Symbolic of Sino-American relations, the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the Republic of China fly together on flag poles next to each other on a sunny, windy day.
NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) – U.S. law enforcement officials have arrested two New York residents for allegedly operating a Chinese “secret police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn said in a statement on Monday.
Liu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, face charges of conspiring to act as an agent of China’s government without informing U.S. authorities, and obstruction of justice, prosecutors said. They are expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn federal court later on Monday.
“This prosecution reveals the Chinese government’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City,” Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, said in a statement.
Prosecutors said Lu in 2018 sought to persuade an individual considered a fugitive by China to return home, prosecutors said. That individual reported being harassed and threatened, prosecutors said.
China’s government in 2022 asked Lu to help locate an individual living in California considered a pro-democracy activist, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the pair had admitted to the FBI that they deleted their communications with a Chinese government official after learning they were under investigation.
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