China’s diaspora crackdown reaches deep into Europe, report finds

Résumé détaillé

The report alleging Beijing uses hundreds of European outposts to monitor and police diaspora communities lands as EU trade officials meet a Chinese counterpart.

THE HAGUE — Beijing is overseeing nearly 1,250 overseas policing outposts in more than 90 countries to crack down on dissidents, according to a report by a human rights advocacy organization.

The report described Europe as a hotspot with hundreds of Beijing’s policing offices across some two dozen European countries, which it said exposed China’s growing attempts to control its diaspora.

Researchers at the Spain-based organization, Safeguard Defenders, gathered open-source evidence from the Chinese Party-state to examine the extent to which the Chinese diaspora is monitored, surveilled and policed around the world.

These policing outposts “act as the Chinese Communist Party operatives for community surveillance and enforcement abroad,” according to the report.

The report lands at an awkward time for Europe’s trade officials. Ditte Juul Jørgensen, head of the EU’s trade department — which has been working to balance the trade relationship with Beijing — will meet with China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Ling Ji in Brussels on Thursday.

Europe is attempting to walk a fine line with its relations with Beijing. EU legislation proposed in January seeks to kick risky Chinese suppliers out of Europe’s most critical industries over cybersecurity concerns, while supply chain dependencies and political coercion remain ongoing challenges. The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas has also raised concerns about what she said was China’s enabling of Russia’s war in Ukraine and credible reports of China training Russia’s military.

The report builds on initial revelations from Safeguard Defenders in 2022 that identified more than 100 facilities around the world, which the NGO described as overseas outposts of China’s security apparatus. Back then, that report said Beijing announced its “first batch” of “30 overseas police service stations in 25 cities in 21 countries.”

Following the revelations, some governments denounced the overseas police stations as illegal, and some pursued criminal…

“Far…

Début de l'article, extrait de Politico Europe. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.