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Interpol: Another Chinese tool to stifle dissent

In recent times, with the Covid 19 pandemic and the WHO’s reaction to the role played  by  China,  many  questions  have  been raised  about  the  neutrality  of international organizations. Globally, it is tacitly accepted that countries wielding economic and political power do influence decisions and procedures at the highest level  but  these  however  were  always  governed  by  established  principles  and democratic practices. A worrisome trend that is now beginning to reflect results is China  using  its  financial  leverage  with  diplomatic  maneuvering to  build  strong connections, appoint its nominees at the multilateral forums and promote its vested political interests.    

In 2016, Beijing had pushed its Minister of Public Security Meng Hongwei into the office of Interpol at the election in Bali where 830 Police Chiefs and Senior law enforcement officials from 164 countries voted. This was the first time since 1945 that China succeeded in getting elected to the Presidency to the Interpol. Chinese officials lobbied for votes by offering billions of dollars in aid to smaller nations’  governments and  their police departments.    

Consequentially, Beijing which is known to systematically utilize and manipulate its presence in the international organizations used the position to not just advance its influence on the global stage but also for political purposes. This was quite evident when with the appointment of a Chinese President at Interpol, China began to go after its high-profile political dissidents abroad. While being in power, Meng sought to translate the official Interpol documents into Chinese language with his four Chinese aides, trying to ‘sinicize’ the way Interpol worked.  Chinese is  not  one  of  the  four  official  languages  of Interpol  and  these attempts  by  Meng  pointed  to  the  beginning  of  ‘sinicization’  of  the  organization.  During  his term,  Meng also issued ‘Red  Corner’  Notice  Requests to  the  Agency which were politically motivated against dissidents.  


Red Corner notices are, by norm, issued to seek arrest or provisional arrest of wanted persons with the Interpol system used for people who commit serious crimes. Typically, China used it for crimes with a distinct political edge. In 2016 alone, China issued 612 ‘Red Notices’ and sought the extradition of those against whom the notices were issued. In the process, it was able to secure the extradition of 17 individuals in that very same year.  In the interregnum, China increased its funding to the Interpol.  In 2019, China was the  seventh  largest  contributor to  the  Interpol  with  more  than  US$  two  million involvement which has doubled since the last ten years.  

Back in 2010, China had contributed just over US$ one million.  With these developments, in 2019, HRW while expressing concerns about Interpol’s respect for human rights, wrote a letter raising concern over the leadership of Meng and emphasized that the Interpol should address China’s misuse of the Red Corner system.  These red corner notices, in the past, have been issued to Dolkun Isa, a Germany-based activist working for the rights of the Uyghur community in Xinjiang and the United States-based Wang Zigang, an advocate of democracy in the People’s Republic of China.  

The notice against Dolkun Isa was later revoked by the Interpol during Meng’s tenure and China had expressed grave dissatisfaction at this decision being frustrated with Meng for allowing the withdrawal.  Meng was later arrested by the Chinese government on supposedly manufactured charges of corruption and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. Thus, China clearly spares no one, especially its own when they do not toe the line. Coming into the Interpol, China had in mind to primarily target the US and Canada as these countries are top destinations for Chinese ‘fugitives’.  

Interestingly, China does not have an extradition treaty with either country which is why relying on the Interpol Red Corner notice becomes significant for the authorities. China, therefore, uses Interpol extensively as a mechanism to bring back political dissidents from these countries to face legal action in China.  In 2019, Beijing boasted that 58 of its top  100  fugitives  would  return  voluntarily  to  China  for  “lenient  punishment” pointing towards the extra-legal ways China is resorting to and an open, systematic abuse of the Red Notice networks for political purposes.  


Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that China abused Interpol’s red notices to harass, detain and target China-based relatives of suspects living outside China thereby compelling them to return to China. The use of red notices as a justification to systematically harass their family members was also clearly mentioned in the report published by HRW.  By offering better treatment of relatives as a motivation for suspects, China made sure that most of these suspects returned home for punishment.  Needless to say, those who returned were ill-treated by the authorities in China. Admittedly,  China’s  dismal  record  of  human  rights  protection  both  within  the domestic  borders  and  outside  has  always  been  a  cause  of  great  concern  to  the international  community.  

The  much  recent  debates  and  discussions  on  serious abuses in the Xinjiang region is already creating a global backlash against China. This momentum needs to be sustained particularly since in November 2021, when the Executive Committee of the International Criminal Police Organization will be electing for the post of Vice-President/Delegate for Asia, China will try hard to push forward the agenda of bringing a Chinese Director at the helm of affairs in Interpol to continue the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda of ‘purging’ its dissidents.  

At a crucial juncture when the backlash against the human rights abuses in Xinjiang has become strong and activists campaigning for the issue of Tibet and democracy in China have organized themselves better, China feels the need to curb these activities in a stronger manner. The international community cannot turn a blind eye and has to take the responsibility to uphold the values and principles of fairness, transparency and accountability in the multilateral organizations in these difficult times. In the past too, authoritarian regimes have been criticized for misusing Interpol for their political objectives.  Russia was also known to misuse the system to go after its political enemies abroad and China is no different.
 
The Presidency of Interpol then,  was hailed as a diplomatic achievement by the Chinese state media; however, as is evident, it turned out to be a systematic ploy to use the organization as a mechanism to suppress its opponents abroad. Beijing had claimed that these are fugitives facing charges in China while the Human Rights Organizations condemned the targeted profiling and abuse of power. Its time, given the suspicion around China’s own track record of human rights and police work, the democracies of the world join hands together  to defend  and safeguard  the  foundational  structures of the international community  and  not  let  a  few  vested  interests  stifle  their  defining  principle  of independence.

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