China's COVID protests highlight need to protect Chinese diaspora, says rights expert

Ottawa [Canada], December 7 : Human rights activists in Canada are calling on Justin Trudeau's government to support the Chinese diaspora following Beijing's alleged attempts at influence campaigns in foreign countries, especially in the wake of recent protests in China and abroad, against its stringent covid policies.
The Canadian government should be cautious when dealing with the Chinese government, according to Canada-based rights activist Wester Yang, as quoted by Canada's Global News network.
"We are dealing with a gangster regime who is not willing to follow international laws, it is not a regular state that understands Canadian values," said Yang, who is the chief director of the non-profit youth organization the Assembly of Citizens.
The calls for greater scrutiny of China's actions in Canada come amid protests against Beijing's zero-Covid policy in US and Canada and controversy surrounding the overseas "Chinese police stations."
The Chinese diaspora organized a series of protests against the zero-Covid policy in the US and Canada, following similar protests in China. Dozens of such protests were held recently in major Universities across North America.
Protests were also held in front of the Chinese Consulate in New York, in which more than hundreds of Chinese Diaspora participated and chanted slogans against the Chinese government. Notably, several participants of these protests wore masks to conceal their identities in order to avoid possible targeting by the CCP for their participation in the protests.
This bid to hide identity comes as dozens of additional overseas Chinese "police service centres" have been found around the world, including at least two more in Canada, CTV News said citing a human rights organisation report.
The same report said that the total number of documented "stations" now stands at 102 in 53 countries.
In a new report 'Patrol and Persuade' released on Monday, the Spain-based non-governmental organization Safeguard Defenders said it used open source statements from People's Republic of China authorities, Chinese police and state media to document at least 48 additional 'police' stations.
"This is on top of the 54 stations revealed in September, bringing the total number of documented centres to 102 in 53 countries. Some host countries also have co-operated in setting up these centres," the television network article said citing Safeguard Defenders.
It said the stations are accused of targeting Chinese nationals living abroad, particularly those who allegedly committed crimes in China, in order to coerce them to return home.