WC Wisconsin News

Measure comes in response to revelations of secret Chinese police station in Big Apple

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Tom Tiffany (WI-07) and Congressman Lance Gooden (TX-05) announced plans to introduce legislation tomorrow that would direct the Biden administration to close the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (ETO) in New York City and expel their employees.  

This legislation comes after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced earlier this week charges against two individuals for allegedly operating a secret police station in New York City for the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) of the PRC, as well as charges against 44 defendants, including 40 MPS officers, that would “harass Chinese nationals residing in the New York metropolitan area and elsewhere in the United States.”  

“The Chinese Communist Party’s brazen and provocative behavior has once again crossed a line,” said Rep. Tiffany. “The Biden administration must respond forcefully to Beijing’s outrageous attempts to monitor and intimidate dissidents on American soil – and that starts with telling their local ‘diplomats’ to pack their bags and get out.”    

“American cities cannot become hunting grounds for Chinese secret police. The Biden Administration’s supposedly blissful ignorance of foreign enforcers operating on home soil is disturbing. The American people demand answers, and the Republican Majority will deliver them,” said Rep. Gooden. 

Last year, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) released a report stating that Hong Kong’s (ETOs) should not enjoy their own diplomatic privileges in the United States – citing Communist China’s influence over Hong Kong in the wake of a violent crackdown on civil liberties and autonomy in the former British colony.  

In 2020, President Trump closed down Communist China’s consulate in Houston, Texas amid allegations of widespread espionage. At the time, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described it as a “den of spies.”  

Last year, Rep. Tiffany proposed an amendment to China-related legislation calling for the expulsion of China’s then-ambassador to the U.S., Qin Gang, after Mr. Gang openly threatened military action against the United States. At the time, Democrats controlled the U.S. House of Representatives and refused to allow a vote on the measure. 

The full text of Rep. Tiffany and Rep. Gooden’s legislation can be found here. More information can also be found here.

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Issues: Congress

Original source can be found here.