【讀者分享🇮🇪】愛爾蘭為甚麼有「福州警僑事務社會服務站」？ (Patreon)

I'm one of your listeners. I'm grateful for the content that you create for us. I live in Dublin and I'd like to share some information about a Communist China Police Station that I found in Dublin.

I was surprised and even shocked when I noticed there is a ‘Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station’ (FPOSS) in Dublin (see photos in Appendix on P.4).  I couldn’t help wondering why a ‘police…station’ from China is allowed to function at all in our country.

To understand more about the roles of this ‘police…station’ and how it operates, I google searched for information but could only find two very brief news reports which, however, have confounded me even more:

a. Across China: East China city launches hotline to better serve overseas Chinese

https://english.news.cn/20220207/3baca14465574b21ab269ca1a91465c9/c.html

b. Fuzhou Police Online Convenience Service Platform officially launched

http://www.chinesetoday.com/big/article/1310586

I believe Irish citizens have the right to know what is going on about this matter and I hope that our government has the responsibility to answer the following questions related to the FPOSS:

1. Does the Irish government know about the existence of the FPOSS and approved of its operation in Dublin?

2. Has the Irish government ever told the public about the rationale for having the FPOSS in our country?

3. Is the FPOSS part of the Interpol arrangement or is it an additional arrangement unrelated to the Interpol?

4. What are the terms for the agreement, if any at all, between the Irish government and China about the roles, functions and operations of the FPOSS?

5. Will the Irish government let the public know the details about the number and the nature of cases which so far have involved the cooperation between the FPOSS and any Irish authorities concerned?

6. Does the Irish government know if FPOSS has ever handled cases which fall under the jurisdiction of Ireland but nevertheless have been handled unilaterally by the FPOSS?

7. How would the Irish government understand and interpret the highlighted part in the following quotes made by two senior Chinese government officials in the two news reports whose links are shown above?

i. “The city [Fuzhou] is committed to providing more efficient, high-quality and convenient services to overseas Chinese from Fuzhou through this hotline while cracking down on crimes and illegal activities involving this group…”  (Wang Xizhang, Deputy mayor of Fuzhou and director of the city's public security bureau)

[NB.  If ‘this group’ in the quote refers to ‘overseas Chinese’ living in a guest country (say, Ireland) and if ‘crimes and illegal activities’ have really been committed by them in Ireland instead of China, surely the Irish government will not agree the FPOSS has any authority to ‘crack down on’ these crimes.  On the other hand, if ‘this group’ refers to Chinese citizens still residing in China and if ‘crimes and illegal activities’ have really been committed by them in their own country, obviously China’s mainland security bureau, but not its FPOSS in Ireland, would be responsible directly for ‘cracking down on’ the crimes concerned!  If a crime has taken place in Ireland, definitely the Irish government would not expect its citizens or residents to report the case first to any foreign agency for help.]

ii. “Concerning events that take place overseas, we will guide those who dial the hotline to contact their local police and seek aid from local Chinese embassies and consulates or relevant departments of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.  Besides, we shall report to the higher public security organs when deemed necessary…”  (Liu Rongyan, an official with the Fuzhou municipal public security bureau)

[NB.  What does ‘the higher public security organs’ refer to?  ‘Public security’ for the interest of Ireland or China?   How to define the scope of ‘events that take place overseas’ and that require being handled by a ‘higher public security organ’?  How will the ambiguities in these quotes impact on Ireland’s jurisdiction, national security and protection of human rights, etc.?]

8. Is the Irish government aware of the many news reports about Chinese public security agents constantly and illegally enforcing China’s laws in other countries or regions?  Here are a few examples:

Case 1:

Between October and December 2015, five staff of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong went missing.  At least two of them disappeared in mainland China, one abducted in Thailand and another in Hong Kong.  All were detained in mainland China. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/07/hong-kong-bookshops-pull-politically-sensitive-titles-after-publishers-vanish

Case 2:

In February 2017, Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese Billionaire, was abducted in Hong Kong by mainland China agents.

https://hongkongfp.com/2017/02/01/chinese-billionaire-abducted-by-chinese-security-agents-from-hong-kong-four-seasons-hotel-reports/

Case 3:

Can China get away with abducting people overseas?

https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/13/opinions/j-michael-cole-op-ed-taiwan-kenya/index.html

Case 4:

Thousands of Chinese overseas forced home involuntarily: report

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Thousands-of-Chinese-overseas-forced-home-involuntarily-report

Appendix

Photos of Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station in Dublin attached