By Tom Blackwell
The scene outside the offices of the Toronto public school board was raucous.
It was October 2014, and the board was planning to vote on a contract with the Confucius Institute, an organization affiliated with the education ministry of the government of China, which had offered its services to teach Mandarin to the city’s schoolchildren.
Critics decried the arrangement, calling the institute a propaganda or espionage arm of the Chinese state.
But its supporters were out in force, scores of them, rallying noisily and waving Chinese flags in the heart of Canada’s biggest city.
“You are a damn traitor to China,” one of them shouted to an institute opponent of Chinese descent. “Down with traitors!”
The demonstration was no spontaneous occurrence.
“You are a damn traitor to China,” one of them shouted to an institute opponent of Chinese descent. “Down with traitors!”
The demonstration was no spontaneous occurrence.
Three days earlier, as the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Associations hosted a farewell banquet for the departing Chinese vice-consul, Consul General Fang Li had urged locals to come out in support of the institute.
The confederation, according to the local MingPao newspaper, echoed his call, predicting 500 would attend the rally.
While the Toronto trustees eventually voted to send the Institute packing, Confucius is now entrenched at three other school boards and on nine university and college campuses across Canada.
Charles Burton, a political scientist at Ontario’s Brock University who closely monitors China-related rights issues, says one of the United Front’s key goals is to soften opinions around issues like Chinese companies’ acquisition of Canadian natural resources and technology, or the looming decision Canada must make about Huawei’s involvement in building the country’s 5G telecom network.
Even an Ottawa Chinese senior’s group was not immune.
After a request for support from the local consul general of China, Chinese-Canadian backers of the Confucius Institute rally outside the Toronto school board offices in 2014. Subtitles were added by Falun Gong practitioners but the translation was independently verified by the National Post.
The confederation, according to the local MingPao newspaper, echoed his call, predicting 500 would attend the rally.
While the Toronto trustees eventually voted to send the Institute packing, Confucius is now entrenched at three other school boards and on nine university and college campuses across Canada.
And the Toronto dispute underscored Beijing’s sometimes surprising reach into Canada — the subject of renewed scrutiny amid the bitter diplomatic dispute sparked by Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, an executive with Chinese infotech giant Huawei, at the request of the United States.
China has long strived to influence and monitor Chinese-Canadians, Chinese citizens who study here and Canadian society as a whole — and done the same in many other countries.
China has long strived to influence and monitor Chinese-Canadians, Chinese citizens who study here and Canadian society as a whole — and done the same in many other countries.
In recent years, however, that project appears to have surged in importance.
Since rising to prominence in 2012, the country’s paramount leader, Xi Jinping, has overseen what one leading academic expert calls a “massive expansion” in China’s use of soft power overseas, much of it under the auspices of the United Front Work Department, a shadowy offshoot of the Chinese communist party.
The United Front began in pre-revolutionary China, used by the party to co-opt non-communist groups into its struggle for power.
Since rising to prominence in 2012, the country’s paramount leader, Xi Jinping, has overseen what one leading academic expert calls a “massive expansion” in China’s use of soft power overseas, much of it under the auspices of the United Front Work Department, a shadowy offshoot of the Chinese communist party.
The United Front began in pre-revolutionary China, used by the party to co-opt non-communist groups into its struggle for power.
In recent years, it has been increasingly deployed to win over overseas Chinese — and the broader societies around them.
“United Front work has taken on a level of significance not seen since the years before 1949,” Anne-Marie Brady, a political scientist at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, told a U.S. conference last year.
“United Front work has taken on a level of significance not seen since the years before 1949,” Anne-Marie Brady, a political scientist at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, told a U.S. conference last year.
“(China) is increasingly able to use its soft-power ‘magic weapons’ to help influence the decision-making of foreign governments and societies.”
Working partly through officials in foreign missions, its activities include influencing the Chinese diaspora to back China, co-opting foreign political and economic elites, promoting Beijing’s agenda worldwide and forming a China-centred economic bloc, the political science professor says.
And doing “United Front work” is considered the duty of all party members — who now include a majority of Chinese corporate CEOs — not just the department itself, says Brady.
Xi himself has quoted Mao’s description of the United Front as one of the communists’ “magic weapons,” and has elevated the United Front’s role in the party, an expansion that has included adding 40,000 staff to the department and absorbing three government agencies, according to Gerry Groot, a China-studies lecturer at Australia’s University of Adelaide.
Last August, Xi made a direct appeal to ethnic Chinese residents of countries like Canada — what Beijing calls the “overseas Chinese” — urging them to “remember the call from the Party and the people, spread China’s voice, support the country’s development, safeguard national interests.”
Working partly through officials in foreign missions, its activities include influencing the Chinese diaspora to back China, co-opting foreign political and economic elites, promoting Beijing’s agenda worldwide and forming a China-centred economic bloc, the political science professor says.
And doing “United Front work” is considered the duty of all party members — who now include a majority of Chinese corporate CEOs — not just the department itself, says Brady.
Xi himself has quoted Mao’s description of the United Front as one of the communists’ “magic weapons,” and has elevated the United Front’s role in the party, an expansion that has included adding 40,000 staff to the department and absorbing three government agencies, according to Gerry Groot, a China-studies lecturer at Australia’s University of Adelaide.
Last August, Xi made a direct appeal to ethnic Chinese residents of countries like Canada — what Beijing calls the “overseas Chinese” — urging them to “remember the call from the Party and the people, spread China’s voice, support the country’s development, safeguard national interests.”
The Huawei research and development centre at Dongguan, China.
Charles Burton, a political scientist at Ontario’s Brock University who closely monitors China-related rights issues, says one of the United Front’s key goals is to soften opinions around issues like Chinese companies’ acquisition of Canadian natural resources and technology, or the looming decision Canada must make about Huawei’s involvement in building the country’s 5G telecom network.
The company, considered to have close links to the Chinese state and having for years faced accusations of corporate espionage, was barred from taking part in 5G trials in the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand — the four countries that with Canada comprise the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance.
It’s difficult to map exactly how the United Front Work Department deploys its resources in places like Canada.
It’s difficult to map exactly how the United Front Work Department deploys its resources in places like Canada.
But Burton argues its influence — helped by immigration in the last two decades made up increasingly of people raised under Communist rule on the Chinese mainland — has been tangible.
A substantial portion of Chinese diplomatic staff in Canada are United Front operatives, interacting with Chinese-Canadian leaders, politicians, students and others.
And there are a lot of those staffers.
And there are a lot of those staffers.
Global Affairs Canada lists 211 accredited representatives of China, not much less than the 276 fielded by the U.S., Canada’s closest ally and neighbour.
The U.K. has 38.
The Chinese embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
Most of the Chinese-language media in Canada are now owned by businesses tied to Beijing, offering positive coverage of China, while Chinese-Canadian community groups have largely fallen under the sway of the “motherland.”
In his own region, the Niagara Chinese Cultural Association was once dedicated to domestic causes and reaching out to the wider community, but now seems just as interested in cheering on a rising China, says Burton, a fluent Mandarin speaker.
Most of the Chinese-language media in Canada are now owned by businesses tied to Beijing, offering positive coverage of China, while Chinese-Canadian community groups have largely fallen under the sway of the “motherland.”
In his own region, the Niagara Chinese Cultural Association was once dedicated to domestic causes and reaching out to the wider community, but now seems just as interested in cheering on a rising China, says Burton, a fluent Mandarin speaker.
Both the Canadian and Chinese flags are raised at meetings today, and there was even discussion of adding the Chinese anthem, he says.
“An organization that once had another purpose has gradually been taken over to serve China’s national interest. Where United Front work becomes problematic is when it’s engaging persons of Chinese origin who have Canadian citizenship … to serve the interests of the motherland, when in fact the motherland should be Canada.”
One of the Niagara group’s leaders denies there has been any change in direction, or political thrust. “Our executive committee’s background is a combination of Canada, mainland China, Taiwan and Chinese from other Asian countries,” says Li Yu, the association’s former president.
“An organization that once had another purpose has gradually been taken over to serve China’s national interest. Where United Front work becomes problematic is when it’s engaging persons of Chinese origin who have Canadian citizenship … to serve the interests of the motherland, when in fact the motherland should be Canada.”
One of the Niagara group’s leaders denies there has been any change in direction, or political thrust. “Our executive committee’s background is a combination of Canada, mainland China, Taiwan and Chinese from other Asian countries,” says Li Yu, the association’s former president.
Yet Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former Asia-Pacific chief for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, documented ties between the leaders of a number of Chinese-Canadian groups and China, arguing in a presentation to the Toronto school board the groups “are following Beijing’s request, not the Canadian constituents.”
The Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Associations has joined forces with the local consulate on contentious issues other than just the Confucius Institute, while China’s Overseas Affairs Office — under Xi, now officially part of the United Front — heaped praise on the group in a recent online article, since removed, that cited its willingness to defend Chinese interests.
Confederation executives could not be reached for comment.
The Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Associations has joined forces with the local consulate on contentious issues other than just the Confucius Institute, while China’s Overseas Affairs Office — under Xi, now officially part of the United Front — heaped praise on the group in a recent online article, since removed, that cited its willingness to defend Chinese interests.
Confederation executives could not be reached for comment.
Their website talks of building “a truly beautiful and wonderful homeland — Canada,” while pledging to also help strengthen both the bridge of friendship to China, and China’s economic development.
In August 2018, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping made a direct appeal to ethnic Chinese residents of countries such as Canada urging them to remember the call from the Party and the people, spread China's voice, support the country's development, safeguard national interests.
Even an Ottawa Chinese senior’s group was not immune.
The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled in 2006 the association had violated the law by throwing out a member who practiced Falun Gong.
Asked to explain the decision, one group leader allegedly said the expelled senior was “against the Chinese government,” another that the organization had to “maintain unity and solidarity” with Beijing, the tribunal reported.
Not all experts are convinced that China’s attempts to shape opinion in Canada have borne much fruit.
Not all experts are convinced that China’s attempts to shape opinion in Canada have borne much fruit.
“There is definitely an attempt to influence domestic public opinion here,” Lynette Ong, a University of Toronto professor and China expert, said in an interview.
“But from what I see, the extent of success here is rather limited.”
And the Canadian government has been reluctant to do what Australia did earlier this year and implement laws geared to countering undue foreign influence.
And the Canadian government has been reluctant to do what Australia did earlier this year and implement laws geared to countering undue foreign influence.
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland did not respond when asked whether Canada would now consider such legislation.
But politicians themselves have also been the target of Beijing’s influence campaigns.
In the Antipodes, where the issue has been most prominent, a New Zealand MP landed in hot water after his pre-immigration past as a member of Chinese military intelligence was revealed, while an Australian senator quit amid revelations that he had taken pro-China positions after getting donations from a Beijing-linked tycoon.
Ong argues that Beijing’s political influence in Canada has been negligible compared to what has happened in New Zealand or Australia, whose economies are far more dependent on China.
Yet a training manual for United Front cadres, obtained by the Financial Times newspaper, notes with approval that the number of politicians of Chinese descent elected in Toronto had almost doubled between 2003 and 2006.
Department officials should “aim to work with” those and other individuals who have prospects for advancement, the manual advises, while offering no details of what exactly that means.
It’s not just politicians of Chinese background who are targeted, although not necessarily by the United Front.
But politicians themselves have also been the target of Beijing’s influence campaigns.
In the Antipodes, where the issue has been most prominent, a New Zealand MP landed in hot water after his pre-immigration past as a member of Chinese military intelligence was revealed, while an Australian senator quit amid revelations that he had taken pro-China positions after getting donations from a Beijing-linked tycoon.
Ong argues that Beijing’s political influence in Canada has been negligible compared to what has happened in New Zealand or Australia, whose economies are far more dependent on China.
Yet a training manual for United Front cadres, obtained by the Financial Times newspaper, notes with approval that the number of politicians of Chinese descent elected in Toronto had almost doubled between 2003 and 2006.
Department officials should “aim to work with” those and other individuals who have prospects for advancement, the manual advises, while offering no details of what exactly that means.
It’s not just politicians of Chinese background who are targeted, although not necessarily by the United Front.
Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou exits court following a bail hearing at British Columbia Superior Courts in Vancouver on Dec. 11, 2018.
Prime Minister Trudeau was forced on the defensive in 2016 when it emerged that he took part in a private fundraiser attended by a Chinese billionaire with close ties to the Beijing leadership.
Prime Minister Trudeau was forced on the defensive in 2016 when it emerged that he took part in a private fundraiser attended by a Chinese billionaire with close ties to the Beijing leadership.
A billionaire who then donated $250,000 to the charitable Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation and the raising of a Trudeau statue.
At least nine MPs have taken trips to China in recent years — usually flying business class — that were paid for by Chinese government agencies, indicate Ethics Commissioner records, which don’t include former members.
At least nine MPs have taken trips to China in recent years — usually flying business class — that were paid for by Chinese government agencies, indicate Ethics Commissioner records, which don’t include former members.
The Canada-China Legislative Association meets regularly — and as recently as this month — with members of the Chinese People’s Congress.
The Congress is an unelected body that rubber-stamps Communist Party decisions, not equivalent to Canada’s Parliament, Burton notes.
While a backbench MP, Canada’s current ambassador to China, John McCallum — who was forced to withdraw comments this week he made to a group of Chinese-Canadian stakeholders and media suggesting Meng had a strong case that her arrest was politically motivated — accepted $73,000 worth of trips to the country, paid for by both the Chinese government and pro-Beijing business groups, the Globe and Mail has reported.
Chinese-Canadian politicians, meanwhile, have to be cognizant that recent Chinese immigrants are mostly products of the mainland Communist regime, said Kenny Chiu, a losing 2015 federal Conservative candidate in B.C.
“That has a significant impact or influence on the view of China in the community,” Chiu said. “There are many immigrants coming to Canada who are actually very proud of the development that has occurred in the motherland.”
To encourage such leanings, the United Front’s tools include both the Confucius Institutes, and the less-well-known Chinese Students and Scholars Associations at post-secondary institutions across Canada — and in numerous other countries.
The associations are sometimes dispatched to counteract protests against visiting Chinese dignitaries, promote the homeland and monitor the activities of Chinese students, Burton says.
In an echo of the Toronto school board protest, shortly after Meng’s arrest a little-known Chinese women’s group held a news conference in Vancouver to call for her release — though they said they had no link to the People’s Republic — and another group rallied outside the courthouse in her support.
Meanwhile, a leaked video obtained and translated by the Falun Gong appears to show an embassy first secretary briefing students about a planned pro-China demonstration on Parliament Hill in 2010, promising them food and accommodation.
While a backbench MP, Canada’s current ambassador to China, John McCallum — who was forced to withdraw comments this week he made to a group of Chinese-Canadian stakeholders and media suggesting Meng had a strong case that her arrest was politically motivated — accepted $73,000 worth of trips to the country, paid for by both the Chinese government and pro-Beijing business groups, the Globe and Mail has reported.
Chinese-Canadian politicians, meanwhile, have to be cognizant that recent Chinese immigrants are mostly products of the mainland Communist regime, said Kenny Chiu, a losing 2015 federal Conservative candidate in B.C.
“That has a significant impact or influence on the view of China in the community,” Chiu said. “There are many immigrants coming to Canada who are actually very proud of the development that has occurred in the motherland.”
To encourage such leanings, the United Front’s tools include both the Confucius Institutes, and the less-well-known Chinese Students and Scholars Associations at post-secondary institutions across Canada — and in numerous other countries.
The associations are sometimes dispatched to counteract protests against visiting Chinese dignitaries, promote the homeland and monitor the activities of Chinese students, Burton says.
In an echo of the Toronto school board protest, shortly after Meng’s arrest a little-known Chinese women’s group held a news conference in Vancouver to call for her release — though they said they had no link to the People’s Republic — and another group rallied outside the courthouse in her support.
Meanwhile, a leaked video obtained and translated by the Falun Gong appears to show an embassy first secretary briefing students about a planned pro-China demonstration on Parliament Hill in 2010, promising them food and accommodation.
The work was mandatory for any student funded by the Chinese government, he said.
It would be a “battle that relates to defending the reputation of our Motherland,” the diplomat says on the recording.
It would be a “battle that relates to defending the reputation of our Motherland,” the diplomat says on the recording.
Chinese fifth column: People hold a sign at a B.C. courthouse prior to the bail hearing for Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer on Monday, December 10, 2018.
Students coached by embassy staff staked out an Ottawa hotel all night in 2016 to welcome visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqing the next afternoon — and try to drown out protesters, says Grace Wollensak, a Falun Gong spokeswoman who was there.
Lingdi Zhong, a Falun Gong practitioner and Chinese student, told the authors of an Amnesty International-led, confidential report on intimidation tactics by Beijing in Canada that the vice-president of the University of Ottawa association warned her in 2005 his group was under the guidance of the Chinese embassy and that she was being watched.
China’s actions may raise questions about the appropriate role of a foreign power in domestic affairs, but they are unlikely to be debated in Canada’s Chinese-language media.
With the exception of Falun Gong’s Epoch Times and one or two other newspapers, most toe Beijing’s line, says Cheuk Kwan, head of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China.
Journalists from such outlets have told him they sometimes even get calls from the consulate with advice on what to cover, and not cover.
Whether all this has an impact depends on the individual, when they immigrated and where they came from, adds Kwan.
“A lot of people don’t think of the long arm of influence of China in Canada, because they’re under the influence, to put it mildly,” he says.
Students coached by embassy staff staked out an Ottawa hotel all night in 2016 to welcome visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqing the next afternoon — and try to drown out protesters, says Grace Wollensak, a Falun Gong spokeswoman who was there.
Lingdi Zhong, a Falun Gong practitioner and Chinese student, told the authors of an Amnesty International-led, confidential report on intimidation tactics by Beijing in Canada that the vice-president of the University of Ottawa association warned her in 2005 his group was under the guidance of the Chinese embassy and that she was being watched.
China’s actions may raise questions about the appropriate role of a foreign power in domestic affairs, but they are unlikely to be debated in Canada’s Chinese-language media.
With the exception of Falun Gong’s Epoch Times and one or two other newspapers, most toe Beijing’s line, says Cheuk Kwan, head of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China.
Journalists from such outlets have told him they sometimes even get calls from the consulate with advice on what to cover, and not cover.
Whether all this has an impact depends on the individual, when they immigrated and where they came from, adds Kwan.
“A lot of people don’t think of the long arm of influence of China in Canada, because they’re under the influence, to put it mildly,” he says.
“Outsiders like me, who is a Hong Kong immigrant … we see very clearly that this is a United Front effort, a very subtle, soft-power kind of advance into Canadian society.”
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