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A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 18 april 2023
Secret Chinese police station in New York leads to arrests

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and with working on behalf of
ERIC TUCKER the Chinese government
Associated Press in a pressure campaign
NEW YORK (AP) — Two men aimed at coercing a New
were arrested Monday on Jersey man wanted by Bei-
charges that they helped jing into returning to China
establish a secret police to face charges. In Janu-
station in New York City on ary, the Justice Depart-
behalf of the Chinese gov- ment charged three men
ernment, and about three in an alleged plot that orig-
dozen officers with China’s inated in Iran to kill an Ira-
national police force were nian American author and
charged with using social activist who has spoken out
media to harass dissidents against human rights abus-
inside the United States, au- es there.
thorities said Monday. “In America, the law pro-
The cases, taken together, tects all of us equally from
are part of a series of Jus- persecution, violence and
tice Department prosecu- threats of violence as au-
tions in recent years aimed thoritarian governments
at disrupting Chinese gov- A six story glass facade building, center, is believed to be the site of a foreign police outpost for whether the PRC, Russia,
ernment efforts to locate China in New York’s Chinatown, Monday, April 17, 2023. Associated Press Iran, or others become
in America pro-democracy more brazen in their ef-
activists and others who phones after learning of At no point did the men on Peace, the top federal forts to trample the rights
are openly critical of Bei- the FBI’s probe, according register with the Justice prosecutor in Brooklyn, said and liberties that are the
jing’s policies and to sup- to the Justice Department. Department as agents of at a news conference an- bedrock of our democra-
press their speech. “This is a blatant violation of a foreign government, U.S. nouncing the arrests. “We cy,” said David Newman,
One of three cases an- our national sovereignty,” law enforcement officials don’t need or want a se- a top official in the Justice
nounced Monday con- Michael Driscoll, the head said. And though the secret cret police station in our Department’s national se-
cerns a local branch of the of New York’s FBI field office police station did perform great city.” curity division, using an ac-
Chinese Ministry of Public said at a news conference. some basic services, such Justice Department offi- ronym for the People’s Re-
Security that had operated The men, identified as “Har- as helping Chinese citizens cials in recent years have public of China.
inside an office building in ry” Lu Jianwang, 61, of the renew their Chinese driv- prioritized prosecutions of In addition, prosecutors on
Manhattan’s Chinatown Bronx, and Chen Jinping, er’s licenses, it also served what’s known as “transna- Monday announced that
neighborhood before clos- 59, of Manhattan, both a more “sinister” function, tional repression,” in which eight Chinese government
ing last fall amid an FBI in- U.S. citizens, were arrested including helping the Chi- foreign governments work officials who are believed
vestigation. The two men at their homes on Monday nese government locate a to identify, intimidate and to be currently living in
who were arrested were morning.Attorney Deirdre pro-democracy activist of silence dissidents in the U.S. China were charged with
acting under the direction Vondornum, representing Chinese descent living in A signature case concern- directing an employee of
and control of a Chinese Lu, declined to comment. California, officials said. ing China was announced a U.S. telecommunications
government official and An email message seeking “New York City is home in 2020, when the Justice company to remove Chi-
deleted communication comment was left with a to New York’s finest: the Department charged more nese dissidents from the
with that official from their lawyer for Chen. NYPD,” U.S. Attorney Bre- than a half-dozen people company’s platform. q

Printing error forces Pennsylvania county to replace ballots

By MARK SCOLFORO fill on the mid-level appeals helped Lancaster, which is over 15,000 of the affected expected to be a major
Associated Press court. about 71 miles (114 kilome- ballots, officials said. battleground in next year’s
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — By early Monday after- ters) west of Philadelphia, The problem comes as presidential contest. Lan-
Elections officials in a cen- noon, postal officials had intercept and safely secure voters are just receiving caster is a Republican-ma-
tral Pennsylvania county mail-in ballots for the pri- jority area with a large farm
were scrambling on Mon- mary, which also includes economy and a growing
day to fix an error on more a vacancy on the state Su- suburban population. More
than 18,000 mail-in ballots preme Court. than 220,000 Lancaster resi-
for the spring primary, when Voters will receive replace- dents voted in the Novem-
voters will elect judges for ments with corrected word- ber gubernatorial election.
the state Supreme Court ing and a sheet of instruc- Lancaster County also had
and other positions. tions. Those who received a printing problem with pri-
Late last week someone an erroneous ballot were mary ballots a year ago,
noticed that the ballot for told to throw it out and wait when a vendor mailed
Superior Court instructed for a replacement. Ballots ballots with the wrong ID
Republican and Demo- from those who fill out and code, preventing scanning
cratic primary voters to pick return erroneous versions machines from reading
only one judicial candidate will be “set aside” by the them. About one-third of
to nominate from their elections board, the coun- the 21,000-plus ballots af-
party, when in fact voters ty said. fected last year were able
could pick two, accord- Election workers perform a recount of ballots from the recent The deadline to return mail- to be properly scanned.
ing to Lancaster County’s Pennsylvania primary election at the Allegheny County Election in ballots is May 16. The votes had to be pains-
elections board. Division warehouse in Pittsburgh on June 1, 2022. Pennsylvania is a closely takingly transferred to fresh
There are two vacancies to Associated Press divided swing state that is ballots.q