Netherlands | China
Netherlands orders to shut down illegal Chinese police offices
Amsterdam: Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra has ordered the shut down illegal police offices set up by China in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, media reports said on Friday.
Hoekstra said he had informed the Chinese ambassador of this decision, according to a report by the Dutch news agency ANP as quoted by South China Morning Post.
He called the police offices “unacceptable”. The Dutch authorities would never have given their consent.
The ministry will now investigate exactly what activities took place in the offices.
The Chinese government has been accused of establishing two undeclared "police stations" in the Netherlands, media reports last week.
Dutch media found evidence that the "overseas service stations", which promise to provide diplomatic services, are being used to try to silence Chinese dissidents in Europe, BBC reported.
A spokeswoman for the Dutch foreign ministry told BBC the existence of the unofficial police outposts was illegal.
The Chinese foreign ministry has denied all allegations leveled by the Netherlands.
The investigation was sparked by a report entitled Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild, by the Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders.
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