Beijing [China], November 13 (ANI): China has expanded its overseas surveillance and policing network through more than 1,247 global liaison points, including over 40 alleged monitoring outposts in the United States, which are reportedly being used to monitor Chinese diaspora communities, collect intelligence and suppress dissent, according to a report by The Epoch Times (TET).
Citing findings by Spain-based human rights organisation Safeguard Defenders, The Epoch Times reported that Beijing has continued expanding its global policing infrastructure despite publicly claiming to have shut down clandestine overseas Chinese police stations exposed in 2022. Safeguard Defenders had initially identified more than 100 such police stations operating across at least 50 countries.
Titled “A Formula for Repression: China’s Global Grid for Community Control,” the latest report documents 1,247 overseas liaison points operating in at least 91 countries. It alleges that these hubs are embedded within Chinese diaspora organisations and are used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to monitor overseas communities, gather intelligence and suppress political opposition.
According to the report, more than 10 police forces from five Chinese provinces are involved in the network, coordinating with prosecutors, courts and justice bureaus based in China. It further alleges that Beijing has rebranded its overseas police operations rather than dismantling them, removing police signboards while continuing activities through existing diaspora organisations.
The report identifies New York as the US city with the highest number of alleged outposts, with at least 10, followed by San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston. Other locations include Pittsburgh, Washington, Salt Lake City, Omaha, St. Louis, St. Paul in Minnesota and Charlotte in North Carolina.
According to Safeguard Defenders, Chinese police and political-legal authorities have increasingly operated through the Overseas Chinese Federation, a United Front organisation, under the banners of legal services and protecting the rights of overseas Chinese nationals.
The report also highlights the role of the CCP’s United Front Work Department, which operates under the party’s Central Committee and coordinates organisations involved in foreign influence operations, intelligence gathering and suppressing dissent. Separately, the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation identified at least 967 United Front groups in the United States in a February report.
Citing examples of alleged transnational repression, the report refers to a Brussels-based liaison hub tasked with compiling information on prominent overseas Chinese figures. It also highlights France’s 2025 expulsion of the de facto president of a Chinese business association linked to a Fuzhou overseas police station. In June, France’s top administrative court reportedly ruled that the station had functioned as a conduit for CCP diaspora-control bodies and China’s Ministry of Public Security.
In the United States, a Fuzhou overseas police station operating inside a New York-based Chinese association was shut down following an FBI raid in 2022. Two individuals associated with the operation faced charges, with one pleading guilty in 2024 and the other being convicted in May.
The report’s author, Laura Harth, urged governments to address United Front networks, strengthen foreign-agent registration requirements and engage directly with diaspora communities targeted by alleged surveillance.
Meanwhile, 54 lawmakers from 26 countries belonging to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China issued a joint statement on November 6, calling for stronger foreign-interference laws, disclosure of links to United Front organisations and reporting mechanisms to protect diaspora communities.
“The era of willful blindness and overly tolerant acquiescence in the face of authoritarian encroachment must come to an immediate and decisive end,” the lawmakers stated, according to The Epoch Times. (ANI)
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