Following an article by British newspaper The Guardian, Italy’s interior minister announced there are no Chinese ‘police stations’ in Italy. The paper claimed 11 of 100 ‘police stations’ operated by Beijing worldwide were in Italy.
No Chinese ‘police stations’ helping their citizens renew their driving licenses or passports have been authorised in Italy, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Wednesday.
The Guardian reported earlier this week that Italy contained 11 of 100 ‘police stations’ operated by Beijing worldwide which mete out justice and pressure dissidents to return home. This prompted China to say they were just offices performing services such as license and passport renewals.
Piantedosi told question time in the House Wednesday: “At the Department of department of Public Security there is no authorisation for the the activity” of Chinese centres for the processing of paperwork in Italy. He added, “I assure that the police forces, along with intelligence, will monitor with the utmost attention, I will follow it personally and I do not exclude sanctioning measures in case of any illegality found’.
What and where are these Chinese ‘police stations’?
The Guardian based the allegations on a report by a Spanish civil rights group. The Madrid-based Safeguard Defenders reported in September that 54 such stations allegedly existed around the world. This prompted investigations in at least 12 countries, including Germany and the Netherlands.
The report said the ‘stations’ were based in Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, Bolzano and Prato, a town near Florence that hosts the largest Chinese community in Italy, as well as Sicily. Allegedly, two local Chinese public security authorities used Milan as a European testing ground for a policing strategy to monitor the Chinese population abroad and force dissidents to return home.
