In , human rights group Safeguard Defenders published a report finding that the Chinese government illegally used these offices to intimidate Chinese dissidents and criminal suspects abroad and to pressure them to return to China. The report led to investigations of the stations by the governments of several countries. According to Schrader, the centers were mostly formed from existing united front organizations and did not have policing authority.
Schrader further stated that the centers served several legitimate purposes despite criticism of them, such as assisting crime victims with dealing with the host country's police and integrating new immigrants. Schrader pointed to a lack of transparency around the relationship between the centers and the Chinese government, particularly personnel of the United Front Work Department UFWD , and their political influence operations.
The department set up offices in six countries and had solved at least criminal cases that involved Chinese nationals, as well as detaining over 80 people in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Zambia. Radio Free Asia reported that as of October , a total of 54 such stations had been established in 30 countries.
Safeguard Defenders released an initial report in September and a follow-up in December , [ 6 ] [ 7 ] alleging that the police stations were part of a program named Operation Fox Hunt , and were used to harass and coerce individuals wanted by the Chinese government, including dissidents, via threats to their families and themselves, pressuring them to return to China, where they would then be detained.
The group stated that the stations violated the sovereignty of host countries by allowing Chinese police to circumvent police cooperation rules and procedures. According to Yale legal scholar and China expert Jeremy Daum, the report contained several factual and context errors. Chinese dissidents living outside of China found the overseas police service stations threatening. In response, some countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, announced they would investigate the stations.
