Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday warned that China is “play[ing] aggressive games” to undermine democratic institutions amid reports Beijing interfered in the nation’s federal elections.
His comments came after a news report that Beijing had funded a “clandestine network” of candidates in Canada’s 2019 election and just days after the federal police force said it was investigating a secret network of illegal Chinese “police stations” in Toronto.
The allegations — which came on the same day that a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had previously interfered in US elections — are likely to intensify concerns about the scope of foreign intrusion in Canadian domestic politics.
Photo: Reuters
“We have taken significant measures to strengthen the integrity of our elections processes and our systems, and we’ll continue to invest in the fight against election interference, against foreign interference of our democracy and institutions,” Trudeau told reporters on Monday.
“Unfortunately, we’re seeing countries, state actors from around the world, whether it’s China or others, are continuing to play aggressive games with our institutions, with our democracies,” he said.
Trudeau’s remarks followed reporting from Global News that Canadian intelligence had concluded Beijing worked to undermine the democratic process in Canada in multiple elections, including votes held in 2019 and last year.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) briefed the prime minister, as well as senior Cabinet ministers, in January about China’s attempts, the report said.
The efforts are believed to include placing agents in the offices of lawmakers to influence policy in China’s favor, as well as attempts to “co-opt and corrupt” former Canadian officials to gain political power and influence in the nation’s capital.
It is unclear if the CSIS, or the federal government, believe the efforts were successful.
Former Canadian ambassador to China David Mulroney said the allegations were “far more aggressive” than previously suspected.
“Just when you think some allegations against China are exaggerated, you find that they’ve in fact been understated.” Mulroney said.
“These represent a malicious, dangerous threat to our democracy,” he said.
Election interference attempts have targeted members from both the Liberal and Conservative parties.
“We had evidence of interference in the last general election through proxies that were spreading disinformation on Chinese-language social media platforms, which interfered in a number of [electoral districts] with significant Chinese communities,” Conservative lawmaker Michael Chong (莊文浩) told the Guardian.
He said a number of incidents of harassment against prominent Uighur and Tibetan students at Ontario universities had been “coordinated” through Toronto’s Chinese consulate.
The CSIS believes the consulate was behind a large financial transaction to at least 11 federal election candidates and Chinese government-affiliated operatives who worked as campaign staffers — C$250,000 (US$185,251) was allegedly transferred through a provincial Ontario lawmaker to a federal election candidate.
Asked to comment on the allegations, the prime minister’s office said: “Protecting Canadians’ security is our top priority.”
“Threats, harassment or intimidation of Canadian citizens are unacceptable, and all allegations of interference are investigated thoroughly by our security agencies, it said. “As threats evolve, so must the methods used to address them. That is why the prime minister has given the minister of public safety the mandate to improve collaboration between Canadian security agencies.”
In Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) yesterday told a regular news conference that China has “no interest” in Canada’s internal affairs.
“State-to-state relations can only be built on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit,” he said. “China-Canada relations are no exception. Canada should stop making remarks that hurt China-Canada relations.”
Additional reporting by AFP
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
Suspected Chinese spies posing as Taiwanese tourists have been arrested for allegedly taking photographs of Philippine Coast Guard ships, local media reported. The suspected spies stayed at a resort in Palawan, where from a secluded location they used their phones to record coast guard ships entering and leaving a base, Philippine TV network GMA said on Wednesday. Palawan is near the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and other disputed areas of the South China Sea, where tensions have been on the rise between China and the Philippines. The suspects allegedly also used drones without permission and installed cameras on coconut trees in the
RSS