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

Beijing controls approximately 1,250 overseas policing stations in over 90 countries, according to a report by the human rights organization Safeguard Defenders. Europe is a focal point with hundreds of these stations scattered across several European nations, indicating China's expanding attempts to monitor and control its diaspora.

Researchers from Safeguard Defenders, a Spanish-based organization, gathered open-source evidence from the Chinese Party-state to assess the extent of Chinese diaspora monitoring, surveillance, and policing worldwide. These policing outposts serve as "the Chinese Communist Party operatives for community surveillance and enforcement abroad," according to the report.

The report comes at a challenging time for Europe's trade officials, who are striving to balance their relationship with Beijing. On Thursday, EU trade department head Ditte Juul Jørgensen will meet with China's Vice Minister of Commerce, Ling Ji, in Brussels. Europe is attempting to navigate a delicate balance with its relations with Beijing, as EU legislation proposed in January aims to expel risky Chinese suppliers from critical industries due to cybersecurity concerns, while supply chain dependencies and political coercion continue to be issues.

The report builds upon a 2022 Safeguard Defenders revelation that identified more than 100 facilities globally, described as China's overseas policing outposts. In response to these revelations, some governments denounced the stations as illegal, and some initiated criminal investigations. Beijing claimed the stations had been closed, but the report suggests expansion, with over 10 police forces from five Chinese provinces operating through a global network of Chinese Communist Party operatives abroad.

The latest paper was presented at a conference hosted by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a group of 52 cross-party lawmakers from 30 countries that advocates for a coordinated response to the Chinese Communist Party.

Lawmakers at the IPAC conference raised numerous concerns about security threats related to critical infrastructure, trade dependencies, and potential risks from a future conflict between China and Taiwan, which could disrupt shipping. China's foreign ministry and state media have labeled IPAC as "anti-China" and accused it of spreading disinformation and interfering in China's internal affairs, particularly concerning Taiwan.

China's Ministry for Foreign Affairs and its European Union mission did not respond to requests for comment on the report.

The 1,250 offices are "the tip of the iceberg," according to the NGO, which conservatively mapped and linked them to China's policing system. Officials must become more aware of the security threats posed by China, as their operations instill fear in diaspora communities and represent a national security risk, according to Laura Harth, author of the report.