A US Citizen Was Running Secret Chinese Police Station. His Job: Report Dissidents To Beijing

Last Updated:May 14, 2026, 17:07 IST

US citizen Lu Jianwang convicted of running a secret Chinese police station in Manhattan, faces up to 30 years, as California Mayor Eileen Wang quits over China agent charges.

A US citizen has been found running a secret police station in Manhattan on behalf of the Chinese government and allegedly using it to report to Beijing on political dissidents. Meanwhile, a south California Mayor has also been accused of being an illegal agent of China.

According to a report by BBC, a jury found that Lu Jianwang, 64, opened and operated the station in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighbourhood in early 2022 for China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS). He was first arrested in April 2023.

He has been booked for acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government in connection with the station and obstruction of justice for destroying related evidence. He faces up to 30 years in prison.

The New York Times quoted federal prosecutors in Brooklyn saying that Lu had opened the station with the goal of helping Chinese citizens renew their driver’s licenses while living in America but was running the outpost as a hub to monitor outspoken critics of the Chinese Communist Party.

He was “in lock-step with what the Chinese government asked him to do," Antoinette N. Rangel, a federal prosecutor, said during her closing argument on Tuesday.

This comes in the same week as southern California Mayor Eileen Wang resigned after she was charged with acting as an illegal agent of China. She was elected as the mayor of Acadia on November 2022.

BBC quoted the Department of Justice saying that Wang is accused of following directions from Chinese officials including sharing favourable articles about Beijing without informing the US government, as required by law.

According to the Arcadia city website, Dominic Lazzaretto, the city’s manager, said: “The allegations at the centre of this case, that a foreign government sought to exert influence over a local elected official, are deeply troubling. We take them seriously.

“We want to be clear: this investigation concerns individual conduct, and the charges are for conduct that ceased after Ms Wang was sworn into office in December 2022. Following an internal review, we can confirm that no City finances, staff, or decision-making processes were involved."

News world A US Citizen Was Running Secret Chinese Police Station. His Job: Report Dissidents To Beijing

Read More