The Department of Justice recently arrested two New York City residents for their roles in an illegal overseas police station for the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Harry Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan, were charged with acting as agents of the Chinese government and obstructing justice by destroying evidence of their communications with an MPS official.
The two men had established the first overseas police station in the United States on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the MPS. The police station was located on a floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown and was shut down in the fall of 2022 after the FBI’s investigation.
The PRC’s actions are a clear violation of our nation’s sovereignty and a threat to our freedoms. Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division stated, “These individuals worked to help the Chinese government surreptitiously open and operate an illegal MPS police station on US soil. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression.”
Lu had a long–standing relationship with Chinese law enforcement, including the MPS, and was tasked with carrying out various activities to assist the Chinese government’s oppressive activities on US soil. These activities included counterprotests against members of a forbidden religion, harassing a Chinese fugitive to return to China, and locating a pro–democracy activist living in California. Lu and Chen obstructed the FBI’s investigation by deleting their communications with the MPS official.
Acting Assistant Director Kurt Ronnow of the FBI Counterintelligence Division stated, “This case serves as a powerful reminder that the People’s Republic of China will stop at nothing to bend people to their will and silence messages they don’t want anyone to hear. The FBI is dedicated to protecting everyone in the United States against efforts to undermine our democratic freedoms, and we’ll hold any state actors – and those who help them – accountable for breaking our laws.”
🚨BREAKING: Two Chinese Nationals have been charged with running an “undeclared Chinese government police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown. pic.twitter.com/7CqQb3USHz
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 17, 2023
