In a world of espionage where rules are rare, the Chinese secret services show a particular disinhibition. This is the observation made by the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) and the Paris Police Prefecture. They reveal in notes, to which The world had access, the presence of state officials belonging to the Chinese services during an attempted forcible repatriation, on March 22, of a Chinese dissident and a “intimidation action” aborted on May 8 against a political refugee of Uighur origin.
In these cases, the French services note, the Chinese agents acted in public. They never sought to operate clandestinely, any more than they sought to flee France after having had to abandon their project following the intervention of the police. Other foreign services, notably Russian, Turkish and Chechen, have attempted similar actions in the past, but all tried to conceal their responsibility.
On May 8, according to the Police Prefecture, the anti-crime brigade of 18e district is called for suspicion of an attempted kidnapping, from her home, targeting a Kazakh of Uighur origin, Gulbahar Jalilova. She arrived in France in October 2020, after spending a year and a half in a Chinese concentration camp in Xinjiang. When the police arrived there, they came face to face with “around ten men dressed in black”. They also identify the commando vehicle parked nearby.
The authors of the call testify that these men “ringed on the intercom” and tracked down the political opponent. Of the six people checked, the police discovered “a service passport” on the person appearing to exercise a role of authority. This document links the individual to the Chinese embassy. According to Dilnur Reyhan, teacher at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations and founder of the Uighur Institute of Europe, Mme Jalilova is traumatized by this episode which echoes another kidnapping attempt, in Türkiye. “She was chased by three men in black in a car in Istanbul”, tells Mme Reyhan.
“China has a very long arm”
When she was released in China, agents warned her: “If you dare to speak, no matter where you are, China has a very long arm, we can always bring you back”reports Mme Reyhan, who plans to file a complaint for “harassment” alongside the dissident. During a demonstration on May 5, organized in front of the Madeleine church, against the arrival of Xi Jinping, the next day, in France, young men intervened, brandishing portraits of barred Uighurs and shouting ” lies “, before being chased away by the police. Mme Jalilova did not want to speak.
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