It sounds like Canada is freaking out about consular offices doing consular office stuff. Wtf is going on?

  • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 months ago

    There's nothing else to it than that. It's offices providing services to citizens abroad. Like every western country has.

    • Infamousblt [any]
      ·
      3 months ago

      I have one of these in my area except it's for Vietnamese immigrants. And yep. It provides language classes, job help services, financial planning, childcare, housing services, help navigating the systems and services of my city, etc. Its completely normal and I know that it's one of the first stops for many immigrants and / or refugees as they get acquainted to a new place.

      There's nothing secret about it. If anything it helps people assimilate into their neighborhood. Ridiculous that people think that somehow helping immigrants get comfortable with a new country is somehow a fucking evil plot.

  • RyanGosling [none/use name]
    ·
    3 months ago

    Didn’t this happen last year? Anyway, the British police aaid they didn’t find anything like that

    • Chronicon [they/them]
      ·
      3 months ago

      I think last year it was the US freaking out about this same thing

      • NewAcctWhoDis [any]
        ·
        3 months ago

        Found the Justice Department press release about this one: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-arrested-operating-illegal-overseas-police-station-chinese-government

        Funny how they say "operating a police station" so many times without actually stating what that entails.

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          3 months ago

          Yeah, all the articles i could dig up befor ei figured i'd ask here used "police station" and, like, what, is the Beijing metro police over here writing parking tickets or something?

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 months ago

      Yeah, I think it was last year, but my friend keeps bringing it up and I can't find anything about what the alleged "secret police stations" did except maybe tell people who had criminal charges pending in China that they had criminal charges pending in China.

  • Dolores [love/loves]
    ·
    3 months ago

    that was basically it as far as i'd heard. canadian gov't has lacklustre language accessibility so chinese citizens need more help navigating it

  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
    ·
    3 months ago

    I love shit like this. When it's something so banal that people aren't aware of its existence, so they perceive it as completely unprecedented. But yeah, as far as I'm aware it's just normal consular office stuff as you say.

  • PKMKII [none/use name]
    ·
    3 months ago

    From what I understand, Chinese consulates in the West have programs to try to convince ex-pats, namely well off ones, to repatriate. Basically, it’s a way to mitigate capital flight. Western media, of course, spin this as “China man has secret police arresting people in our country!”

    • save_vs_death [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Oh yeah, the thousand talents progam, which is very public knowledge. Crackers are mad that embargoes cannot be enfored on human beings that might, just like every CEO in any industry, just be persuaded back to china to spill the beans in exchange for a larger paycheck.

    • robot_dog_with_gun [they/them]
      ·
      3 months ago

      there was one somewhat recently in aus that crackers were pissing over but I didn't look into it very hard

  • itappearsthat
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    the lens through which I view all the China scare shit in Canada is that it's 100% just CSIS being jealous that they don't run the fuckin government as much as the CIA does down here, so they're stirring up shit to set up a power grab

    there's this CSIS "foreign influence report" being circulated now about some members of government allegedly being assisted by or assisting foreign enemies (read China), and all CBC can report is who has read it and what they think. The Trudeau government to their credit seemed to recognize it as a naked made-up CSIS power grab and didn't immediately cave then name/expel everybody on the list, so now CSIS is trying to stir up shit that this means the Trudeau government is weak and unwilling to take decisive action to expel the communist infiltration. Trudeau for his part seems unwilling to just come out and accuse CSIS leadership of lying for political points.

  • Tachanka [comrade/them]
    ·
    3 months ago

    just manufacturing consent for the future most destructive war in human history, no big deal

  • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 months ago

    I think Canada has just gotten weasely with their legal language to define consulates as police stations. Texas did the same thing by defining spying as "embassy record keeping while being Chinese."

    • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      3 months ago

      There’s some connection between their civilian police and their immigration services that handle passports etc.

      That's pretty common in socialist countries, in Poland for example all passport stuff were handled by militia before 1989, and afaik those militia passport departments employed mostly civilians.

  • SkingradGuard [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 months ago

    It's a common fascist/lib lie at the moment, claiming the PRC sends "secret police" in foreign nations to heckle "critics" of the CPC.

    It's unfounded and bullshit, but people believe it religously.