According to reports from state media and government documents examined by the Daily Caller, a “Chinese intelligence service” directed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) discreetly operates “Overseas Chinese Service Centers” (OCSCs) in seven U.S. cities. These service centers have had documented contact with Beijing’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), often likened to China’s version of the FBI.
These OCSCs, nested within several U.S. nonprofit organizations, were initially established to support Chinese citizens residing overseas and to propagate Chinese culture. However, their interaction with the MPS, particularly the evidence that U.S.-based OCSC representatives have met with MPS officials during a 2018 trip to China, have sparked significant concerns among legal and intelligence experts.
During the 2018 meeting, MPS officials exhibited the application of novel technology to execute “cross-border remote justice services” abroad. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) defines the MPS as a covert entity conducting “intelligence and national security operations far beyond China’s borders,” involving “illicit, transnational repression schemes” on U.S. territory.
In fact, in April 2023, the DOJ indicted two individuals for allegedly setting up a concealed police station in New York for the MPS. This clandestine establishment was reportedly purposed for the “monitoring and intimidation” of dissidents and others who expressed criticism of China.
However, there has not yet been found any evidence suggesting that these OCSCs function as, or contain, covert police stations. While the DOJ has not referred to these centers in any public statements or legal filings, the fact that these service centers are linked to China’s United Front system and have been in contact with the MPS does not sit well with experts.
“The national security threat is real,” asserts Will Mackie, a seasoned federal prosecutor and previous trial attorney for the counterintelligence section of the DOJ’s National Security Division. Mackie underlines that Americans should be aware of foreign governmental agents operating on U.S. soil, even if their status is ‘unofficial’. He also points out that the conduct of American nonprofits fulfilling Chinese government responsibilities is not in line with diplomatic protocol and could be illegal.
The Daily Caller found OCSC branches situated in San Francisco, Houston, Omaha, St. Paul, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, and Charlotte, after a thorough examination of Chinese government and state-controlled media reports.
GOP legislators have aired their serious concerns about the operations of OCSCs in the United States. Representative Chris Stewart (R-UT), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, stated, “They’re here to pressure, to use coercion and to use malicious influence.” In a similar vein, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) expressed that it was a “direct violation of our nation’s sovereignty” for the CCP to “set up shop on our soil to threaten, surveil and kidnap Chinese American citizens with a dissenting opinion.”
