The US Justice Department has announced the arrest of two individuals, Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping, for allegedly setting up an illegal Chinese police station in New York City. Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping were charged for allegedly conspiring to serve as agents of the Chinese government and obstructing justice. According to the DOJ, the two defendants established an illegal Chinese police station in a Manhattan office building under the direction of China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and allegedly deleted their communications with an MPS official once they became aware of the FBI's investigation.
In addition to these charges, the Justice Department has also charged 34 MPS officers with using fake social media accounts to intimidate Chinese dissidents in the U.S. and spread "official PRC government propaganda." These individuals are believed to reside in China and are accused of working as part of an elite task force to locate and harass Chinese dissidents around the world. The Justice Department claims that the accused group of 34 MPS officers used thousands of fake social media profiles on platforms such as Twitter to spread propaganda from the Chinese government and to enlist individuals in the United States to engage in similar activities.
The DOJ's move is part of a broader effort to combat the transnational repression of foreign dissidents living in the U.S. and is the latest in a series of similar cases involving Chinese officials. In the previous year, the Department of Justice brought charges against over a dozen defendants, most of whom were Chinese officials, for their supposed involvement in different activities such as repatriating critics of the Chinese government, acquiring confidential information about a U.S. inquiry into a Chinese telecom corporation, and enlisting spies to serve as agents of the Chinese government in the United States.
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