US House committee on China seeks answers from FBI chief over alleged Chinese-run police outposts

The chair of the House committee on China is requesting answers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation director on the alleged Chinese-run police outposts in the United States. This follows the FBI chief’s concern over the alleged outposts back in November being used by Beijing to potentially carry out influence operations.

The committee’s Republican chair, Rep. Mike Gallagher, sent a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray on Friday asking for answers on the alleged Chinese-run police outposts in the US. Gallagher said the alleged outposts run by the Chinese government violated the rights of American citizens and expressed concern that the FBI is taking delayed action in investigating the allegations. Gallagher also asked Wray to disclose when the FBI was first aware of the issue and how widespread the alleged outposts are in the US.

“Through these outposts and other tools of coercion, the CCP has violated the rights of American citizens, residents, and visitors,” wrote Gallagher, referring to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. China has denied the allegations of the outposts, saying that specific sites were run by volunteers.

Back in November, Wray told the then Democratic-controlled Congress that he was concerned that Beijing was setting up unauthorized “police stations” in US cities to potentially pursue influence operations. At the time, Wray did not reveal the specifics of what the FBI was doing to address the issue.

In September, Europe-based rights organization Safeguard Defenders issued a report that found dozens of Chinese police “service stations” around the world. The organization linked the stations to China’s United Front Work Department, which is a Communist Party organization that is tasked to run influence operations abroad.

A bipartisan delegation of the committee visited Taiwan last week, with the island’s leader Tsai Ing-wen saying that Taiwan is bolstering its military ties with Washington. Tsai told the lawmakers in Taipei that Taiwan will “cooperate even more actively with the United States and other democratic partners to confront such global challenges as authoritarian expansionism and climate change.”

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who is among the lawmakers that visited, said the committee is visiting Taiwan to strengthen security and economic ties. Taiwan has strong bipartisan support in Congress.