POLICE are “aware” of allegations a secret Chinese police operation is being run from a Glasgow restaurant, the First Minister has confirmed.
Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs on Thursday she had discussed with the Chief Constable of Police Scotland a report in The Times which claims Loon Fung, in Sauchiehall Street, is used as a front by the Chinese government who use it as an unofficial “police station”.
Police Scotland has confirmed it is reviewing reports to determine whether any laws have been broken.
The manager of the restaurant denied the reports when approached for comment by the paper.
Spanish human rights group Safeguard Defenders earlier this year released a list of 110 suspected secret cop shops run by the Chinese government across the world.
Greens MSP Ross Greer asked the First Minister about the accusations – which he noted were raised “just days” after staff at the Chinese consulate in Manchester assaulted a pro-democracy protester.
He said: “Yesterday the Dutch government confirmed they are launching an investigation into the existence of undeclared Chinese state police bases across Europe, bases being used to attack dissidents and pro-democracy activists.
“The report that prompted this investigation confirmed that one of these bases is located in Glasgow.
“This comes just days after the Chinese consulate in Manchester dragged a protester inside the gates of the consulate, where he and his staff then assaulted him.
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“And after reports of students in Edinburgh who come from Hong Kong being targeted and intimidated by those associated with the Beijing regime.”
He asked to know if action was being taken by Scottish authorities to probe allegations against the restaurant as well as to combat the “wider intimidatory tactics of the Chinese government”.
Sturgeon replied: “I agree that these reports are deeply concerning and I want to be very clear that we take them extremely seriously.
“Any foreign country operating in Scotland must abide by Scottish law. The Scottish Government fully supports individuals’ rights to free speech, freedom of expression and that is also an extremely important principle.
“Obviously these matters require to be fully and properly investigated and it would not be appropriate for me to go into too much detail but I do know – and I know this as a result of a conversation I had just yesterday with the Chief Constable – that the police are aware of these reports.
“Of course, the police are operationally independent and it will be up to them to determine what investigations would be appropriate but they are aware of this and I would repeat that these reports do require to be treated extremely seriously.”
Assistant Chief Constable Andy Freeburn said: “We are currently reviewing these reports to assess any criminality in conjunction with local and national partners.”
Speaking afterwards, Greer added: "We must take a zero-tolerance approach to dictatorships like the one in Beijing using their diplomatic presence here to harass and abuse pro-democracy activists and their families."
A Home Office spokesperson said the department does not give detail on potential security threats and added: "Reports of undeclared ‘police stations’ operating in the UK are of course very concerning and will be taken extremely seriously. Any foreign country operating on UK soil must abide by UK law.
“The protection of individuals in the UK is of the utmost importance and any attempt to illegally repatriate individuals will not be tolerated.”
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