A Chinese spy has been expelled from Italy. He was spying on a dissident

Rome. The woman who was subjected to border police checks last Saturday and subsequently expelled from the country is a forty-year-old from Zhejiang – one of China’s wealthiest coastal provinces. She is yet another Chinese citizen whose name now features in two different databases: the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the Italian Investigation System (SDI).

Upon arrival at Milan Malpensa Airport with her eight-year-old daughter, the woman from Zhejiang was stopped. Shortly after security checks, she was escorted off the plane to board a flight bound for Shenzhen. From there, she continued her journey by air to Hangzhou. And, according to Il Foglio, she will not be able to return to Italy for the next fifteen years. However, as is well known, the repatriation and deportation of Chinese nationals follow a completely different pattern to those reported in recent news stories. For many years, this newspaper has been reporting on ‘Chinese police stations abroad’. That is to say, the networks that maintain ties – and the exchange of information – between certain Chinese citizens in Italy and the authorities of the People’s Republic. These are the networks within which the woman from Zhejiang has, until now, lived and operated. She is subject to an expulsion order, on grounds of state security, and the revocation of her long-term EU residence permit.

The investigative work carried out by Turin’s Digos unit had, in fact, already brought to light in recent months a network of malicious cyber-intrusions, mostly targeting other Chinese dissidents in Italy. A dense network – both virtual and physical – which led, last March, to the expulsion of eight men and women involved in transnational repression and espionage against the Chinese diaspora. The investigation, which documents this underground network here in Italy, has now led to the arrest of a 40-year-old woman who, on behalf of third parties and in return for financial gain, was monitoring a fellow Chinese national who held refugee status.

But how do the spies of the Beijing communists survive in Italy, and why are they proliferating? The plot, it was said, is as complex as it is grotesque. Investigations reveal, in fact, that these residents are sometimes intertwined with organised crime. On many other occasions, however, they are parasites feeding off unsuspecting detective agencies or cultural associations: the dark side of good intentions. In any case, these so-called ‘policemen’ operate to inform the security apparatus in China and report anything damaging to the Republic’s image. It also happens that psychological violence, carried out via technology, is combined with physical violence to induce the dissident to return to China and face a trial that curtails their freedom of expression. But in a (fortunate) twist of fate, this time it was a ‘female police officer’ and her daughter who were repatriated. Two Chinese citizens who, following a decision by the immigration office, have not been – and will no longer be – in Italy since 11.40 am on Saturday 22 August.

The Ministry of the Interior has intended to pursue a ‘hard line’ on China more or less since, four years ago now, a report by Safeguard Defenders opened the Pandora’s box on Beijing. At that time, no fewer than eleven police stations were identified in Italy. La Repubblica described those in Milan and Rome as ‘pilot projects’ for Europe. The report caused a global stir. This newspaper was the first to break the story about the Oltremare station in Prato. Yet the modern party-state has shown no willingness to prune its tentacles. Italy’s objective today therefore remains to prevent them from taking firm root. And thus to flush out, one by one, the spies operating under the false guise of ‘police officers’.