Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) is further bringing to light widespread illegal crackdowns conducted by the Chinese Communist Party on United States soil. The chairman of the House select committee on China, in a Saturday press briefing, spoke against the existence of illegal police stations in the country after human rights organization Safeguard Defenders exposed the operation last year.
.@RepGallagher, the chairman of the new House select committee on the Chinese Communist Party, rallied lawmakers, alongside Chinese dissidents and human-rights advocates, in front of the alleged Chinese police station in NYC. | @james_t_quinn
— National Review (@NRO) February 26, 2023
Gallagher said that the building where the press event was held in New York City’s Chinatown used to be an illegal police station operated by the Chinese Communist Party. According to him, the stations are used in the surveillance and harassment of people who go against the party.
“The nonprofit Safeguard Defenders discovered over 100 of these illegal police stations around the world, including at least two more on United States soil,” the GOP lawmaker said, explaining that the operations give the Communist Party the reach to threaten dissidents who live outside China.
Aside from New York City, reported locations of these illegal police stations include Los Angeles. These stations, reports say, do not have the usual structure of police stations, but they are run by Chinese government officials.
“They buy our politicians, multinational organizations, companies and in some cases, law enforcement. They use muscle and threats instead of persuasion. And like the Mafia, they aren’t afraid to make people disappear,” the Wisconsin representative added on Saturday.
Gallagher further shared that he had reached out to many Chinese opposed to the CCP as well as human rights activists, and he is led to believe that there is almost no one “who hasn’t experienced at least some low-level form of digital harassment from CCP agents.”
Wondering how such tyranny could have been allowed on U.S. soil, Gallagher chalked it up to being “blind.” But he believes it must not be ignored or enabled. Next week, the House China Select Committee will hold a hearing on the CCP’s ongoing threat to America. In the meeting, lawmakers will discuss measures to tackle CCP operations in the U.S.
While Republicans and Democrats do not always see eye to eye on several issues, Gallagher and the committee look forward to Democrats’ cooperation on this. That, he says, will ensure a swift and effective resistance to the CCP’s actions in the U.S.
“We believe — and [House Speaker Kevin McCarthy] believes — that where possible, if Congress can speak with one voice when it comes to standing up against and pushing back against Chinese Communist Party aggression, America is stronger, the world is stronger, the free world is stronger,” Gallagher stated.
The movement already has the support of Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who also addressed the press on Saturday, saying shutting down abusive operations of the CCP in the U.S. should be in the best interests of both parties.
“Even though Chair Gallagher and I come from opposing political parties, the unity we are projecting sends a powerful message that the defense of human rights from the abuses of the CCP … is not a Democratic value or a Republican value. It’s an American value,” he stated.
