Obviously the meeting had to be facilitated by the FAO, but police and FT's were all in
attendance.

Wow. I find that amazing. Did the police also go to the FT apartments to take the pictures?

In all my time in China I have been in a FT 'meeting' with a policeman only once.

It was during an orientation program for FTs at the beginning of a new academic year at a Provincial University. The policeman was introduced as the "head of police for that city". Of course he spoke no English. Our FAO director translated for him. He gave us a variety of cautionary tales and regulations. He then asked if there were any questions. I asked him in English: "In this city there are many motorcycles, even cars, that drive on the sidewalks. Is that legal?" The FAO asked him the question in Chinese. His answer avoided the question (I understood his answer), saying many of the crazy drivers in this city are foreigners. This time I asked him the same question in Chinese, staring directly at him. He glared back at me and said in Chinese, I quote: "This city does not have any sidewalks".

My FAO director refused to translate and could barely refrain from laughing.