It’s a mystery. Still not resolved. The information comes from the Safeguard Defenders Foundation, a Madrid-based nonprofit that recently denounced it. Chinese uploaded face “police station hidden” for to persecute opponents in Europe and the United States. Oddity: 11 of these centers ItalyAccording to what is known to date, the country with the highest number of these structures is followed by Spain with nine.
The data comes from investigations by Safeguard Defenders, which has filed criminal complaints since September. this unknown chinese network through various documents and reports. The last one, published these days, revealed the existence of these centers. Rome, Milan, bolzano, Venice, Florence, pratoOn the island and inhabited by the largest Chinese community in Italy Sicily.
Also: Italy is also a kind country lab. So much so that the first of the structures found in the world was opened here. it happened 2016when the police department Wenzhou jurisdiction opened a center in the city. Milan. Later, the jurisdictions of Qingtian and Fuzhou would follow in Wenzhou’s footsteps.
vague attitude
To date, the behavior Italian officials uncertain. In September, the Italian Ministry of the Interior (which was then in power) under the government of Mario Draghi, these offices “had no particular interest”. Problem solved? No. At least for some Italian parliamentarians, in recent months the signatories have asked for clarification on the issue on which they put a question.
It is not known whether Italian authorities were “fully” aware of the scope of operations carried out by China. Laura Hart, manager Protect Defenders asked by EL PERIÓDICO. Finally, only after the latest allegations were made public, the Italian Government announced that an investigation had been opened. “We’re checking. We do not exclude sanctions if there are irregularities“, said the current Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi.
The accusations against Beijing are serious. According to Safeguard Defenders, one of the main tasks of these centers scare and provoke forced repatriation of dissidents. Safeguard Defenders even stated that they have evidence of some specific cases, such as a case. Worker accused of embezzlement returns to China After spending 13 years in Italy, the trail later disappeared.
security risk
beijing Ha denied all charges since the first news became public knowledge. In October, Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, “Chinese public security officials strictly abide by international law and full respect judicial sovereignty Other countries.” Other spokespersons made similar statements.
the matter is not trivial because chinese community In Italy it is not insignificant in size. According to the ISTAT statistics center, 330,000 people. In addition, Italy signed several agreements with Beijing during these years, including the so-called New Silk Road entry pact in 2019, something that was viewed with skepticism by Brussels at the time. Also, former Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi suggested that the presence of these Chinese centers on Italian soil may represent. a security risk.
This is because in recent years, the transalpine country has shown signs of openness to Chinese law enforcement praised by Beijing. Therefore, for example, joint Italian-Chinese patrols It was launched in 2016 in Rome, Milan and Naples to fight so-called organized crime. In other cases, the contents of the agreements signed between the two countries were not made public, suggesting that the mystery of the case still remains.