Republicans demand answers from Biden officials on report China opened police arm in NYC

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FIRST ON FOX: Several Republican House lawmakers sent a letter to Biden Cabinet Secretaries Antony Blinken and Merrick Garland demanding answers on a reported Chinese police presence in New York City.

Republican Study Committee chairman Jim Banks of Indiana alongside Reps. Michael Waltz of Florida and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin led the letter to Garland and Blinken demanding answers on why China’s Fuzhou police were reportedly able to open a U.S.-based police arm.

"The Department of Justice and State Department must explain why the Biden administration has allowed CCP police to set up an office on U.S. soil," Banks told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

CHINA HAS OPENED OVERSEAS POLICE STATIONS IN US AND CANADA TO MONITOR CHINESE CITIZENS: REPORT

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., alongside fellow Republican Reps. Michael Waltz of Florida and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, led a letter with 18 fellow GOP House members probing Secretaries Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken about the reported Chinese police presence in New York City. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

"When Republicans take back the House, we will hold the Biden administration accountable for their continued efforts to aid and abet the Chinese Communist Party," he added.

Waltz told Fox News Digital it is "mind-boggling that we are allowing China’s Fuzhou police to operate on American soil."

"The Chinese Communist Party uses these stations to go after political dissidents abroad, while also endangering the national security of the United States," Waltz said in a statement. "We must protect the American people and Chinese freedom activists from the CCP’s gross abuse of the American justice system," he added.

Gallagher warned in a statement that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) "has used Fuzhou overseas police service stations to push propaganda and spy on Chinese citizens abroad."

"The presence of one of these stations in New York City not only raises serious human rights concerns, but also raises concerns about whether the United States is allowing a hostile foreign adversary to conduct its own law enforcement activities within our borders," the Wisconsin Republican continued.

Waltz told Fox News Digital it is "mind-boggling that we are allowing China’s Fuzhou police to operate on American soil." (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

"The State Department must divulge the extent of their knowledge of this station, it’s actions against American-Chinese citizens and communities, and the threat it may pose to our national security," he added.

In the letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, the lawmakers wrote of their "grave concern over reports of the law enforcement presence" from China in New York City, noting the "Public Security (Police) Bureau of Fuzhou, China, announced in January 2022 that it has opened the ‘first batch’ of 30 overseas police service stations in 25 cities in 21 countries," with the U.S. branch hosted at the American ChangLe Association, a Chinese overseas hometown association founded in 1998 that "shoulders the mission of uniting the villagers, fighting for their legitimate rights and interests, promoting the prosperity and stability of the overseas Chinese settlements, and acting as a bridge for the villagers to get rich through hard work," according to its website.

"According to a recent report by Safeguard Defenders, a human rights NGO based in Spain, overseas Chinese hometown associations have become overwhelmingly co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front organizations which seek increasing control over the Chinese diaspora (despite providing some genuine services to local Chinese communities)," the lawmakers wrote.

"The report indicates that at least some of those Chinese hometown associations hosting the overseas police service stations are linked to the CCP’s United Front," they continued. "It is deeply troubling that the Chinese government could use these service stations as its long arm policing abroad."

Gallagher warned in a statement that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) "has used Fuzhou overseas police service stations to push propaganda and spy on Chinese citizens abroad."

The Republicans pointed to the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2018 report detailing how the "CCP’s United Front Work Department has worked to suppress the free speech rights of U.S. persons protesting against" them.

They also warned about Beijing’s coercion and bullying activities to push the CCP’s narrative that sometimes verges into illegal actions.

"According to Peter Mattis, a research fellow at Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, CCP intimidation and efforts to promote Beijing’s narrative ‘sometimes crosses the line into criminal actions, such as conspiracy against rights,’" the Republicans wrote.

"The U.S. Department of State has similarly found that the CCP’s United Front Work Department funds and supports overseas organizations to spread propaganda and coerces and bullies those who would oppose Beijing’s policies. In 2018, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials and individuals active in United Front Work Department’s nefarious activities."

Banks and his fellow Republicans warned that "Fuzhou overseas police service stations (including their online form) are reportedly involved in fulfilling Chinese law enforcement functions at least in some countries" and "coerce purported Chinese fugitives abroad to return to China to face legal proceedings, which is euphemistically dubbed as ‘persuading to return’ in Chinese parlance."

"There should be no room for the Chinese government to exercise extraterritorial law enforcement unilaterally on U.S. soil," the lawmakers wrote. "In 2018 the U.S. government provided the Chinese government with specific requirements for contacting state and local law enforcement in the United States."

"In 2020 the Chinese government’s campaign illegally targeting U.S. residents to force their return to China had become so severe that the FBI issued an internal memorandum on this issue. The Chinese overseas police service station established in New York City earlier this year appears to be a further step of China’s illicit long arm policing on U.S. soil that violates our sovereignty."

The Republicans concluded their letter with several questions to Austin and Blinken, including whether "the Department of State, Department of Justice, or any other agency of the federal government invite or approve China’s Fuzhou police to establish a presence in New York City."

Joining Banks, Waltz and Gallagher on the letter are 18 of their fellow House Republicans, including Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York, Greg Murphy of North Carolina, and Clay Higgins of Louisiana.

China’s police presence in New York City is a symptom of the overall larger issue of the CCP’s growing influence abroad.

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Fifty-one Republican lawmakers sent a letter to three of President Biden’s Cabinet secretaries warning that national security is threatened by a CCP-linked company's efforts to buy farmland near an Air Force base in North Dakota.

The CCP-linked farmland acquisition is far from the first land buy by the Chinese government, and the purchases have been heavily scrutinized for national security risks presented, as they have been approved under both the Biden and Trump administrations.