France is not only facing the threat of Russian or Iranian interference but China's growing influence on its territory. Following a year-long investigation, counterintelligence services shut down nine clandestine "police stations" in early 2026 that were operating in France on behalf of Beijing's interests.
According to the Interior Ministry, three "heads" of these shadow police stations, all Chinese nationals, faced expulsion measures. They were tasked with monitoring the Chinese diaspora and tracking down regime opponents to forcibly return them to China. Two have already been expelled. On June 9, before the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, the public rapporteur recommended that the third expulsion be confirmed.
Less spectacular than Russian destabilization operations but just as active, Beijing's clandestine activities abroad have largely relied on Chinese nationals without direct links to the Chinese state. A law passed on June 28, 2017, on intelligence, created legal obligations for Chinese citizens and companies to assist in collecting information as part of the "United Front," making every Chinese national a potential spy. On June 1, 2023, the European Parliament called on "member states and Union authorities to investigate the alleged existence of these police outposts and to take coordinated action against any illegal activity linked to the Chinese United Front Work Department in Europe."
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For the Interior Ministry, these undeclared clandestine stations are extensions of Chinese police stations on French territory and operate under the orders of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), China's main police authority. Most of these structures that are active in France, especially in the Paris region, were set up within the Chinese community or cultural associations. In addition to hunting dissidents, they provide administrative services such as issuing passports and gathering intelligence to recruit informants, described as "talents." The Chinese community in France numbers around 600,000 people.
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The case of Ni Chaowen, 57, head of a clandestine police station, was brought before the Council of State on June 9. According to the Interior Ministry, Ni served as president of the Fujian Association of Industrialists and Merchants (FAIM) since 2023, but behind this organization, he was actually running a clandestine police station linked to the Chinese MPS.
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French authorities decided to take a tougher line against these clandestine Chinese police structures after cracking down in 2024 on the activities of intelligence agents officially listed at the Chinese Embassy in Paris. The station chief of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS, or Guoanbu, China's intelligence service) and his deputy were asked to leave France after orchestrating, in March 2024, an attempted forced repatriation of a political dissident.
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Apparently displeased with the publicity surrounding these cases, Chinese authorities tried, both in the matter of secret agents assigned to the embassy and in the case of nationals implicated in the "shadow police stations" affair, to plead their case with the French Foreign Ministry. Questioned on the matter, a senior diplomat at the French Foreign Ministry confirmed that Chinese diplomats had come to defend their "good faith" and that of their compatriots. In return, they only obtained a pledge that France would act discreetly regarding the measures taken against them.
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