China has been using the international policing network, Interpol, to target not just criminals but critics of the Beijing regime and members of persecuted religious groups living overseas, an investigation led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has found.
In one case, use was made of one of China’s richest men, Jack Ma, to put pressure on another wealthy Chinese businessman to return to China, according to research by the ICIJ and media partners Radio France and Le Monde.
In the spring of 2021, the wealthy Chinese businessman, who is being described as H, received an unexpected call from Ma while awaiting an extradition hearing in Bordeaux.
Ma said he was calling at the behest of Chinese authorities, who were seeking H’s immediate return to China.
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A few weeks earlier, H had been arrested on foot of a red notice, an alert circulated worldwide by Interpol, the international structure for co-operation between different countries’ police forces.
Ma told H that top officials at China’s anti-graft agency approached him with a peculiar mission: persuade H to return voluntarily from France, French court records show.
The Chinese authorities were trying to get H, a China-born naturalised citizen of Singapore, to testify in a case unrelated to anything in his red notice: a corruption case against a former public security vice-minister named Sun Lijun, according to the court records obtained on the condition that H’s real name not be used.
H declined to comment; Ma didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Just a month before Ma’s call, French officers had arrested H as he stepped off a private jet at Bordeaux airport citing a red notice issued by Interpol at the request of Chinese prosecutors.
The notice accused H of money laundering and complicity in an embezzlement scandal. It made no mention of the high-profile government case against Sun.
“They’re using the Dongguan case as a pretext,” H told Ma. “If I explain clearly what happened with Sun Lijun, they won’t pursue me any more. Is that what they assured you? Right now, I don’t believe anyone.”
“I think you don’t have any other choice,” Ma said. “Now they’re giving you a chance. If you don’t come back, they’ll definitely destroy you.”
“ ... I understand. I’ll think about it,” H replied, and hung up.
The investigation into Interpol is part of China Targets, an ICIJ-led collaboration with 43 media partners, including The Irish Times.
According to Ted Bromund, an expert witness in legal cases involving Interpol procedures, Interpol has become central to China’s campaign of transnational repression.
[ China exerts control from a nondescript office on Dublin’s Capel StreetOpens in new window ]
In a statement to the ICIJ Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, did not respond to specific questions about Interpol.
“The Chinese government strictly abides by international law and the sovereignty of other countries,” he said.
An Interpol spokesperson said it “is fully aware of the potential impact [of red notices] on the individuals concerned, which is why we have robust – and continuously assessed and updated – processes for ensuring our systems are used appropriately.”
In the days after his arrest in Bordeaux, H received calls from China from Ma, two other friends and three top security officials, all with the same message: the Chinese government was ready to withdraw the red notice, abandon the extradition request and potentially drop the money laundering charges if H would return to China and co-operate on the high-profile case against the politician, according to the court records
While still in a Bordeaux jail, H learned his family was coming under pressure.
“I had a chat with your wife,” Wei Fujie, then a deputy director of the unit assigned to the Sun Lijun case, said in one of the calls.
“Believe me, I’m speaking as a representative of the supreme power that I can represent,” the official said. “No prosecution now, plus cancellation of the red notice ... You will not be held criminally liable, will be free to enter and exit [the country], and have bank accounts unblocked ...”
In the end, H chose not to return to China. In July 2021, the Bordeaux court of appeal rejected a formal extradition request from China.
However, after the Bordeaux court rejected his extradition, H became engulfed in debts totalling about $135 million (€118 million), according to Chinese media.
Ireland does not have an extradition agreement with China. It suspended an agreement it had with Hong Kong after the crackdown on political freedoms there in 2020.
The Fine Gael TD Barry Ward, who is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, has described as “reprehensible” China’s misuse of the red notice system.
Red notices are being used to target “people who speak out against the Chinese regime and anyone whom China decides should be the subject of such an order, including Irish citizens”, he said.
