The Chinese security services have been able to investigate in Switzerland since 2015 to determine the nationality and identity of their nationals residing illegally. They may be rejected asylum seekers, illegal immigrants or even undocumented migrants.
Since it is a technical agreement and not an international treaty, it does not have to be published in the official collection of laws, told Keystone-ATS on Sunday, Daniel Bach, spokesperson for the Secretariat of Migration report (SEM), confirming information from the NZZ am Sonntag. Parliament is informed of these agreements once a year.
According to the agreement, employees of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security can carry out for two weeks “without official status” investigations into the possible nationality of Chinese present illegally.
In particular, they can conduct interrogations. They thus help the SEM for repatriation. As soon as the nationality of the persons concerned is established, they receive replacement travel documents and are returned to China.
Tibetans and Uyghurs excluded
Switzerland does not know what happens after their return, Bach said. Like other countries, China does not accept monitoring. The spokesperson, however, stressed that the repatriations are carried out in accordance with the law and that the people concerned are not threatened in China. They are also reminded that they can contact the Swiss Embassy at any time.
Tibetans who are refused asylum are not returned to China because they are threatened, Bach added. This is also the case for members of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, although Switzerland registers few Uyghur asylum applications.
Thirteen evictions
To date, a Chinese delegation has visited Switzerland. It was in 2016. Following this visit, thirteen people were expelled, including four rejected asylum seekers, said Bach. The others had violated the law on foreigners.
The Swiss authorities cannot provide Chinese employees with data collected during the asylum procedure. For most other countries of origin, cooperation is governed by a readmission agreement or a migration agreement, Bach said.
Critiques
Voices are raised within the foreign policy committee of the National Council against the extension of this agreement. Quoted in the NZZ am Sonntag, Fabian Molina (PS / ZH) considers this treaty absolutely unacceptable, while Sibel Arslan (Verts / BS) demands the immediate termination of the agreement. The two national advisers will ask for explanations from the Federal Council at the next meeting of the committee, scheduled for Monday.
Amnesty International is also critical and considers this agreement ‘very problematic’. The repression has increased sharply in China, especially in Hong Kong, explained its spokesperson Nadia Boehlen on the airwaves of RTS. The NGO demands additional guarantees that the people will not be victims of repressive measures upon their return to China.
The Chinese Communist regime has been cracking down on ethnic minorities, especially the Buddhist population of Tibet since the invasion of the province in 1959.
In Xinjiang (northwest), more than a million Uyghurs – out of a total of ten million – are detained in what Beijing defines as ‘vocational training centers’, according to international estimates. Beijing accuses the Muslim minority of separatism and terrorism.
Beijing also imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong at the end of June. This text punishes four types of crimes against the security of the State: subversion, separatism, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers. Several Western states have suspended extradition treaties with the former British colony.
/ ATS
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