China denies having police station in NZ

Beijing has denied it operates a police station in New Zealand, as authorities investigate claims of China’s police reaching into other countries.

A Madrid-based human rights organisation, Safeguard Defenders, published a report this week listing countries Chinese police authorities had claimed to maintain posts inside. Probes into the apparently secret police stations have been announced in the United States, Canada, and across Europe.

New Zealand was on the list of countries with an overseas police station, but the organisation was uncertain where the claimed station was located. China’s embassy in Wellington has said the stations are local ‘‘service centres’’ which have now been closed, though a service centre in Auckland remained open yesterday.

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta called Safeguard Defender’s report ‘‘concerning’’, and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and police have all confirmed they are reviewing the report.

National Party MP Simon O’Connor said China’s denial of overseas police stations was a ‘‘typical response’’ given by Beijing to the ‘‘deeply concerning’’ claims laid out by Safeguard Defenders.

O’Connor, a co-chairperson of the New Zealand branch of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international organisation of parliamentarians critical of China, said he had worked with Safeguard Defenders, and he was ‘‘glad it’s now in the public eye’’. He said members of the local Chinese community had raised concerns with him.

In its report, Safeguard Defenders referenced a now-defunct website for the China’s police in Nantong, a port city near Shanghai, which stated it had opened an ‘‘overseas sub-centre’’ in New Zealand.

The police stations were described by Safeguard Defenders as offering services such as driving licence renewals, as well as trying to enforce Chinese law through pressuring citizens abroad.

The report also referenced China as having an ‘‘overseas Chinese service centre’’ in Auckland, according to an online directory of such service centres.

DPMC deputy chief executive Tony Lynch said while the agency had no evidence to suggest a Chinese police station was in New Zealand, officials were reviewing the report. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) spokesperson said officials had not discussed the allegations with Chinese counterparts in Wellington.

A Chinese embassy spokesperson said the claimed police stations were in fact service centres administered by local Chinese. The centres had assisted Chinese citizens access an online driving licence platform, as they had been unable to return to China due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the spokesperson said.