France Uncovers Nine Chinese Secret Police Stations

France has shut down nine covert Chinese police stations that Beijing allegedly used to monitor dissidents living abroad and pressure them to return to China.

According to Le Monde, the stations were dismantled earlier this year by French counterintelligence after a year-long investigation into China’s expanding influence and intelligence activities in France.

These unofficial outposts were allegedly operated under the authority of China’s Ministry of Public Security, with some concealed within Chinese community and cultural organizations, including in Paris.

They are accused of monitoring the Chinese diaspora in France, which numbers around 600,000 people, identifying opponents of the Chinese government, gathering intelligence, and recruiting informants.

According to France’s Ministry of the Interior, three individuals alleged to have managed these shadow police stations – all Chinese nationals – face deportation measures. Two have already been expelled. On June 9, at a hearing before the Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, a government rapporteur recommended upholding the deportation order against the third individual.

According to the French government, Ni Chaowen, 57, operated a covert police outpost disguised as a business association representing China’s Fujian Province.

Police reportedly found a photograph showing members of the organization standing in front of a sign that read “Fuzhou Overseas Police Service Station.”

In March 2024, Chinese operatives allegedly tried to force 26-year-old dissident Lin Huazhang onto a flight to China at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The Chinese overseas police network known as Overseas 110 began appearing around the world as early as 2014. The network was detailed in a 2022 report by Safeguard Defenders, which alleged that these police stations were part of Operation Fox Hunt, a global campaign run by the Chinese government.

According to the report, the stations were used to track, intimidate, and coerce individuals wanted by Beijing. Operatives allegedly pressured targets to return to China by threatening them and their family members. Chinese authorities subsequently detained many of those who returned.

Earlier this May, two Chinese nationals in the United Kingdom who were identified as members of a so-called “shadow police” network were convicted of spying.

In 2022, France’s General Directorate for Internal Security took steps to disrupt the network, issuing warnings to the individuals believed to be running the stations.

Beijing denies that the facilities are illegal police stations, describing them instead as “overseas service centers” established to help Chinese expatriates with administrative and consular matters.