"China is AuThORItAriAN!" - Liberals

https://lemmy.ml/post/44251521

Yea, China monitors a billion people in their country and assigns them a score if a citizen walks on the sidewalk correctly /s

Yea, China monitors a billion people in their country

Correct, and those abroad too.

You know the stories of secret overseas Chinese police stations were fake news, right?

I was hoping this had been debunked, any (non-CCP affiliated) sources for this?
False Witnesses and Sinister Plots: Exposing the CIA Connection in the 'Chinese Police Station' Narrative

Kit Klarenberg reveals how much of the hysteria surrounding 'Chinese police stations' in the West is being fueled by a shadowy CIA-linked organization called Safeguard Defenders.

MintPress News
Anything that deals more directly with the issue than the past of the founder of one associated organization? “One of the guys saying it is bad, so it isn’t true” doesn’t work well on the people I argue with.

It’s very hard to prove a negative, especially to people who want to believe, thanks to over a century of anticommunist propaganda. The burden of proof ought to be on those making claims of secret foreign police stations on their soil, an extraordinary claim. All those articles are trash and have no real evidence. And they don’t need any, because almost no Westerners demand any, because the narrative aligns with their preconception of communist states as cartoonishly evil.

Masses, Elites, and Rebels: The Theory of “Brainwashing”

Burden of proof (philosophy) - Wikipedia

It was my understanding that the existence of police stations in foreign countries is not debated, they have them. The allegation that they are used for repressive purposes beyond their stated aim of providing administrative services to citizens living abroad is what is controversial. It really seems like, when you cut all the baggage away, all we have is testimonials from expats claiming harassment and assurances from the MFA that it never happened, so I struggle to land firmly on one side of belief considering both parties have historically been loose with the truth.

It was my understanding that the existence of police stations in foreign countries is not debated, they have them.

No, that’s not a thing. What country allows another country to have police stations on its sovereign territory, where it has sovereign jurisdiction and the foreign country has none? That makes no sense.

I was under an impression that it was always “police station” with the quotes, to make it more sinister or smthing (and it was sold as something unlicensed by the country where ir was repoeted, obviously)

But the Evil Empire did prosecute someone in the case of those stations, as far as I can tell with no verdicts yet - but it seems to be some PIs?

justice.gov/…/private-investigator-sentenced-pris…

Private Investigator Sentenced to Prison for Interstate Stalking and Harassment of Chinese Nationals on Behalf of the People’s Republic of China

Today, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Michael McMahon, 57, of Mahwah, New Jersey, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay an $11,000 fine for acting as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit the same, for his participation in a scheme to coerce repatriation of a U.S.