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CCP Influence
ANDERS CORR is a principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher of the Journal of Political Risk. He is an expert in political science and government. Anders Corr
China and Canada Clash at G-20
Canadian leaks cite PRC election interference and intimidation
Canada is in the global spotlight again. Video captured Chinese leader Xi Jinping threatening Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G-20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, over leaks of an earlier meeting between the two men, in which Trudeau likely confronted Xi with a media report on intelligence leaks about China’s election interference.
There was a leak about a leak.
In the video, Xi scolded Trudeau and called the most recent leak inappropriate and inaccurate. He implied that Trudeau was “insincere,” saying, “that is not how diplomacy can work.”
Trudeau, looking about 12 years old in a light-gray suit and pink tie, got a tongue-lashing from the dictator, who said, “We will proceed with mutual respect, otherwise, the result will be hard to say.”
Dr. Charles Burton, a former Canadian diplomat in Beijing, observed that Xi’s phrasing was “a menacing threat to Trudeau.”
Trudeau responded to Xi by saying, “In Canada, we believe in free and open and frank dialogue. We will continue to look to work constructively together, but there will be things we will disagree on.”
Xi then moved to walk away, saying, “Let’s create the conditions first,” to which Trudeau fell silent. Xi ended the conversation with a frosty handshake.
Some on the left lauded Trudeau and the Liberal Party for finally confronting Xi. Canada arrested an alleged spy for China while the G-20 progressed and on Nov. 2, limited China’s investment in its lithium mining.
But conservatives look at Trudeau’s new tough-on-China act skeptically, not least given his continued failure to call the Uyghur repression a “genocide.”
Sen. Leo Housakos, a Conservative from Quebec, told The Epoch Times that Beijing, “by proxy through their ambassador, has made threats previously against Canadian parliamentarians, and this Trudeau government has never called them out for it.” Instead, and in the face of continued intimidation tactics, “Trudeau continues to appease them.”
Canadian intelligence delivered a report in January to the prime minister’s office about China’s election interference. The report leaked to the Global News, which published a Nov. 7 article by investigative journalist Sam Cooper. He wrote that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) made payments to affiliated candidates, placed agents in minister of parliament offices to influence policy, sought to “co-opt and corrupt” former Canadian officials for leverage and political influence, and mounted “aggressive campaigns to punish Canadian politicians” who the CCP viewed as a threat.
“China’s Toronto consulate directed a large clandestine transfer of funds to a network of at least eleven federal election candidates and numerous Beijing operatives who worked as their campaign staffers,” he wrote.
No names were released, so the Canadian public still has no idea which of their elected officials are affiliated with the CCP.
Ten months have passed since the January intelligence, and Trudeau still hasn’t drawn public attention to its details. Other such intelligence has been available for years, including about the CCP targeting the United States from Canada. Neither government has properly alerted the public.
A week after Cooper’s report, at the G-20, Trudeau finally confronted Xi behind closed doors with the Global News article. Does Trudeau think it’s more important to inform Xi or the public?
Canada’s former ambassador to China, David Mulroney, alluded to the reason for the original leaks in The Guardian. He said Canadian intelligence officials are leaking those reports “with some frustration that more isn’t being done.”
On the most recent confrontation at the G-20, Mulroney wrote on Twitter, “We’d have a reason to be proud if Xi had rebuked the PM for taking tough action against outrageous Chinese interference in our elections, rather than simply talking about it. What [Trudeau] got was a display of contempt, not anger.”
The prime minister’s apparent reluctance to address the issue of CCP influence in Canada could be explained by his own reported links to those networks.
In Cooper’s 2021 book, “Wilful Blindness: How a Network of Narcos, Tycoons and CCP Agents Infiltrated the West,” he alleged that Trudeau met individuals linked to China’s regime at “cash-for-access” events and that a Chinese official donated $1 million to Trudeau’s family foundation.
Canada’s Liberal Party isn’t the only one affected by China’s influence operations. The CCP targets both sides of the aisle, as do other dictatorships such as Russia.
To rid democracy of all stripes of authoritarian influence, divide-and-conquer tactics, and election interference, we need tougher bipartisan legislation to close loopholes. No country or political party supporting freedom, democracy, and human rights is safe.
