A US citizen has been convicted of helping run what has been described as the first known secret police station in the US on behalf of the Chinese government.

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 found guilty on charges of acting as an illegal agent of the government of China in connection with the station and with obstruction of justice for destroying related evidence.

The conviction comes the same week a California mayor resigned after she was charged with acting as an illegal agent of China.

The verdict follows a week-long jury trial in New York federal court.

Jianwang, a New York resident also known as Harry Lu, faces up to 30 years in prison, prosecutors said.

His co-defendant Chen Jinping pleaded guilty in December 2024 to conspiring to act as an agent of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in connection with the overseas police station. He is awaiting sentencing.

"Lu Jianwang used a police station in New York City to target PRC dissidents in furtherance of the Chinese government's political agenda," said James C Barnacle Jr, the FBI's assistant director in charge.

At least 100 such stations have been reported across 53 countries, with rights groups accusing China of using the outposts to threaten and monitor Chinese nationals abroad, as well as helping Beijing identify pro-democracy activists living in the US.

China has denied that the outposts are police stations, saying they are "service stations" providing administrative services to nationals overseas". Such services included pandemic assistance and driver's licence renewals.

The Chinatown station, which occupied an entire floor above a ramen stall in New York City, was shut down in the autumn of 2022 after the FBI launched an investigation.

Chen and Lu were accused of destroying text messages they exchanged with an MPS official when they learned of the probe, prosecutors said. (BBC)

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