The Irish government has ordered the immediate closure of a Chinese “police station” in Dublin’s city centre after pressure from a human rights group.
The Fuzhou Police Service Overseas Station opened earlier this year in an office building on the now-pedestrianised Capel Street which it shared with other Chinese organisations.
The Chinese authorities said the station offered a service to Chinese citizens in Ireland including the renewal of driving licenses.
However, the human rights group Safeguard Defenders in a report in September said the stations persuade 230,000 emigrants to return to China, sometimes to face criminal charges.
The report also said Chinese operations world-wide “eschew official police and judicial cooperation and violate the international rule of law, and may violate the territorial integrity of third countries involved in setting up a parallel policing mechanism using illegal methods.”
The Chinese embassy has denied any wrong-doing in Dublin.
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On Wednesday, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said no Chinese authority had sought its permission to set up the “police station”.
The department said it had raised the matter with the Chinese authorities and had asked them “to close and cease operations” at the “police” station on Capel Street.
The Chinese government said it had complied with that request.
The Chinese government has also been accused of establishing at least two undeclared “police stations” in the Netherlands.
Dutch media found evidence that the so-called overseas service stations, which promise to provide diplomatic services, are being used to try to silence Chinese dissidents in Europe.
A spokeswoman for the Dutch Foreign Ministry said the existence of the unofficial police outposts was illegal.
The Chinese foreign ministry has rejected the Dutch allegations.