Nicola Sturgeon has responded to reports of a secret Chinese outpost being located in Glasgow, stating that police and the government are taking the information “extremely seriously”.
Earlier in the week, human rights body Safeguard Defenders released a report that contained information suggesting that over a hundred security outposts have been set up across the world.
It stated that there were 110 units, with one based on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, reported the Daily Record.
The outposts are reportedly aimed at forcing Chinese dissidents back home.
And the First Minister for Scotland, Ms Sturgeon, spoke on the matter during First Minister's Questions on Thursday, where she revealed she had been in talks with Police Scotland Chief Constable, Sir Iain Livingstone.
She said: "I agree these reports are deeply concerning and I want to be very clear that we take them very seriously.
"Any foreign country operating in Scotland must abide by Scottish law.
"The Scottish Government fully supports an individual's rights to freedom of expression and that is also an extremely important principle.
"These matters require to be fully and properly investigated and it would not be appropriate for me to go into too much detail, but I do know - and I know this as a result of a conversation I had just yesterday with the chief constable - police are aware of these reports."
The First Minister then went on to state that investigations would be handled by the police, and that they remain independent of Government.
However, she did further clarify that the issue requires to be treated "extremely seriously".
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer was the one to raise the question with the First Minister.
He put forward the notion that there should be a "zero-tolerance approach" to "dictatorships, dictatorships like the one in Beijing using their diplomatic presence here to harass and abuse pro-democracy activists and their families".
He added: "Yesterday the Dutch government confirmed they are launching an investigation into the existence of undeclared Chinese state police bases across Europe, bases being used to attack dissidents and pro-democracy activists.
"The report that prompted this investigation confirmed that one of these bases is located in Glasgow. This comes just days after the Chinese consulate in Manchester dragged a protester inside the gates of the consulate, where he and his staff then assaulted him.
"And after reports of students in Edinburgh who come from Hong Kong being targeted and intimidated by those associated with the Beijing regime."
