Chinese ‘police station’ in Dublin ordered to close

By Jonathan McCambridge, PA

A Chinese “police station” in Dublin has been ordered to close, Irish Government officials have confirmed.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said no request had been made in advance to open the station in Capel Street.

Human rights body Safeguard Defenders this week released a report which suggested dozens of security outposts aimed at forcing Chinese dissidents back home have been set up across the world.

The department spokesperson said: “Neither the Chinese authorities nor Fuzhou/Fujian Province made a request in advance to the Department of Foreign Affairs to establish the office referred to.

“In this context, the Department of Foreign Affairs raised the presence of a ‘Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station’ with the Embassy of China in Ireland in recent weeks.

“The department noted that actions of all foreign states on Irish territory must be in compliance with international law and domestic law requirements.

“On this basis, the department informed the Embassy that the office on Capel Street should close and cease operations.

“The Chinese Embassy has now stated that the activities of the office have ceased.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs will continue to liaise with the Embassy to facilitate the provision of all relevant consular and citizen services to Chinese citizens in Ireland.”

This week the Scottish Government and Police Scotland said they were taking reports of a secret Chinese outpost in Glasgow “extremely seriously”.

Speaking during First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “I agree these reports are deeply concerning and I want to be very clear that we take them very seriously,” she said.

“Any foreign country operating in Scotland must abide by Scottish law.

“The Scottish Government fully supports an individual’s rights to freedom of expression and that is also an extremely important principle.

“These matters require to be fully and properly investigated and it would not be appropriate for me to go into too much detail, but I do know – and I know this as a result of a conversation I had just yesterday with the chief constable – police are aware of these reports.”