Secret Chinese Police Stations: How Beijing Polices Beyond Its Borders

Secret Chinese police stations have been uncovered in the United States, France, Italy, Britain, and dozens of other countries. But the buildings are only part of the story.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, Sarah Adams looks at how Beijing extends its reach beyond China’s borders to monitor dissidents, collect information, pressure critics, and in some cases push people to return to China.

From the federal prosecution of operators tied to a clandestine police station in Manhattan to recent expulsions in Italy, investigations are exposing how these networks operate. Sarah breaks down China’s overseas police service centers, “persuasion to return,” Operation Fox Hunt and Sky Net, the role of community networks and access, and why shutting down a physical police station does not necessarily dismantle the system behind it.

The question is no longer simply how many secret Chinese police stations remain. It is whether the networks that made them possible are still operating. They are.