THE Chinese government has been accused of opening up more than 50 secret police stations across the globe - including one in Glasgow.

Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders has reported there are at least 54 "overseas police service centres" across five continents and 21 countries.

Most are found in Europe, with nine in Spain, four in Italy, two in London and one in Glasgow.

The Herald has reported that the location of the Glasgow station could be Sauchiehall Street, the same street as a popular Chinese restaurant.

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While the stations were set up to tackle transnational crime and conduct administrative duties, Safeguard Defenders say they are being used to carry out "persuasion operations" which coerce people who criticise the Chinese government.

The unofficial enforcement posts “serve a more sinister goal as they contribute to resolutely cracking down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving overseas Chinese”, according to the report.

This allegedly includes denying suspects' children the right to education in China among other actions against family members.

RTL news, alongside investigative journalism site Follow The Money, told the story of Wang Jingyu, who said he was the victim of a systemic campaign of harassment and intimidation by the Chinese government.

He said he was urged by someone claiming to be from the station to go back to China to "sort out my problems" and to "think about my parents".

The man said officials from the station later followed him.

China has denied the existence of secret police in foreign countries.

Responding to the allegations of such officers in the Netherlands, Dutch foreign ministry spokesperson Maxime Hovenkamp told the BBC: "The Dutch government wasn't made aware of these operations through the diplomatic channels with the Chinese government. That is illegal."

She said the Dutch government will commence an investigation into the matter.

On Wednesday, the China Research Group of MPs urged the UK Government to investigate the claims as a "matter of urgency."

They said: "The Home Office must launch an investigation to shed more light on the activities of these police stations and whether they are illegally operating in the UK.

"A Chinese government official reportedly admitted the role of these stations in ‘pressuring criminals’ to return to China.

"These ‘criminals’ could be Hong Kongers, Uyghurs, dissidents — or indeed anyone else who has dared to criticise the Chinese Communist Party.

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“Formal investigations are now under way by governments in the US, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Germany, and now the Netherlands. It’s important that we don’t become an international laggard in dealing with this sort of malign interference.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Reports of undeclared ‘police stations’ in the UK are of course very concerning and will be taken extremely seriously.

"Any foreign country operating on UK soil must abide by UK law.

“The protection of people in the UK is of the utmost importance and any attempt to illegally repatriate any individual will not be tolerated.”