Alarming new images of a battalion of Chinese police officers in Fiji escorting hooded suspects onto a private plane have exposed the authoritarian Pacific country’s secret drive for power.
The footage, filmed by a Chinese security agency and obtained by 60 Minutes, shows dozens of Chinese police officers smashing down doors and arresting nearly 80 young male and female alleged cyber scammers in Fiji.
The alleged perpetrators are then hooded, handcuffed and seated in the middle of a line of Chinese police officers as they are flown back to China on a charter plane.
“No matter how far away they are, they (criminal suspects) will be arrested,” reads a translation of the accompanying Chinese captions.
The footage, filmed by a Chinese security agency and obtained by 60 Minutes, shows dozens of Chinese police officers smashing down doors and arresting nearly 80 young male and female alleged cyber scammers in Fiji (pictured)
The alleged perpetrators are then hooded, handcuffed and seated in the middle of a line of Chinese police officers as they are flown back to China on a charter plane (photo)
Fijian police are simply watching as the arrests took place under a controversial police deal between Suva and Beijing, which critics say shows the extent of China’s pernicious influence in the region.
While the footage was filmed in 2017, Australian National University China specialist Graeme Smith said up to two such ‘rendition’ exercises were taking place every week.
“It’s a very disturbing path because these types of operations (involving Chinese authorities) are happening all over the world,” Mr Smith told 60 Minutes.
“Our team estimates this is happening twice a week, every week, around the world, but the Pacific example is quite concerning.”
Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka (pictured) told 60 Minutes that the South Pacific could be destabilized by China’s ‘undue influence’
Mr Smith, who first exposed the terrifying vision, said the Chinese police officers ‘acted as if they were in China’.
“The Fiji Police Force is there, but really only in the background, and they are treating Fijian soil as Chinese soil in every respect,” Mr Smith said.
“It’s definitely an abdication of sovereignty and … a very bad precedent that’s been set.”
The police operation completely bypassed Fiji’s legal system and the alleged perpetrators were taken to China to face ‘justice’ in the communist country’s murky legal system.
The Chinese Embassy in Fiji said “law enforcement and police cooperation between China and Fiji is professional, open and transparent.”
The police operation completely bypassed Fiji’s own legal system and the alleged perpetrators (pictured) were taken to China to face ‘justice’ in the communist country’s murky legal system.
Pacific island states such as Fiji are at the center of a fierce battle for influence between Australia and the US on one side, and China on the other.
China failed to sign 10 countries to a regional security treaty last year, choosing instead to focus on striking individual agreements with them.
But Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told 60 Minutes the South Pacific could be destabilized by China’s “undue influence.”
“I understand Australia and America, and I don’t fully understand the Chinese agenda,” Rabuka said.
