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中國海外警務站引多國擔憂:FBI搜查紐約站點

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中國海外警務站引多國擔憂:FBI搜查紐約站點

With F.B.I. Search, U.S. Escalates Global Fight Over Chinese Police Outposts

HILARY SWIFT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES 
The nondescript, six-story office building on a busy street in New York’s Chinatown lists several mundane businesses on its lobby directory, including an engineering company, an acupuncturist and an accounting firm.
這座不起眼的六層寫字樓位於紐約唐人街一條繁忙的街道上,大堂的租戶名錄上列出了幾家尋常公司,包括一家工程公司、一個針灸工作室和一家會計師事務所。
A more remarkable enterprise, on the third floor, is unlisted: a suspected Chinese police outpost operating without jurisdiction or diplomatic approval — one of more than 100 such outfits around the world that are unnerving diplomats and intelligence agents.
三樓則有一家不尋常的公司,沒有出現在名錄上:一家疑似在沒有管轄權或外交批准的情況下運作的中國海外警務服務站。這樣的機構在全球有100多個,它們令外交官和情報人員感到不安。
F.B.I. counterintelligence agents searched the building last fall as part of a criminal investigation being conducted with the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, according to people with knowledge of the inquiry. The search represents an escalation in a global dispute over China’s efforts to police its diaspora far beyond its borders. Irish, Canadian and Dutch officials have called for China to shut down police operations in their countries. The F.B.I. raid is the first known example of the authorities seizing materials from one of the outposts.
據知情人士透露,FBI反諜報人員於去年秋天搜查了這座大樓,這是布魯克林美國檢察官辦公室正在進行的刑事調查的一部分。此次搜查代表了一場全球爭端的升級,這場爭端圍繞中國在海外對其僑民的監管努力展開。愛爾蘭、加拿大和荷蘭官員呼籲中國停止在它們國家的警務行動。聯邦調查局的突然搜查是當局從這類警務站沒收材料的第一個已知案例。
Those who discussed the F.B.I. search did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. The Chinese Embassy in Washington on Wednesday played down the role of the outposts, saying they are staffed by volunteers who help Chinese nationals perform routine tasks like renewing their driver’s licenses back home.
因為未獲授權談論FBI的搜查,相關知情人士要求匿名。中國駐華盛頓大使館週三淡化了警務站的作用,表示在那裡做事的人是志願者,幫助中國公民完成一些諸如更新駕照等日常事宜。
But Chinese state news media reports reviewed by The New York Times cite police and local Chinese officials by name describing the operations very differently. They tout the effectiveness of the offices, which are frequently called overseas police service centers. Some reports describe the Chinese outposts “collecting intelligence” and solving crimes abroad without collaborating with local officials. The public statements leave it murky who exactly is running the offices. Sometimes they are referred to as volunteers; other times as staff members or, in at least one case, the director.
但《紐約時報》看到的中國官方新聞媒體報導實名提及了警官和中國地方官員,這些報導對這類行動的描述截然不同。他們吹捧這些辦事處的效率,它們通常被稱為海外警務服務中心。一些報導稱,中國的海外警務站在繞過當地警方的情況下「收集情報」並破獲國外犯罪活動。這些公開聲明讓人猜不透究竟是誰在管理這些辦事處。有時他們被稱為志願者;其他時候則是工作人員,至少在一例情況下是主任。
JUSTIN T. GELLERSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES 
Some of those online articles have been deleted recently as Western officials and human rights groups have called attention to the police offices.
最近,由於西方官員和人權組織呼籲關注這些警務站,其中一些文章已從網上刪除。
Western officials see the outposts as part of Beijing’s larger drive to keep tabs on Chinese nationals abroad, including dissidents. The most notorious such effort is known as Operation Fox Hunt, in which Chinese officials hunt down fugitives abroad and pressure them to return home.
西方官員將這些警務站視為北京加大力度推動監視海外中國公民(包括持不同政見者)的一部分。此類行動中最惡名昭彰的是「獵狐行動」,在該行動中,中國官員追捕海外逃犯並迫使他們回國。
At least four Chinese localities — Fuzhou, Qingtian, Nantong and Wenzhou — have set up dozens of police outposts, according to state media accounts and public statements published in China. They identify sites in Japan, Italy, France, Britain, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic and other nations.
根據官方媒體報導和在中國發表的公開聲明,至少有四個地方——福州、青田、南通和溫州——設立了數十個警務站。這些報導和聲明確認了在日本、義大利、法國、英國、德國、匈牙利、捷克共和國和其他國家存在站點。
“It’s extremely worrying from the human rights perspective. We’re essentially allowing the Chinese diaspora to be controlled by the P.R.C. rather than subject to our national laws,” said Igor Merheim-Eyre, an adviser to a Slovakian member of the European Parliament, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. “That obviously has a huge impact — not only for our relations with the Chinese diaspora across Europe, but also has huge implications for national sovereignty.”
「從人權的角度來看,這非常令人擔憂。我們實質上是在允許華人僑民被中華人民共和國控制,而不是受制於我們國家的法律,」歐洲議會一名斯洛伐克議員的顧問伊高爾·默海姆-艾爾說。「這顯然會產生巨大影響——不僅對我們與歐洲各地華人僑民的關係,而且對國家主權也有巨大影響。」
The New York outpost, which was set up by the city of Fuzhou, is based in the offices of a Chinese community organization, the America Changle Association NY, according to the state-run China Youth Daily, which last year published a document listing various police outposts. Changle is a district in the city of Fuzhou. The article has since been deleted. Other addresses of Chinese police outposts match locations of private businesses, including Chinese restaurants and commercial associations. The Chinese embassy in Washington described the spaces as “provided by local overseas Chinese communities who would like to be helpful.”
據官方媒體《中國青年報》報導,福州市在紐約設立的警務站位於華人社區組織紐約美國長樂公會的辦公室,該報去年發表了一份文件,列出了許多警務站。長樂是福州市的一個區。這篇文章後來被刪除了。其他中國警務站的地址與包括中餐館和商業協會在內的私營企業的地址相吻合。中國駐華盛頓大使館將這些空間描述為「由願意提供幫助的當地海外華人社區提供」。
HILARY SWIFT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
America Changle is headed by Lu Jianshun, known as Jimmy Lu, a donor to Mayor Eric Adams of New York. It is unclear whether he is a focus of the F.B.I.’s investigation. A spokesman for Mr. Adams said the mayor does not know him.
美國長樂公會的負責人盧建順(英文名Jimmy Lu)是紐約市長埃里克·亞當斯的捐款人之一。目前尚不清楚他是否是FBI的重點調查對象。亞當斯的發言人稱市長不認識他。
Mr. Lu, asked during a brief phone conversation about the F.B.I. search, said he would call back but did not. He did not respond to telephone and text messages seeking comment.Spokesmen for the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn declined to comment, but the F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray, told lawmakers in November that he was aware of and concerned by the outposts, which he called police stations.

中国领事馆吴晓明副总领事一行2023年4月访问美国长乐公会。图为吴晓明正在演讲。

 

在簡短的電話交談中,盧建順被問到有關FBI搜查的問題,他說他會回電,但未兌現。他沒有回覆置評請求的電話和短訊。FBI發言人和布魯克林的美國檢察官辦公室拒絕置評,但FBI局長克里斯托弗·雷曾在11月告訴立法者,他知道這些站點的存在——他稱之為警察局,並為此感到擔憂。
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said the sites are not police stations. “They are not police personnel from China,” said the embassy spokesperson, Liu Pengyu. “There is no need to make people nervous about this.”
中國駐華盛頓大使館表示,這些地點不是警察局。「他們不是來自中國的警察,」大使館發言人劉鵬宇說。「大家不必緊張。」
It is not automatically inappropriate for police officers to work overseas. The F.B.I., for example, posts agents abroad. But they typically declare themselves to the foreign government and work out of American embassies. If they perform law enforcement duties, it is with the permission of the local authorities. China has made similar arrangements for joint patrols in places like Italy, a popular destination for Chinese tourists.
警察在海外工作不一定就是不正當。例如,FBI也在國外派駐特工。但他們通常向外國政府申報並在美國大使館工作。如果履行執法職責,則需要獲得地方當局的許可。中國也有類似的聯合執法安排,例如在義大利,那裡是中國遊客的熱門目的地。
That makes the off-the-books operations all the more curious.
這使得這些未置於檯面之上的操作更加令人好奇。
China’s Foreign Ministry has said little in response to the criticism, but back in China, police departments have trumpeted their reach and information-gathering powers both in official statements and in the state news media.
中國外交部未對批評做出回應,但在中國,公安部門在官方聲明和官方新聞媒體上大肆宣揚他們的影響力和信息收集能力。
2016年,中國公安官員與中國遊客在在羅馬斗獸場前合影。
2016年,中國公安官員與中國遊客在在羅馬斗獸場前合影。 NADIA SHIRA COHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES 
One article in a newspaper associated with the propaganda department of China’s Qingtian County describes a Chinese woman who said she had money stolen in Budapest. Instead of calling the local authorities, she sought help from the Chinese police outpost there. The people in charge of the police center, the article said, used surveillance footage from a convenience store to identify the thief, a Romanian, and recovered the money through “negotiation and education.”
與中國青田縣宣傳部門有關的報紙上有篇文章稱,一名華人女子稱在布達佩斯被偷了錢。她沒有報告地方當局,而是向當地的中國警務站尋求幫助。文章稱,警務中心負責人利用一家便利店的監控錄像確定了小偷是一名羅馬尼亞人,並通過「交涉和教育」追回了這筆錢。
The state-run China News Service said Qingtian’s overseas police centers gathered information on public opinion and the sentiment of Chinese people living abroad.
官方的中國新聞社稱,青田縣的海外警務中心收集了海外華人的民意民情。
And an article posted by a Communist Party body in Jiangsu province said that Nantong City Overseas Police Linkage Service Centers had helped capture and persuade more than 80 criminal suspects to return to China since February 2016. The human rights group Safeguard Defenders said in a report late last year that the police stations carried out similar operations in Serbia, Spain and France.
江蘇一個黨組織發文稱,自2016年2月以來,南通市海內外警僑聯動服務中心已幫助抓捕和說服80多名犯罪嫌疑人返回中國。「保護衛士」人權組織在去年年底的一份報告中表示,這些警務站也在塞爾維亞、西班牙和法國開展了類似行動。
It is not clear what the F.B.I. was investigating during its search, but it comes amid a broader Justice Department effort to rein in Fox Hunt. In October, prosecutors in Brooklyn — the same office that searched the New York office — charged seven Chinese nationals with harassing a U.S. resident and his son, pressuring the man to return to China to face criminal charges.
尚不清楚FBI的搜查是在調查什麼,但這是在司法部更廣泛地遏制「獵狐行動」之際進行的。去年10月,布魯克林檢察官——也就是搜查紐約辦公室的那個單位——指控七名中國公民騷擾一名美國居民和他的兒子,試圖迫使該男子返回中國接受刑事指控。
“It’s outrageous that China thinks it can come to our shores, conduct illegal operations and bend people here in the United States to their will,” Mr. Wray said in 2020, after the authorities charged eight others with being part of Fox Hunt.
「中國以為可以把手伸到我們這邊,從事非法行動,並讓美國人民屈從於他們的意願,這太過分了,」雷在2020年說,當時有另外八人因參與「獵狐行動」而受到當局指控。
2020年,FBI局長克里斯托弗·雷發表講話,談到與中國授意的騷擾行動相關的抓捕,其目的在於迫使美國的不同政見者和逃犯回國接受審判。
2020年,FBI局長克里斯托弗·雷發表講話,談到與中國授意的騷擾行動相關的抓捕,其目的在於迫使美國的不同政見者和逃犯回國接受審判。 POOL PHOTO BY SARAH SILBIGER 
The Chinese government has also surveilled and pressured ethnic minorities abroad, including Uyghurs and Tibetans, as well as their families. Human rights groups and government officials fear that the outposts could be bases for these kinds of operations.
中國政府還對包括維吾爾人和藏人在內的海外少數民族及其家人進行監視和壓迫。人權組織和政府官員擔心,這些警務站可能正是此類行動的基地。
Current and former law enforcement officials in New York say that the Chinatown outpost, like others elsewhere in the United States, date to the middle of the last decade. Police officials in at least one Chinese province tried then to arrange for their officers to train with the New York Police Department and other departments in cities that are home to large Chinese communities, the law enforcement officials said.
紐約現任及前任執法官員稱,和美國其他地方一樣,設於華埠的警務站可以追溯到2010年代中期。執法官員說,當時至少有一個中國省份的公安官員試圖安排手下警官與紐約警局和華人社區較多的城市的警察部門一起接受培訓。
The Chinese officials wanted the N.Y.P.D. to sign a memorandum of understanding to outline the training program and make it official. But senior commanders and New York F.B.I. officials had serious concerns. They feared that the training program could legitimize the presence of Chinese officers and potentially make the N.Y.P.D. an unwitting partner in a campaign of surveillance and harassment, the officials said.
中國官員想讓紐約警局簽署諒解備忘錄,概述培訓計劃,並使之具有正式效力。但高級警官和紐約FBI官員對此表示嚴重關切。官員稱,他們擔心培訓計劃會使中國官員的存在合法化,並可能導致紐約警局在不知情的情況下成為監視和騷擾活動的幫手。
“The Chinese government wants to have more influence and to extend their transnational policing,” said Chen Yen-ting, a Taiwan-based researcher who worked on the Safeguard Defenders report. “It’s a long-arm power to show their own citizens inside China that their government is so strong. We have the power to reach globally, and even if you go out, you’re still under our control.”
「中國政府想獲得更大的影響力,並擴張他們的跨國警務,」參與「保護衛士」報告撰寫的台灣研究員陳彥廷說。「這樣的長臂力量是在告訴中國國內公民,他們的政府無比強大。我們有能力觸及全球,即使你出國,照樣也我們的控制之下。」
The Chinese cities appear to be taking steps to conceal their efforts. Márton Tompos, a Hungarian lawmaker, said he visited a Chinese police center in Budapest last year. “There were three signs saying Qingtian Police Overseas Service Station,” he said in an interview. After he spoke about the visit, he said, the signs were removed.
中國的城市似乎在採取措施掩蓋其行動。匈牙利議員通波什·馬頓說,他去年參觀了布達佩斯的一處中國警務中心。「三塊標牌上寫著青田警僑海外服務中心,」他在接受採訪時說。他說在自己談及這次訪問後,標牌均被移除。
就像布達佩斯這家與中國青田縣相關的辦事處,中國官媒報導了這些歐洲的中國警察站如何幫助在海外遇到困難的中國公民。
就像布達佩斯這家與中國青田縣相關的辦事處,中國官媒報導了這些歐洲的中國警察站如何幫助在海外遇到困難的中國公民。 ANNA SZILAGYI/ASSOCIATED PRESS 
Not everyone is convinced that the outposts present a major threat. Jeremy Daum, a scholar at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School, said that though government harassment of Chinese nationals is a serious problem, for the most part these personnel appear focused on arranging administrative tasks by providing video links between Chinese people abroad and police departments back in China.
並非所有人都認為這些警務站構成重大威脅。耶魯大學法學院蔡中曾中國中心的學者唐哲(Jeremy Daum)表示,雖然政府對中國公民的騷擾是個嚴重問題,但在大多數情況下,這些人員似乎專注於安排行政工作,為海外華人和國內公安部門提供影片聯絡。
In theory, a person could carry out the same video chat process, he said, using a smartphone.
他說,理論上,個人也可用智慧型手機進行同樣的影片會話。
“The processing and activity seems to be happening in China,” Mr. Daum said, referring to examples cited in the Safeguard Defenders report.
「處理和行動似乎發生在中國,」唐哲在談到「保護衛士」報告中援引的案例時表示。
Chinese dissidents in Europe see things differently. “Those are things you can get done at the embassy,” said Lin Shengliang, a Chinese dissident in the Netherlands. He said people fear the police are keeping tabs on them.
歐洲的華人異見者有不同的看法。「這些事在大使館也能做,」荷蘭的華人異見者林生亮說。他表示,人們擔憂警察正在監視他們。
“I am extremely anxious about them,” he said by phone. “There are no channels to report this, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
「我對他們感到非常焦慮,」他在電話中說。「沒有能上報這種情況的管道,我們對此無能為力。」
Benjamin Weiser和Zixu Wang對本文有報導貢獻。Megha Rajagopalan是時報駐倫敦國際新聞記者。William K. Rashbaum是城市版面高級撰稿人,負責報導政治和本市腐敗、法院、恐怖主義以及法律執行。他是2009年獲得普立茲突發新聞獎團隊的一員。歡迎在TwitterFacebook上關注他。翻譯:紐約時報中文網

 

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