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"China is AuThORItAriAN!" - Liberals (lemmy.ml)

submitted 18 hours ago by Smackyroon@lemmy.ml to c/memes@lemmy.ml

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[–] davel@lemmy.ml 5 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

It is widely known and actually mentioned in the article you linked above

The things mentioned in the article aren’t police stations, Chinese or otherwise, nor are they secret.

You also read the Chinese government’s explanation for their existence if you search the MFA website for 海外警务服务中心

I can’t read Chinese, can you?

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s Remarks on “Overseas Chinese Service Centers in the Netherlands”

AFP: The Dutch government said yesterday that no permission was sought from the Netherlands for the Chinese “police service stations”, and it ordered China to close the “police service stations” in the Netherlands. What is China's comment?

Zhao Lijian: I would refer you to competent authorities for more detailed information. Let me say that according to our understanding, the sites you mentioned are not “police stations” or “police service centers”. They assist overseas Chinese nationals who need help in accessing the online service platform to get their driving licenses renewed and receive physical check-ups for that purpose. The venues are provided by local overseas Chinese communities who would like to be helpful, and the people who work on those sites are all volunteers who come from these communities. They are not police personnel from China. There is no need to make people nervous about this.

[–] astro@leminal.space 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I can’t read Chinese, can you?

Yes, I lived in China for almost a decade.

The things mentioned in the article aren’t police stations, Chinese or otherwise, nor are they secret.

That is the exactly the crux of the conflict, when does a citizen service station abroad that maintains communications with province-level PSBs and performs functions that the PSB would perform domestically need to seek approval from a host country? And why would the volunteers burn comms after the FBI started snooping in there were no secret dealings behind the scenes in the non-secret, totally-above-board hukou and drivers license operation? Beyond that, the testimonials from diaspora Chinese in the US are hard for me to handwave away. To be clear, I don't intend to take any moral stance on this, I just think it is a bit naive to assume China wouldn't do that or hasn't done that, even without considering the weight of the claims on either side, diaspora community/Biden DOJ and Zhao Lijian/the MFA.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

It seems you’ve done more research than me, and have more incentive to, having lived in China, so you tell me.

It’s doubtless that China has spy networks, as all countries do, and if some or all of these “police station” locations have connections to them, that wouldn’t surprise me. But “secret police station” implies that China is extraordinarily renditioning people or locking them up in secret prisons in Toronto, New York, Amsterdam, etc. Even if they are part of a spy network, they’re still not “police stations.”

[–] astro@leminal.space 1 points 5 hours ago

Extraordinary rendition is actually something they've been quite credibly accused of doing, look into the case of Ling Huazhan.