Canada Summoned Chinese Ambassador Over Reports of Unofficial Police Stations on Canadian Soil

A Chinese state-media outlet lists this single-storey commercial building in Markham, Ont., as one of three overseas Chinese police stations in Canada. Michelle Hu/The Epoch Times

Canada has made official complaints to the Chinese ambassador in regard to reports of unofficial Chinese police service stations operating in Canada, a senior official from the foreign affairs department told MPs.

Weldon Epp, director general for Global Affairs Canada’s Asia Pacific Bureau, testified at the House Canada-China committee on Nov. 29, that his department has formally raised objections to the China ambassador in response to reports of over 50 unofficial Chinese police service stations around the world. The revelations were first reported by Spain-based human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders in a September report aimed at investigating Beijing’s long-arm policing and transnational repression.

“We’ve had several engagements. We’ve called the ambassador in on multiple occasions, and we’ve conveyed our deep concern,” he said.

“The Government of Canada has formally insisted that the Chinese government take account for—including the ambassador and his embassy—for any activities within Canada, that fall outside of the Vienna Conventions, and account for those, and ensure that they cease and desist.”

Conservative MP Raquel Dancho also asked Epp if Global Affairs Canada had reviewed the credentials of the diplomats from China to see if they are involved with any alleged police stations in Canada. Epp said he was not at liberty to answer that question, as investigations remain ongoing.

In his earlier testimony at the committee on Oct. 4, Epp said if the allegations about the police outposts are proven to be true, their actvities would be “entirely illegal, totally inappropriate, and would be subject to very serious representations and follow-up diplomatically.”

Under the international Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, administrative services in a foreign country have to be carried out by embassies and consulates. Those international treaties also state that diplomatic agents or consulate officers have “a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs” of the countries they are posted at.

The Chinese embassy in Canada has acknowledged the existence of the police service stations in response to a CBC News inquiry but said the stations are used to provide Chinese citizens living abroad with services such as driver’s licence renewal, and that the service centres are needed to perform eyesight and hearing examinations.

The embassy said the stations are staffed by volunteers, who are “not Chinese police officers” and are “not involved in any criminal investigation or relevant activity.”

Safeguard Defenders said in its report that the police service stations, dubbed “110 overseas”—named after the 110 police emergency phone number in China—serve a more “sinister goal” in bolstering a Chinese official campaign that appears to fight telecommunication fraud, but also targets non-suspects and dissidents fleeing Beijing’s religious and/or ethnic persecution.

The Chinese authorities have touted the success of the campaign that they say have “persuaded” up to 230,000 Chinese nationals to “voluntarily” return to China to face criminal proceedings between April 2021 and July 2022, according to the report.

“Persuasion to return” is a key method of the Chinese regime’s “involuntary returns” operations, which include its “Operation Fox Hunt” and the “Sky Net” campaign, which are part of the covert global anti-corruption operation introduced by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Safeguard Defenders said.