Reports of a Glasgow restaurant operating as a 'secret Chinese police station' have prompted Nicola Sturgeon to comment that the Scottish Government are looking at the issue 'extremely seriously'.
Safeguard Defenders, a non-governmental organisation headquartered in Spain, issued the report and stated that there are 54 “overseas police service centres” located in 21 countries, with one being at a well-known Chinese restaurant on Sauchiehall Street, Loon Fung.
According to an original report by The Times, these outposts carry out “persuasion operations” to coerce dissidents into returning to China.
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Speaking during First Minister 's Questions on Thursday, Nicola Sturgeon said the matter is being taken seriously and she has discussed it with Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone.
She added: "I agree these reports are deeply concerning and I want to be very clear that we take them very seriously.
"Any foreign country operating in Scotland must abide by Scottish law.
"The Scottish Government fully supports an individual's rights to freedom of expression and that is also an extremely important principle.
"These matters require to be fully and properly investigated and it would not be appropriate for me to go into too much detail, but I do know - and I know this as a result of a conversation I had just yesterday with the chief constable - police are aware of these reports."
The First Minister stressed the police remain independent of government, and any investigations would be a matter for the force.
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer, who raised the question with the First Minister, called for a "zero-tolerance approach".
He added: "Yesterday the Dutch government confirmed they are launching an investigation into the existence of undeclared Chinese state police bases across Europe, bases being used to attack dissidents and pro-democracy activists.
"The report that prompted this investigation confirmed that one of these bases is located in Glasgow. This comes just days after the Chinese consulate in Manchester dragged a protester inside the gates of the consulate, where he and his staff then assaulted him.
"And after reports of students in Edinburgh who come from Hong Kong being targeted and intimidated by those associated with the Beijing regime."
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