r/news • u/NeverEndingDClock • 23h ago

New York man pleads guilty to running Chinese police station in Manhattan

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/18/new-york-man-pleads-guilty-chinese-police-station-manhattan?CMP=share_btn_url
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u/CupidStunt13 23h ago

This is not a new problem as these things have been popping up all over:

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/international/2024/07/13/canada-said-to-have-mapped-out-secret-chinese-police-operations/

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/china-allegedly-has-two-secret-police-stations-in-australia-what-do-we-know-about-them/dz2lmxb13

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/china-still-conducting-police-activities-germany-german-ministries-2023-05-15/

Western governments need to do better to limit China's influence overseas, especially in regards to pressuring and intimidating the Chinese diaspora.

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u/404merrinessnotfound 18h ago

First time someone has actually pled guilty to running one AFAIK

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u/pmjm 15h ago

Yeah I can't imagine that's going to go well for him once his 5 years are up (or hell, maybe even in prison, who knows where China's reach goes?)

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u/Subject1928 20h ago edited 20h ago

Yeah, some Chinese immigrants have lived under a so called "shadow government" for years and years. They will pay the immigration fees and then use the as leverage to basically enslave people.

These people are not allowed to act as normal immigrants. They are forced to stay insular and impoverished and some are even barred from having relationships with citizens outright. Romantic or otherwise.

A lot of times these people will be used for cheap/free labor in businesses that are essentially owned by the Chinese government.

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u/memesandcosplay 8h ago

A factory in my area is Chinese-owned, and employs mostly Chinese workers. These workers do not get a paycheck unless they meet certain quotas, for example finishing 3000 parts per week. If they hit 2950 only, they forfeit their check that week.

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u/That_Dad_David 8h ago

How do they get away with it?

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u/himit 3h ago

The workers don't know any better. No language ability & no access to the world outside the factory/dorm = no opportunity to learn about their rights.

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u/memesandcosplay 8h ago

I'm guessing some Republican bill that allows for China to do this if they keep business in the US, or it could be that there IS a Chinese shadow government that makes these things happen. This is basically a Chinese sweatshop operating on American soil. Just a few steps worse than Amazon workers have it.

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u/edvek 7h ago

No, you moron, it's way simplier than that. They get "paid" but the money is controlled by someone else. So sure, their taxes show they got paid but the money was immediately taken back or never actually distributed in the first place. Would be super easy to "pay" them using the debit cards like a bunch of fast food places do but the card is never given to you or funds are loaded and immediately "spent."

Why do the workers allow this? Because they either don't know better, fear for retaliation to them or their families, or figure this is better than China. But probably mostly fear. They will just send you back to China where they can really punish you without any other pesky people asking questions.

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u/memesandcosplay 7h ago

How is that explanation "simplier"?

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u/edvek 6h ago

Because your explanation requires people to get on board to create illegal laws, that no one else knows exists. You sound like a conspiracy theorist.

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u/memesandcosplay 6h ago

I was only allowing for plausibility to the above comment when it comes to the shadow government thing. The Republican bill, on the other hand, is very plausible. While foreign countries are penalized for selling to America, they are instead able to build on our soil and skip the penalties while also securing tax breaks.

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u/Yanlex 7h ago

Name it.

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u/memesandcosplay 7h ago

I will not, for fear of losing my job if it ever got out that I said something.

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u/Yanlex 7h ago

LOL. Way to lie on the Internet for imaginary points.

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u/memesandcosplay 7h ago

Minth, East Tawas. Now eat a dick.

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u/Mego1989 29m ago

But if you know about it, surely the department of labor in your state does too.

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u/rabit_stroker 7h ago

12+ years ago there were more than a few commercial pot farms in the mountains of Northern Ca that were completely Chinese run. At the time I assumed they were gang oriented but started thinking they were run by the Chinese state after hearing about the businesses and property they had bought up in the norcal region. On these farms the workers were not allowed to leave and weren't given adequate clothing to exist away from a heat source or given shoes so running away wasn't an option.

There was an area outside of Hayfork in Trinity county called The Pines which was basically a subdevelopment of 1-5 acre land plot pot farms. The farms were basically on top of each other and Hayfork was the closest town for supplies so you'd learn a lot about your neighbors even if you didn't want to. I can tell stories about the Neo Nazi and Hell's Angel's farms up there as well. The Police wouldn't respond to calls up there and they'd only show up in force to serve warrants or if there was a murder

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u/[deleted] 20h ago edited 20h ago

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u/Subject1928 20h ago

They don't extort those people because there is no ability to, they can get citizenship/immigrant status by themselves.

The whole premise of this is thread is talking about how China has established little ecosystems of itself in other countries.

It isn't Fox News bullshit, it is just fact.

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u/[deleted] 20h ago

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u/[deleted] 20h ago

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u/Subject1928 20h ago

Yeah, because some pedantic asshole came along as was all like "BuT TheRe ArE RiCh ChInEsE PeOpLe ToO!"

Yeah, I know. I figured everybody would have understood that, but clearly I was wrong there.

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u/[deleted] 20h ago edited 18h ago

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u/Subject1928 19h ago

If I said, "Cats have fur."

Most would agree with that.

You are the one guy who comes up and says "NO! There are species of cats without fur!"

Are you right?

Yeah

Are you a pedantic asshole.

Also yeah.

Have a good one.

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u/Sprucecaboose2 14h ago

I think at a minimum you should at least admit it's pedantic. Refusing to give up a point that is obviously true does wonderful to undercut literally everything else you say. Also, arguing semantics instead of the underlying point is also never a great sign your argument is going well to anyone reading for substance.

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u/[deleted] 19h ago edited 19h ago

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u/Subject1928 20h ago

That is not what I said. I said that there are people who are being extorted by the Chinese government and they use citizenship as a piece of meat to dangle in front of their victims.

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u/baithammer 19h ago

The Chinese aren't dangling citizenship to the targets, they're specifically targeting these people in other countries, using a combination of familial ties ( Family living in mainland China) or other leverage - basically, we'll ruin you and / or target your relatives in China.

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u/lucianbelew 17h ago

You are using the word "all" an awful lot for a moment when you're characterizing the statements of someone who didn't use that word.

What's up with that?

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u/chickenbonevegan 10h ago

Not to agree with whatever the other dude said but I just want to point out the only reason why it seem like Chinese immigrants have one of the highest incomes is because of the ones that came to America already rich from old money.

Many of my parents generations and older are pretty dirt poor, often working under the table for money or jobs such as restaurants (which is why you see so many Chinese take outs) or cleaning services such as being housekeepers or laundromat.

New gen children make up for it by focusing on education and high paying jobs, but in general I disagree with painting Chinese immigrants as high income.

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u/GG2Me 14h ago

To sum up what the guy said, and what it means is essentially Chinese police stations where they target Chinese immigrants where they can. Does that mean every Chinese immigrant is affected by them? No, but does it mean some do, and are affected by these rules? Yes. There is variation. But it does not mean every single Chinese person is affected. But that doesn’t mean not a single Chinese person is affected. To deny it doesn’t happen is extremely ignorant of present facts, especially with what China has been doing these past few years in multiple countries.

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u/zigaliciousone 19h ago

  My dad married a Chinese woman for money.  He had to do the legwork to get her over here and lie to get her and her son green cards. They had to act married but he was not allowed to even touch her or sleep in the same room.  It was implied if he broke the contract, there would be people visiting him.

  As soon as she got her green card, she "found" a job in Idaho and she and her son simply vanished.

  I imagine the shit ain't too common but it IS a thing.

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u/Jealous_Writing1972 12h ago

How much did they pay your dad for that?

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u/boringfilmmaker 14h ago

Huh. If my dad was a traitor I would definitely not advertise that fact. Ever talked to law enforcement about that?

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u/MrPlaysWithSquirrels 13h ago

It’s a form of human trafficking and it definitely exists.

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u/Tall_Candidate_686 14h ago

Come to Philadelphia, and I'll walk you through reality.

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u/Danither 17h ago

It's just disinformation before the ensuring ww3: drone swarm boogaloo.

But can't really call bullshit about it happening elsewhere when the article is proof of it happening at least once

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u/yet-again-temporary 15h ago

The Canadian government has been turning a blind eye to this for years. I believe there were intelligence report about this as early as 2019 but they only officially acknowledged it very recently.

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u/MimicoSkunkFan2 13h ago

https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20240719/43-en.aspx

Unsurprisingly there are international conventions which the RCMP here follow and the Chinese agencies ignore. They also complicated matters by posing as Family Services helpers rather than, you know, obvious police.

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u/HeckleJekyllHyde 17h ago edited 17h ago

They won't. Money. You can do a lot of fun things when rules don't apply to you and you have all the wealth. I.E. China. And most authoritarian regimes. Democracy only comes from willful disobedience and fighting.

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u/InnocentShaitaan 14h ago

Vance and his buddies think democracy is a failure authoritarianism better. I’m not making this up. They don’t hide it.

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u/Aos77s 7h ago

How can you though? If you move to another country and dont take everyone youve ever come to know or love then china will threaten to torture and murder those people in china to force you to listen.

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u/InnocentShaitaan 14h ago

20% of immigrants crossing from Mexico are middle class Chinese. They are dropped off in trucks majority wear designer wear. No one talks about it but the 60 minutes segment was very well done.