake social media accounts to harass Chinese dissidents in the US and spread official Chinese government propaganda.