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
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