THE arrests of two people accused of running a covert Chinese police station in New York raise fresh questions about whether such an operation exists in Trinidad and Tobago.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) arrested the two people on charges of using the police station from which to track and repress Chinese dissidents.
CNN, BBC and other reputable international news agencies previously reported that the Chinese authorities had more than 100 such undercover operations in various parts of the world.
The Spanish-based human rights organisation Safeguard Defenders revealed that the clandestine stations were used to monitor, harass and, in some cases, repatriate Chinese citizens living in exile.
The group provided evidence of such sinister activities and said the operations were linked to China’s Ministry of Public Security.
China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has denied that there are improper activities at those offices and said they are staffed by volunteers.
The American authorities said the office in Chinatown, Manhattan was used to suppress Chinese pro-democracy activists and political opponents.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said: “We are aware of the existence of these police stations.”
Wray said it is “outrageous” that such an office would be set up in New York, and that it “violates the sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes.”
The Chinese presence in Trinidad and Tobago has grown in recent years with the easing of visa travel requirements, and more migrants and workers have added to the existing population.
Chinese contractors have undertaken major infrastructural and construction activities in the public sector, and China is reportedly interested in leasing the ports of Port of Spain and Point Lisas.
A Chinatown was launched in Charlotte Street, Port of Spain in 2019 as a forerunner to the twinning of the capital city with China’s Shanghai.
T&T is the first Caricom country to sign onto China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a facility that has been criticised by some commentators for being oppressive toward signatory countries.
The BRI is said to have triggered social instability in Zambia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Angola, and other countries.
There have been concerns from experts that T&T could get caught in the well-known BRI debt trap.
Both countries have strengthened economic engagements, and T&T is strategically important to China because of its proximity to South America.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has been seeking to expand its influence and trading relations with South American countries.
The arrests in New York have now awakened anxiety about the existence of a similar police station in T&T.
Following the earlier revelation of the existence of the police stations, at least 13 countries, including Canada, undertook investigations.
