The Canadian Coalition for Hong Kong (ACHK) released a report this week on Chinese infiltration and influence in Canada, revealing seven key tactics and calling on the government to follow the lead of the United States and Australia in enacting a foreign agent law as soon as possible. The Canadian Parliament passed the first reading of the Foreign Influence Registry Act in April.
The report by the Hong Kong Coalition of Canada, entitled In Plain Sight: Beijing’s Unrestricted Network of Foreign Influence in Canada, reveals how Chinese authorities are working in Canada through the Foreign Influence Registry Act. The book reveals how the Chinese authorities are conducting a deep and extensive unification warfare campaign in Canada through a combination of coercion and cooptation through cooperation among political, business and academic entities, as well as through the use of social media, community groups, proxies and cover organizations.
Cherie Wong, executive director of the Hong Kong Coalition in Canada, shared the report with MPs on the House of Commons Canada-China Relations Committee the other day. “We examined seven areas to illustrate the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy: political influence, elite capture, surveillance and intimidation, information and narrative, academic influence and intellectual property transfer, national security, and the United Front Working Group. These dimensions deeply affect Chinese Canadians and residents of Uighur and Tibetan descent, many of whom live in fear of being threatened by Chinese agents.”
Wang Zhuoyan, who has experienced repeated intimidation by the Chinese authorities, said that the Chinese Communist forces cannot be defended against, for example, when she was organizing an event in Vancouver last January, even though the hotel had been booked using a friend’s name on her behalf, she still received threatening phone calls in her room telling her to pack up and leave immediately and that someone would come to take her away. She immediately called the police, who could do nothing.
Its report makes multiple recommendations to the Canadian government, including promoting a registration system for foreign agents; establishing a foreign influence commission; supporting Canadian intellectual property rights and regulating research collaboration with foreign participants; providing resources for Canadian minorities to reduce their incentives for foreign influence; and limiting the collection, purchase, and export of information about Canadians by foreign agents.
In fact, Canadian MP Kenny Chiu introduced the Foreign Influence Registry Act (BILL C-282) in April, which is modeled on Australia’s anti-foreign interference bill and requires lobbyists acting on behalf of foreign governments, institutions, or individuals to fill out information on the government’s The bill has already passed its first reading.
The bill has already been read,” he said, adding that it is not necessarily illegal for foreign powers to attempt to lobby or influence Canadian decisions, but the process and means need to be transparent. He cited the example of a Chinese radio station in Vancouver, Canada, that interviewed the Chinese consul general in Vancouver last year, giving her a full 20 minutes to promote Hong Kong’s national security laws and criticize attempts by Chinese Canadians to divide the Chinese community, which caused an uproar, so legislation is needed to regulate the propaganda and lobbying practices of foreign governments. ” Did she pay for this twenty-minute interview or not? If no money was paid, in other words the radio station gave the foreign consul some preferential treatment to do the propaganda. If Canada’s CKNW English-language radio station gave a U.S. consul twenty minutes of popular time to promote some American ideas that Canadians don’t agree with, I think people would find it inappropriate as well.”
Jinrong Zhao hopes that his proposed private bill will gain more support and pass through the second and third reading process in the future.
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