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Crime & Law


CHINESE OVERSEAS POLICE STATION IN DUBLIN ORDERED TO SHUT


DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TOLD CHINESE EMBASSY TO CLOSE ‘POLICE SERVICE
STATION’ IN DUBLIN CITY

Expand


The Department of Foreign Affairs informed the Chinese embassy that the office
on Capel Street should close and cease operations. Photograph Nick Bradshaw/The
Irish Times

Jack Power
Conor Gallagher
Thu Oct 27 2022 - 05:00

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The Department of Foreign Affairs ordered a Chinese “police service station”
operating in Dublin city centre to close, following scrutiny over the activities
of the overseas offices.

The Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station opened earlier this year in an office
building on Capel Street, which it shared with other Chinese organisations.

The presence of the station, which the Chinese embassy said only offered Chinese
nationals administrative assistance such as helping with drivers’ licence
renewals, had come under increased scrutiny in recent months.

A report from human rights group Safeguard Defenders said the station is part of
a worldwide network of overseas Chinese law enforcement offices, some of which
have been known to “persuade” Chinese emigrants to return home, sometimes to
face criminal charges.



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The Dutch government recently announced it would investigate two stations
operating in the Netherlands, following allegations they had been used to
monitor Chinese dissidents living abroad.

The Chinese embassy in Dublin has insisted the Capel Street office was not
involved in any law enforcement activity. There is no evidence it was involved
in “persuasion” activities .



[ Why is there a Chinese police outpost on Dublin’s Capel Street? ]

However, following media reports, the operation of the station in Ireland had
been the subject of discussion among Government departments.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said neither
Chinese authorities nor officials from the Fujian province or Fuzhou city sought
permission from the department to set up the station in Dublin.

As a result, department officials raised the presence of the police service
station with the Chinese embassy in recent weeks.

“The Department noted that actions of all foreign states on Irish territory must
be in compliance with international law and domestic law requirements,” a
spokesman said. “On this basis, the Department informed the Embassy that the
office on Capel Street should close and cease operations.”

The Chinese embassy had confirmed “that the activities of the office have
ceased,” the spokesman said.

In a statement, the Chinese embassy said the station had been set up to help
citizens from Fujian province renew driving licenses that had expired during the
Covid-19 pandemic. “ Now the Fujian Provincial authorities have announced that
the driving licenses can be renewed online by mobile, so the activities carried
by the facility were terminated,” it said.



A significant proportion of the Chinese community in Ireland are believed to
come from Fuzhou, a city of eight million people in the Fujian province on
China’s southeast coast.

At the start of this month signage for the station was removed from the front of
the Capel Street building, but the embassy would not respond to queries about
whether the station had ceased operating.


JACK POWER

Jack Power is a reporter with The Irish Times




CONOR GALLAGHER

Conor Gallagher is Crime Correspondent of The Irish Times


Department of Foreign Affairs


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