On October 30, a Twitter user Sam Dunning raised the alarm about ‘Chinese Police Stations’ on foreign land in a Twitter thread. In his thread, Sam alleged there is a connection between these ‘stations’ to British Politics, the Chinese Community Party and serious organized crime. He further added that four publications in the United Kingdom are already working on the story.
Much scrutiny lately of ‘Chinese police stations’ operating on the streets of Britain…
— Sam Dunning (@samdunningo) October 30, 2022
What links the ‘stations’ to British politics, the Chinese Communist Party, an assault in the heart of London, & serious organised crime?
This is big.
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Sam highlighted a The Times UK report that pointed towards the demand for an investigation into China’s ‘Secret Police Stations’ popping up across the country. The demand was raised by the MPs following an investigation done by a Spain-based NGO named Safeguard Defenders. They revealed in their report that at least 54 “overseas police service centres” have popped up across 21 countries, including the United Kingdom, where two of them were spotted in London and one in Glasgow.
In its report titled “Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild“, the group alleged that the unofficial enforcement bodies “serve a more sinister goal as they contribute to resolutely cracking down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving overseas Chinese”. The report was released on September 1, 2022.
Sam further said that one of the addresses of one such police station in the UK matches the address of a company run by Lin Ruiyou. He added a video where he claimed that Lin was promoting the services of the station. The video was in Chinese.
In the next Tweet, he showed that Lin was seen with prominent personalities in the UK, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Theresa May, and Sajid Javid. A report on Chinese Police in the UK was published in Daily Mail, but a reference to Lin was removed from the report.
In case it wasn’t obvious from the pictures (more than one occassion) of him with Boris, Lin has had access to the likes of @theresa_may , @sajidjavid , and a good number of other Conservatives.
— Sam Dunning (@samdunningo) October 30, 2022
Who is this guy?
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Further in the thread, Sam alleged that he came to know about Lin when he reported about a clash that happened in Chinatown in London. “The clash erupted after organizers appeared to attack pro-democracy HK & Chinese counter-protestors,” he added.
Following the clash, the bounty was allegedly announced against pro-democracy Hong Konger exiles named Simon Cheng and Nathan Law.
After, images emerged of a group chat where ‘bounties’ were reportedly put on two prominent pro-democracy Hong Konger exiles, @SimonChengUK and @NathanLawKC .
— Sam Dunning (@samdunningo) October 30, 2022
Lin Xinxian 林新献, a leader of the Association, was in the chat.
https://t.co/DR85bpqXDc
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He pointed out that Lin had access to Tory fundraising events as he had worked as a Tory fundraiser himself.
Lin was listed as vice-chair of the Chinese Group’ of the London & Westminster Conservative Association (CLWCA), but as of now, the description has been removed. This particular group regularly organises fundraisers for CLWCA, Sam added.
Until very recently (…), Lin was publicly described as vice-chair of the ‘Chinese Group’ of the London & Westminster Conservative Association (CLWCA). This description has since been removed from the CLWCA’s website.
— Sam Dunning (@samdunningo) October 30, 2022
Archive: https://t.co/MLVCYO8QCZ
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Talking about Lin’s businesses, Sam said he runs a food delivery app which had claimed to have earned over GBP 400,000 every day. Sam raised questions over the amount as the rating of the application is low.
In Spain Lin Ruiyou owns a vineyard, and seems to export the wine from there to China, where he owns a chain of wine shops. This is a more serious enterprise, with one shipment of wine shipped in 2015 worth more than £100k (I found it referred to in a court document).
— Sam Dunning (@samdunningo) October 30, 2022
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Furthermore, Lin also owns a vineyard in Spain and exports wine from China. He owns multiple wine shops as well.
Sam alleged Lin works with multiple businessmen who have been accused or convicted of financial fraud in the past.
About report on Chinese Police on foreign land
The report by the Spanish NGO pointed fingers at China for running illegal police stations on foreign land in at least 21 countries on five continents. The NGO raised concerns about the violation of British law to send back individuals to China. As per the China Research Group of MPs, A Chinese government official reportedly admitted the role of these stations in ‘pressuring criminals’ to return to China. These ‘criminals’ could be Hongkongers, Uighurs, dissidents or indeed anyone who has dared to criticize the Chinese Communist Party,” said The Times.
The report said that these officials across the world claim to have “persuaded” 230,000 individuals to return to China. They claimed that these individuals had committed ” financial and telecom fraud”, but experts believe many of them could have been dissenters speaking against the Chinese government.
