Friday, February 10, 2023

China's Surveillance, Destabilization and Interference in Canada

"We did a disruption by going in uniform, with marked police cars, to speak with the people involved in those police stations, or those locations."
"We haven[t heard very many new complaints on those three stations in Toronto and the one in Vancouver as a result of the disruption we have done."
"We've had that visible presence, and that's mostly so that people will see the actions first of all, because we need more information."
So what we hoped, and it did occur, when we do this a lot of people come forward to provide information because they see the police in the area."
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Brenda Lucki
 
"[Chinese interference in Canadian elections is an] increasingly serious problem."
"I worry that we have yet to address this threat with the urgency it deserves." 
"[Canadian police ] need to be more present in diaspora communities and better informed [about Chinese interference]."
"[Police also need to be able to] act if they are to protect people who are being harassed and silenced by the Chinese state here in Canada."
"I think we need to  train our police to be more aware of what's happening."
Former Canadian  Ambassador to China David Mulroney

"[No Chinese diplomat has been expelled and] no agents of the Chinese regime have been brought before a Canadian court to be accountable for alleged criminal activity."
"[That lack of action will have consequences]; This emboldens the Chinese regime to do much more of it in the next election."
"In other words, the longer we remain passive and ineffective, the more encouraged they'll be that they can do more of this and get away with it."
Charles Burton, former diplomat, senior fellow, Macdonald Laurier Institute
A sign on a building reading 'WENZHOU FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY" in English and Chinese characters is shown in a close-up.
The Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society building in Richmond, B.C., on Dec. 12, 2022, has been at the centre of police activity related to an investigation into allegations of foreign interference. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
 
Perhaps the first place to begin restructuring and educating the federal police force is to replace its current commissioner who appears incapable of fully comprehending the internal threat of Beijing's destabilizing effect in Canada. Much less the fact that Chinese agents in Canada continually harass and threaten and instill fear of reprisals into the Chinese diaspora, now Canadian citizens. The current government was warned of Chinese election interference and did nothing.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears loathe to take any action that will anger Beijing until and unless he is pressed to do so. It is utterly incomprehensible that China feels sufficiently confident that no action will be taken by the Canadian government in response to the provocation of the establishment of Chinese police stations in Canadian cities. Where Chinese citizens are monitored and reminded of their obligations to China, and those hostile to China threatened with repercussions to family members.
 
Yiping Li said he moved to Vancouver as a refugee from Hong Kong in 1997 and believes he was a target of the Chinese government for his campaigns and social media messages advocating for minority rights in China.
"I got threats all the time from online and from my social media. They published my home address, my phone number and my mom's phone number and asked everybody to phone me."
"Just a month ago ... I saw a guy parked in his SUV outside my house taking pictures."
Li is sitting next to a man in front of yellow posters that say 'Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement.'
Li says he believes he's still being targeted by the Chinese government. (Submitted by Yiping Li)
 
Chinese diplomatic missions engage in surveillance activities and are known to collect intelligence from some expatriates useful to Beijing. A House of Commons committee is sitting to hear from various parties relating to their experience with the Chinese interference-in-Canada issue. A foreign nation that is hostile to the country establishes police stations and the federal police fail to respond, but for establishing a 'visible presence'. Inconsequential and inadequate. 

The committee on Canada-China relations' hearings are producing some astonishing revelations, none more so than the insipidly baffling response of the RCMP to China's sense of entitlement in Canada. Safeguard Defenders, a human rights group, revealed  the operation of over 100 police stations by China worldwide. Four of those are in Canada. Wherever they are, they cause vexing destabilization among the widespread Chinese diaspora. In Canada, Canadian citizens who feel undefended.

The Canadian prime minister smiles at the Chinese leader, who is accompanied by an aide. In the background, several individuals speak to each other.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised the issue of interference with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Indonesia. (Prime Minister's Office)

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posted by Pieface @ Friday, February 10, 2023

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