The long arm of the Chinese state overseas is being investigated by many governments around the world, and Japan is now looking for details based on a human rights group’s report that China has also set up police departments in Japan. The corresponding statement was made on Thursday by a senior government official in Tokyo after similar scrutiny by European countries, the US, Canada and New Zealand.

Safeguard Defenders, an Asian-focused advocacy group based in Spain, has released two reports since September saying Chinese authorities have set up 102 overseas police stations in 53 countries, including Japan and Greece.

Chinese authorities have denied the allegations and said the facilities are voluntary centers that help citizens renew documents and offer other services that were interrupted during the pandemic.

“We will take all necessary measures as the situation becomes clear,” Japanese Cabinet Secretary General Hirokazu Matsuno said at a press conference when asked about the government’s reaction to the report.

Mr. Matsuno said earlier that Japan informed the Chinese authorities through diplomatic channels that “there will be unacceptable if there was any activity that violated the sovereignty of Japan” as it would be a state-within-a-state operation.

Safeguard Defenders said in a September report that police in the Chinese city of Fuzhou have opened a “service center” in Tokyo. The organization’s report says that the police in the Chinese city of Nandong have another such station somewhere in Japan.

According to the organization, it was the Fuso police that created the corresponding “service” in Greece, based in Athens.

The Japanese investigation follows a similar investigation by Western governments over reports that Chinese police have been harassing Chinese citizens living abroad and forcing some to return home to face criminal charges.

On Tuesday, the Dutch government confirmed that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte raised the issue of China’s secret police stations in the Netherlands during a recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali, Indonesia.

New Zealand authorities are already conducting extensive investigations into a Chinese police station on their territory, with local media also revealing the name of a Chinese businessman from Epsom, Auckland allegedly responsible.

Last week, the European Parliament called for a resolution on international coordination of the investigation of Chinese police activities outside of China, expressing its concern.

Source: Reuters, RTL Nieuws, Newsroom.