TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China is running more than 100 covert police stations overseas from Chinese restaurants, convenience stores, and private homes, Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB) said Tuesday (May 23).

In April, police in New York City arrested two U.S. citizens of Chinese origin for their alleged involvement in running a secret police station in Manhattan. Similar incidents were reported from several other countries, though the New York case was the first to result in arrests.

According to an NSB report submitted to the Legislative Yuan, most of the stations are run by five Public Security Bureau (PSB) offices in China, CNA reported. Beijing claimed the overseas stations were set up to help Chinese citizens handle travel documents, but in fact, they were observing local communities and threatening dissidents, the NSB report said.

The New York case might have led the Chinese authorities to order the stations to go deeper into hiding, according to the NSB, which vouched to continue cooperating with other countries to track down threats to Taiwan. The Chinese actions were also designed to turn attitudes in overseas Chinese communities against Taiwan, officials said.