Canada has repeatedly been called a haven for international money laundering, and Canadian journalists have drawn out the dark secrets of the Chinese government’s involvement in the gambling and drug crisis that began with an investigation into Vancouver, only to uncover them in a book titled “Wilful Blindness. At Thursday’s book launch, several China experts said the combination of China’s United Front Department and criminals, who not only make money but even pull in Canadian politicians and interfere with the functioning of Canadian society, has led to an uncontrollable crisis that many have long turned a blind eye to.
Since 2017, Canadian journalist Sam Cooper has been investigating the issue of casino activity in British Columbia and has found that large amounts of money laundered are in turn inextricably linked to Vancouver’s high housing prices and drug problem. He found in many cases that one of the massive underhanders was the Chinese Communist Party, with some criminals attending high-profile community events and having good connections to both Canadian and Chinese political figures. “The photos illustrate the fact that this is the activity of the Chinese United Front Department, and that a group of these people involved in gambling and money laundering, drug crimes and other electronic piracy, often go in and out of Chinese embassies and consulates, and also often interact with some Canadian political figures, it’s a huge chain of connections, more than I thought at first.”
Cooper has written several years of investigative reports and insights into a book, “Intentional Ignorance,” which was just recently published. At the book’s launch on the 20th, Charles Burton, a former Canadian diplomat in China; Benedict Rogers, vice chairman of the Conservative Human Rights Committee in the United Kingdom; Teng Biao, a U.S.-based Chinese lawyer and visiting professor at the University of Chicago’s Human Rights Center; and Ivy Li, founder of Friends of Hong Kong Canada, all mentioned China’s The United Front Work Department’s infiltration methods.
Burton said that drugs and gambling are linked to many lives, and that Canadian intelligence units warned Ottawa years ago that there were ties to Chinese officials that fell on deaf ears. Much of the evidence in this book shows that corruption throughout the system has allowed powerful Chinese government lobbyists to reach into all areas. “Most were retired politicians, business and legal experts who were indirectly or directly given favors by the Chinese authorities to push Ottawa not to introduce policies such as the Transparency in Foreign Influence Act that could undermine Chinese interests.”
Ivy Lee said that the expansion of Chinese money and connections in Canada has not only worsened local security and soared housing prices, but has also left people living in silent fear, and that whenever anyone criticizes the Chinese government or the Chinese community for its chaos, someone jumps in and calls it racism. Some so-called politicians and community leaders have even become propaganda machines for the Chinese authorities. “There are Canadian political figures and community leaders who have strongly urged the federal government on the need to establish a memorial day for the Nanjing Massacre, and have received support from Chinese embassies and consulates in Canada, but how can these people not say anything about the Tiananmen Massacre? We criticize the Chinese government, not the Chinese people, and it has nothing to do with discrimination against ethnic Chinese, we cannot fall inside the trap of China’s united war.”
Threats of intimidation from China have become commonplace for Teng Biao. “Once Columbia University canceled a seminar on human rights in China that I was involved in because the Chinese Students and Scholars Association threatened to hold a protest, students had told me they were afraid to register for my class for fear of getting into trouble, and there were repeated threats to my life and my family, and the list of related incidents goes on and on.”
Experts say it’s impossible to hit a quick button and solve this litany of problems, but the book reveals the ugly face of a group of criminal gangs, industrialists, politicians, community leaders and the Chinese United Front Work Department working in tandem, and the world can no longer ignore the truth. Cooper warns that as Western politicians quietly roll out the red carpet for Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road,” they may also be caught up in Chinese espionage and trade-based money laundering tactics.
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