*Photograph by Conor Gallagher on Irish Times

An explosive report was released earlier this month indicating that the Chinese Communist Party has set up Chinese police stations in cities all over the world including New York City, London, Frankfurt, Paris, etc, but the real challenge came when signs were found in Dublin, Ireland, saying “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station.”

Government officials in Ireland are seeking answers from the Chinese embassy about the presence of a Chinese police station.

According to reports, the Chinese government opened up the Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station in Dublin earlier this year in an office building located on Capel Street. The sign was taken down after it was discovered.

This office in Dublin represents a new threat for Chinese Christians who now face ongoing persecution in China.

Safeguard Defenders, a human rights group, originally released the report detailing “110 overseas stations” used to help the Chinese Communist Party by “cracking down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving overseas Chinese.”

These Chinese police stations are extremely effective ways for the Communist Party to extend their power and influence in nations outside of China. In the period between April 2021 and July 2022, Chinese authorities claimed that 230,000 Chinese nationals were successfully “persuaded to return” to China to face criminal proceedings for their actions because of the presence of their overseas police stations.

The police stations are not necessarily marked with signs outside the door that say “CHINESE POLICE STATIONS,” like the one in Dublin, but instead are cooperative efforts made up of several thousand agents based in capital cities all over the world working in cooperation with Chinese police to enforce Chinese law in other countries.

According to the report, “On 23 May 2019, People’s Public Security News published the article《探索爱侨护侨助侨机制，设立 警侨驿站海外服务中心 青田警方积极打造“枫桥经验” 海外版》48 on the Qingtian County Public Security Bureau’s “innovative set up of Overseas Police Service Centers” providing “convenient services for the vast number of overseas Chinese” in a cited 21 cities in 15 countries, including Rome, Milan, Paris, Vienna, Austria, etc., “hiring 135 Qingtian-born overseas Chinese leaders and leaders of overseas Chinese groups” and “establishing a team of more than 1,000 overseas grid service information personnel,” coordinated by a “domestic liaison center.”

The overseas police stations use three main ways to “convince” law breakers to return to China. The first is to threaten personal harm, injury or loss if they do not return to China to face their punishment. The second is to threaten personal harm, injury, or loss to friends, family, parents, and children if they do not return. The third and least used option is to kidnap the individual and forcefully transport them back to China.