A senior Canadian lawmaker and secretary to the minister of foreign affairs apologized on Friday after his flirtatious e-mails to a journalist with Xinhua news agency were made public.
Bob Dechert, a Conservative MP for the Missisauga-Erindale riding near Toronto, was forced to explain the missives on Friday after a mass e-mail distributed to media, academics and political contacts the previous day described his amorous messages to Shi Rong (施蓉), the Toronto bureau chief for Xinhua. The e-mails, sent from Dechert’s parliamentary account, were dated around April last year.
One, dated April 17 last year and signed “Bob Dechert, MP,” read: “You are so beautiful. I really like the picture of you by the water with your cheeks puffed. That look is so cute, I love it when you do that. Now, I miss you even more.”
Photo: Screengrab from CBC News Web site
Another e-mail, sent three days later, read: “Dearest Rong ... How is your day? Did your interviews at Royal Bank go well? Did you get enough information for your articles?”
Informing her he had just arrived in Ottawa, Dechert then wrote: “I enjoyed the drive by thinking of you.”
“We [the Canadian House of Commons] will be voting at 6:30 p.m. If you have time, watch on TV or on your computer [on the CPAC Web site] and I will smile at you,” the message read, concluding with: “I miss you. Love, Bob.”
Dechert, who is married, played down the nature of his relationship with Shi on Friday.
“[Shi] is a journalist whom I have come to know as a friend. I met her while doing Chinese-language media communications,” he said.
“These e-mails are flirtatious, but the friendship remained innocent and simply that — a friendship. I apologize for any harm caused to anyone by this situation,” the Globe and Mail quoted him as saying.
The MP claimed the e-mails had been “leaked” as part of a domestic dispute between Shi and her husband. Shi told a Canadian newspaper that her husband had “hacked” into her e-mail account.
Dechert is one of the two secretaries to Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird, whose first visit abroad as Canada’s top foreign affairs official was to Beijing in July. Dechert assumed that position following the Canadian federal elections on May 2. Prior to the assignment, he was parliamentary secretary to the justice minister.
Dechert’s responsibilities under Baird are for North America and are unrelated to the Asia-Pacific region, government sources have told the Canadian Press, adding that he had been asked to give an account of his relationship with Shi to an unidentified government official.
As part of their functions, parliamentary secretaries answer questions in the House of Commons when the minister is not present, a government official said, adding that such a position normally does not come with access to Cabinet-level information and is usually limited to briefing notes.
Western intelligence agencies have long suspected journalists from Xinhua of also being under the employ of the Chinese intelligence apparatus. In at least one Western country, the domestic intelligence service operates under the assumption that Xinhua reporters are “undeclared” intelligence officers.
Beijing’s definition of what constitutes intelligence material is rather vague. It is known that journalists working for Xinhua, the People’s Daily and other state-owned publications are also tasked with producing neibu cankao ziliao (內部參考資料), or “internal reference reports,” on subjects that are deemed too sensitive for public consumption. Those reports are circulated only among Chinese officials.
While it has yet to be determined whether Dechert was the target of a “honey trap,” the Chinese intelligence apparatus has a long tradition of using attractive women to compromise or blackmail government officials, business leaders and individuals in the arms industry.
In an interview last year, Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director Richard Fadden said at least two Canadian Cabinet ministers at the provincial level, as well as a number of other government officials were “under the control” of foreign intelligence agencies.
While he did not specify any countries, it was widely understood that Fadden was referring to China.
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect