The human rights group “Protection Defenders” released a report today saying that China’s widespread recruitment of volunteers in foreign consulates violates the “Vienna Convention on Consular Relations” and allows foreign United Front systems to obtain personal information. , allowing it to harm or cause harm more systematically. Manipulating foreign groups and intimidating dissidents.
The human rights group “Safeguard Defenders”, which has attracted the attention of many countries for exposing China’s secret police stations abroad, released a new report on the 21st, which highlights the “consular security and Aid Regulation”. 1.
The regulations encourage Chinese foreign consulates to recruit volunteers and will recognize and reward volunteers for their performance. “Protection Defenders” reported that this regulation established the first law in 2013.catThe volunteer model of the Chinese Consulate that emerged at that time institutionalized the establishment of its network.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry first revealed in 2013 that the Chinese Embassy in Belgium had established a volunteer mechanism, the first of its kind among other foreign embassies. According to the above report, Sweden later,ItalyChinese embassies in European countries such as Spain, Greece, Portugal, France and the Czech Republic also followed suit. The embassy in the Czech Republic has publicly stated that recruitment targets include Chinese expatriates, foreign students, employees of Chinese foreign-invested companies, etc.
The report notes that similar patterns are found not only in Europe, but also in Chinese embassies in Turkey, Malaysia, Japan, Chile and other countries.
“Protection Defenders” said China’s recruitment of embassy volunteers without knowing the host country is a violation of the widely signed Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. After the rules were announced in June this year, the Group of Seven (G7) specifically reminded China to abide by the Vienna Convention in the joint communique of the Hiroshima Summit in July.
China is one of the signatories to the convention. Some time ago, China had requested all countries to do sohong kongWhen the consulate’s announcement of local staff’s intention to purge Hong Kongers sparked controversy, China claimed its approach complied with the convention.
“Protection Defenders” emphasize that on the surface, the mission of consular volunteers is to assist overseas Chinese with passport renewals and other matters, which may seem harmless at first glance. However, these volunteer activities are organized in conjunction with China’s “United Front” and use it to collect information from individuals and families. Information such as addresses and social media accounts has become part of intelligence networks, and it can more systematically harm or manipulate foreign groups and use coercive tactics against dissidents.
Therefore, the human rights group recommended that relevant governments investigate it and avoid participating in activities organized by organizations or individuals related to China’s United Front Work Department to avoid legitimizing it.
The conclusion of the above report reminds that if the world closes its eyes to every small violation of the international legal order by China, not only will more violations occur, but other parallel structures of the international system “with Chinese characteristics” will also be destroyed. Will go. Validity granted. sex.
China (TagstoTranslate) Hong Kong (T) Belgium (T) Italy
