The Italian interior minister said on Dec. 19 that Italy will stop allowing the Chinese communist regime’s police to take part in joint patrols with Italian police in its territory. The decision came after the Italian government was accused of turning a blind eye to covert overseas Chinese police “service stations” set up in its cities.
Italy signed a bilateral deal with the Chinese communist regime in 2015 to let Chinese police officers do joint patrols with Italian police in Rome, Milan, Naples, and other Italian cities.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told Il Foglio newspaper on Dec. 19, “I can say that those forms of cooperation will no longer be practiced or replicated in other forms.”
He said that the joint patrols took place between 2016 and 2019, and were “suspended” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister’s decision follows reports by Safeguard Defenders that revealed that the Chinese regime has covertly set up police stations in other countries. The reports by the Spain-based rights group have attracted significant attention in the international community.
In its latest report, Safeguard Defenders stated that evidence shows that the Chinese regime has set up at least 102 “Chinese Overseas Police Service Centers” in 53 countries around the world, mostly in the West. Among them, 11 stations are in Italy, the largest number in any one country.
‘Police Service Stations’ Monitor Overseas Chinese
The Chinese regime has been expanding its surveillance capacity globally, especially targeting the Chinese diaspora.The overseas Chinese stations are set up and run by a few Chinese regional public security authorities in collaboration with Chinese overseas associations and some business communities.
Safeguard Defenders have identified four different Chinese local police jurisdictions. For example, Wenzhou and Qingtian police departments in China set up the “Chinese police service stations” in Milan. The Nantong police also set up such stations in Italy. The majority of Chinese immigrants in Italy are from the aforementioned regions.
The Chinese regime has claimed that the centers are run by volunteers to provide administrative services to overseas Chinese citizens, such as passport renewal. The report pointed out that these covert overseas Chinese police stations are extension of the regime’s control over Chinese expats and immigrants. The Chinese police have admitted that the stations are for “using overseas Chinese to govern overseas Chinese.”
The Chinese regime set up the covert police centers without informing the host countries’ governments, the report pointed out.
The Netherlands, Ireland, and Canada have already ordered investigations into the Chinese police stations in their territories. They consider the establishment of such overseas Chinese police service stations, regardless of their purposes, illegal and in violation of the Vienna Convention.
“For them, it’s a matter of basic democratic freedoms that are being denied to them because of communist China’s growing presence overseas, where these stations are yet another tool in ‘using overseas Chinese to govern overseas Chinese.’”
The Chinese embassy in Rome didn’t comment after Piantedosi’s announcement.
