US trial opens over alleged Chinese ‘secret police station’ in New York

A trial of a US citizen of Chinese descent accused of creating a covert police station in Manhattan opened on Wednesday, considering evidence of what the US government says is part of Beijing’s bid to expand its influence well beyond Chinese shores.

Lu Jianwang, 64, faces three charges in the US Eastern District Court of New York: acting as an unauthorised agent of China; conspiracy to act as a foreign agent; and obstruction of justice. He is accused of using the fourth floor of a building in Manhattan’s Chinatown to monitor and harass overseas Chinese, using the room as an unauthorised police station. Lu has pleaded not guilty.

A co-defendant in the case, Chen Jinping, pleaded guilty to working as an unauthorised agent for China in December 2024. He has not yet been sentenced.

Testifying for the US Government on the trial’s first day, Julian Ku, a Hofstra Law professor in international law, outlined to the court the functions and operations of China’s United Front Work Department, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and its Fujian affiliate.

China’s MPS, using overseas affiliates, attempts to identify “friends and allies” who are “favourably inclined” towards the Chinese government and Communist Party,” Ku said.

  

​Read More