A human rights organization says it has found dozens of additional overseas Chinese "police service centres" around the world, including at least two more in Canada.
In a new report released Monday called "," the Spain-based non-governmental organization Safeguard Defenders says it used open source statements from People's Republic of China authorities, Chinese police and state media to document at least 48 additional stations.
This on top of the , bringing the total number of documented centres to 102 in 53 countries. Some host countries also have co-operated in setting up these centres, Safeguard Defenders says.
The stations are accused of targeting Chinese nationals living abroad, particularly those who allegedly committed crimes in China, in order to coerce them to return home.
Safeguard Defenders reports that along with the three police "stations" previously confirmed in the Greater Toronto Area, which are operated out of the Chinese city of Fuzhou, it has found newly confirmed centres in Vancouver, operated out of Wenzhou, and another whose location is unknown but operates out of Nantong.
In a statement to CTV National News on Monday, the RCMP said it's "investigating reports of criminal activity in relation to the so-called 'police' stations." No further details were provided.
A similar statement was given by the police force to CP24 in late October following the .
The consulate general of the People's Republic of China said at the time that the stations are to help Chinese citizens renew their driver's licences, given many of them are unable to return to China due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the "local volunteers" facilitating this "are not Chinese police officers."
However, Safeguard Defenders says the vast majority of the newly documented stations were set up starting in 2016, years before the pandemic began.
In its previous report in September, Safeguard Defenders found that Chinese police "persuaded" to return to China "voluntarily" between April 2021 and July 2022. Among the tactics used, Safeguard Defenders said, included denying suspects' children in China the right to education and punishing relatives through "guilt by association."
The U.S. Department of Justice accused seven people in October of a yearslong campaign to harass and intimidate to return to China.
While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the G20 summit in Indonesia in November, his office told reporters that he had raised concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping of "interference" in Canada.
Asked about what specific interference he referred to, Trudeau later told the House of Commons, "We've known for many years that there are consistent engagements by representatives of the Chinese government into Canadian communities, with local media, reports of illicit Chinese police stations."
With files from CP24 Web Content Writer Joanna Lavoie, CTV National News Vancouver Bureau Chief Melanie Nagy, CTV News Toronto Videojournalist Allison Hurst and The Canadian Press
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