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A New York man has pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of the Chinese government and operating an undeclared police station in lower Manhattan. This comes over a year after the US Justice Department launched initiatives to prevent Beijing from targeting and silencing Chinese-American pro-democracy activists, reported The Guardian.
Chen Jinping, 60, admitted to running the secret station under the authority of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) Ministry of Public Security (MPS). He faces up to five years in jail after pleading guilty to acting illegally as a foreign agent. His co-defendant, Lu Jianwang, 62, who is also a US citizen, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is awaiting trial.
The police station was exposed as part of a broader effort by the US Department of Justice to disrupt Chinese government activities aimed at repressing Chinese-American pro-democracy activists. According to US Attorney Breon Peace, the operation was part of a "transnational repression scheme" orchestrated by China to suppress dissent among its diaspora communities in the US.
The station performed basic administrative functions, such as renewing Chinese driving licences, but also engaged in more "sinister" activities, including helping locate a Chinese-American pro-democracy activist in California. FBI Assistant Director James Dennehy said Chen admitted his role in establishing the station, which "furthered the repressive aims of the PRC" in violation of US sovereignty.
The police station, shut down in late 2022, was located on a whole floor of an office building in Manhattan's Chinatown. In October 2022, the FBI raided the facility and seized the phones of Chen and Lu. An investigation into the devices showed that messages between the two men and an official from the Ministry of Public Security seemed to have been erased. Chen's sentencing is scheduled for next year.
The US government has been increasingly vigilant about foreign interference, with past cases involving attempts to influence US policies or pressure Chinese nationals living in the country. In 2020, many people were charged for working on behalf of China to coerce a New Jersey man into returning to China. In September 2024, the US charged Linda Sun, a former aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, for covertly serving as an agent of the Chinese government.