The avalanche of international news stories about 100 covert police stations being opened by China in 50 countries has now spiked concerns about Thailand. Only this week New York police arrested dozens in Chinatown’s Manhattan district in the latest awe-inspiring revelation. Although bloggers on Thai social media have speculated that Bangkok’s Chinatown, Yaowarat Huay Kwang, might make a great venue for clandestine activities, absolutely no evidence has surfaced to date.
Chinese authorities say that the international fuss has been blown out of all proportion. The premises are not overseas police stations, but help-bureaux for Chinese citizens abroad who need translation support or administrative assistance including the renewal of their Chinese driving licences. Renewals are indeed provided by police in the mother country. But western governments say that the mysterious venues are actually run by Chinese security officials and designed to monitor and harass high-value dissidents abroad to force them to return home. The persuasion can allegedly include threats to family members back in China.
Most Chinese arrivals in Thailand are package tourists who receive 15 days on arrival and are expected to leave promptly. They cannot open a Thai bank account or obtain a driving licence or purchase property with this short-term visa on arrival. Those with longer visas approved in advance by Thai diplomatic posts in China are not so constrained, although in theory any extensions are subject to approval by the Chinese embassy in Bangkok. Although there has been a spate of Chinese nationals kidnapped in Thailand, these appear to be extortion-related kidnap cases rather than politically motivated maneuvers. Thailand does not appear to be a popular destination for Chinese political dissidents.
There have certainly been several reports of wealthy Chinese businessmen in Thailand – some with work permits – bribing corrupt police officials or directors of language schools to obtain longstay student or voluntary visas for their fellow nationals. Certainly illegal, this practice hardly fits the suggestion that overseas police stations are at work in the Land of Smiles forcing reluctant people to return home. Moreover, there are reports that applications from Chinese nationals for the 5-20 years Elite visa are rejected unless the applicant can provide supporting documentation from his or her Bangkok embassy. Again, the scenario fails to provide fertile ground for the activities of overseas police stations targeting opponents of the Beijing authorities.
Moreover, senior Thai police are notoriously sensitive about their independence from outside interference although they do cooperate with foreign embassies and Interpol about arrests and deportations. In fact, Thai immigration has deported hundreds of Chinese for boiler-room money fraud, illegal casinos and telecommunications scams. But none of this hints at, still less demonstrates, an illegal Chinese police operation in Thailand along New York lines.
