Two More Chinese ‘Police’ Centers Discovered in Canada

Two more police centers run by Chinese authorities have been found in Canada. The newly confirmed Chinese-run police centers add to the three that were previously discovered in the Greater Toronto Area. RCMP is investigating reports of criminal activity in relation to these Chinese centers.

Safeguard Defenders, a Spain-based non-governmental organization released a report called “Patrol and Persuade” where it pointed out that there are at least 48 additional stations, citing open-source statements from People’s Republic of China authorities, state media, and Chinese police. Two of these centers have been found in Canada. One of them is in Vancouver and is operated out of Wenzhou while the other is in an unknown location and is operated out of Nantong.

Back in September, 54 such stations were revealed and the total has now gone up to 102 across 53 countries. These stations are said to be coercing Chinese nationals in other countries who have allegedly committed crimes in China to return to the country. On the other hand, the consulate general of the People’s Republic of China said in October that the centers are there to help Chinese citizens renew their driver’s licenses as a lot of them are not able to return to China for it due to the pandemic.

Safeguard Defenders states some of the host countries helped in setting up these centers. It also mentioned that most of the documented centers were set up starting in 2016, way before the pandemic. In a previous report, the organization revealed that Chinese police “persuaded” 230,000 claimed fugitives to return to China “voluntarily” between April 2021 and July 2022. The Chinese government was apparently punishing the relatives of the Chinese nationals and denying their children the right to education.

Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that they are aware of the Chinese police stations. “We’ve known for many years that there are consistent engagements by representatives of the Chinese government into Canadian communities, with local media, reports of illicit Chinese police stations.”

RCMP is investigating reports of criminal activity in relation to the ‘police’ stations, officials told CTV National News.

Vineet Washington