China has been using cloud-based technology to implement a police service in Australia, the ABC can reveal.
Key points:
- The cloud system combines Chinese technology-giant Tencent's cloud meeting platform (similar to Zoom) and app WeChat
- It provides a channel for Chinese nationals in Australia to connect with local police officers in China
- International student leaders in Australia have reportedly been recruited to help people access the online system
China has set up dozens of police outreach centres in various cities across the world — which Beijing calls "contact points" — linked to the security departments of Chinese cities.
Beijing has maintained these are staffed by volunteers and are designed to help Chinese citizens abroad with administrative tasks such as renewing national identification cards, passports and drivers licences, but human rights experts are concerned the contact points could be used to intimidate Chinese dissidents living overseas.
At least one of these Chinese police liaison points, established in May last year, is still operating in Australia.
It works with the Hai'an police force in the eastern city of Nantong, and uses a cloud-based system without a fixed business address, according to an official internal government document uncovered by the ABC.
The cloud system, which combines Chinese technology-giant Tencent's cloud meeting platform (similar to Zoom) and app WeChat, provides a channel for Chinese nationals in Australia to connect with local police officers in China.
State-owned media outlet Xinhua Daily reported that international student leaders in Australia have been recruited as overseas liaison officers, to help people access the online system.
The online contact point would appear to have limited use for Chinese citizens in Australia who are not from Hai'an — which is not a major city — and some functions it says it will carry out could be performed at a consulate or embassy.
The Hai'an contact point is also affiliated with the city's All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, which is part of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department.
Observers of China describe the United Front as a key element of President Xi Jinping's strategy to conduct influence operations targeting foreign nations and overseas Chinese individuals.
This is the second Chinese police contact point identified in Australia, following the ABC's report last year that China had established an overseas liaison office in Sydney, linked to the local police in the city of Wenzhou and established in 2018.
However, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney told Senate estimates in November last year he did not believe that office was active.
The establishment of recent operations in Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Israel and Angola was to "establish a regular position for overseas compatriots to connect with their hometowns", Xinhua Daily reported in July last year.
These contact points will provide convenience services related to civil affairs, such as the renewal of drivers licences, and protect the lives and assets of Chinese nationals, the report said.
However, some observers have expressed concerns that these overseas police liaison services might be part of China's surveillance efforts in Australia, as their roles could easily be fulfilled by consulates or embassies.
'Tightly organised network'
The government document states that the Hai'an authorities will establish a "tightly organised network" and adhere to the "Great United Front" strategy.
A spokeswoman for Nantong Hai'an police confirmed to the ABC that the cloud-based system in Australia was operational.
She added a previous contact point with a physical location, also linked to the Nantong authorities, was no longer active and shut down its services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That contact point had been established in 2016 at an address in the Sydney suburb of Rydalmere, registered to the Australia Nantong Association, which has links to the United Front Work Department of Nantong city.
The ABC has repeatedly approached the Australia Nantong Association for comment.
Similar operations have been identified in over 80 cities globally by the international human rights organisation Safeguard Defenders in the past year.
In February, the US Department of Justice charged two American citizens with conspiring to act as agents of the Chinese government without notifying US authorities, and with obstruction of justice.
This has prompted questions about whether the contact points in Australia have gone unnoticed by authorities.
A spokesperson for the Australian Federal Police said that the agency has received several enquiries regarding the Chinese police operations.
"The AFP has no concerns about this matter. This stance remains unchanged," the spokesperson stated.
None of the police contact points in Australia have been registered under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme.
The Attorney-General's department, which oversees that scheme, said it was aware of media reports and it was taking the allegations of a Chinese police presence in Australia seriously.
"[The AFP] does not believe there is an active Chinese police presence in Australia," the department said.
"Government agencies will persist in their efforts to deter acts of foreign interference and enforce our laws."
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Canberra stressed: "China does not have any so-called overseas 'police stations' at all, and the relevant service platforms of overseas Chinese organisations are engaged in activities such as assisting Chinese citizens who are inconvenienced in returning to their home country".
"Relevant venues were provided by the local enthusiastic overseas Chinese organisations, and volunteers are local enthusiastic compatriots, not Chinese police personnel.
"They have no employment relationship with Chinese government departments," they said, adding that some services have switched to "online processing" and the service station has been closed.
"China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in foreign country's internal affairs, strictly abides by international law and respects the judicial sovereignty of all countries," they said.
"We urge the relevant parties to stop spreading false information and smearing China."
Testing the limits
Alex Deng, a former Chinese police officer currently residing in the United States, suspected China's overseas contact points could be part of Beijing's national security police.
"It must be part of the national security police system," Mr Deng told the ABC, adding any local police operations overseas would require high-level approval from the party.
"Many of the CCP's operations are playing the line ball — a continuous testing of the line of the Western countries," Mr Deng said.
"They assume that if they take the risk and succeed, they will continue. If they meet any objections, then they will return the line ball."
Investigations into alleged Chinese police presence are "ongoing" in countries including Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, according to Safeguard Defenders' campaign director Laura Harth.
Ms Harth told the ABC that the G7 Leaders' statement in Hiroshima earlier this year put "great emphasis" on China's obligation to respect the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and halt its "undermining of communities overseas in a direct rebuke of" Chinese overseas police operations.
"I see no reason why Australian authorities should take these allegations any less seriously than their allied partners," she said.
"Especially given the testimonies of courageous Australians that have been the target of relentless transnational repression efforts by the PRC [People's Republic of China] or its proxies."
The AFP has previously confirmed the agency would "discontinue" its police cooperation agreement with China, which will expire in December, given "the environment has changed", adding they were "never going to sign" a new one at present.
In a February Senate estimates regarding the Chinese police contact points, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director-general Mike Burgess said that he could "assure" that the agency will investigate things that "may be of concern in relation to security, things that could be used as platforms for espionage or foreign interference".
"I don't comment on specific operational matters," Mr Burgess said.
"But I will say this because I've said this publicly before: the threat of espionage and foreign interference is a real threat in this country. It is our principal security concern."
ASIO declined to comment.