Chinese interference: Trudeau’s blindness must concern us

Is it too late to counter China’s influence in Canada? We must hope not. However, the weak, not to say complacent, reactions of Justin Trudeau to the revelations of the last few days on China leave only two choices. Either Trudeau is compromised by Chinese affairs that we don’t know about or he is naïve and bordering on stupidity. The two possibilities are not mutually exclusive.

• Read also: Interference: a Chinese influence that goes back a long way, in Canada

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• Read also: Foreign interference: rumors, according to the deputy minister of foreign affairs

Trudeau spontaneously brings up racist issues when asked about Chinese interference in Canada. It explains very poorly what it is about.

He fears a so-called strategy of “Russianization” of Canadian society. This strategy designates all the maneuvers that a foreign power carries out in a country in order to polarize its public opinion, with the aim of weakening it. In this case Canada, which could be the victim of such a strategy. For China, this extreme polarization would have the added benefit of weakening Chinese Canadians’ sense of belonging and bringing them closer to Beijing.

But the danger of polarization cannot justify an even more dangerous policy of inaction.

EXTENSIVE INTERFERENCE

In 1997, the Canadian government received a report from its intelligence services on the dangers of Chinese activities in Canada, the Sidewinder report. This report was torpedoed, diluted, then shelved. In subsequent years, other similar reports received similar treatment. Obviously, several leaders have turned a blind eye to the activities of the Chinese government in Canada for decades. For what ?

File photo, The Canadian Press

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang takes a face-off for a Canadiens game with Justin Trudeau in 2016.

WHAT CHINA WANTS FROM CANADA

China’s planetary ambitions are well known. Without ever saying so explicitly, Chinese leaders want China to replace the United States as world leader. For the current Chinese leaders, this ambition can only materialize at the cost of a hard struggle with the United States.

In such a context, China expects a lot from a country like Canada. First, it wants to erode its ties with the United States, to weaken the alliances of the United States. It also seeks to win new markets and secure its supplies of raw materials. In this area, Canada is a potential leading supplier. Beijing also covets Canadian technologies which are very close to those of the Americans, when they are not the same. Finally, China seeks to control world public opinion, and thus that of Canada, on subjects such as the Uighurs, Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and democracy.

The problem is that China has again become a totalitarian country. The world order it proposes would therefore be totalitarian. No democracy could flourish in such a world order. Beijing demonstrated this recently with the crushing of the democracy movement in Hong Kong.

ELECTIONS AND CHINESE MEDIA

The nearly 2 million Canadian citizens of Chinese origin are influenced by Chinese-language media, among other things because some of them have a poor command of French or English. However, Beijing controls almost all Chinese media published in Canada. The vote of the Chinese community can swing the outcome of elections in several counties, particularly in Vancouver or in certain suburbs of Toronto.

But China’s interference does not only occur at the national level. It is also, and perhaps for the moment above all, a municipal and provincial problem. A national commission of inquiry should also take an interest in it.

Photo REUTERS

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, did not shy away from garlanding Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of a G20 meeting last November.

China’s interference goes beyond the realm of elections. Already in the 1990s, Chinese interests close to the Chinese Communist Party had acquired about 200 Canadian companies. These companies in turn bought others. The Chinese government is also forging ties with Canadian aboriginals. It enters university research networks.

In short, China wants to neutralize Canada and make the most of it.

Australia has also had a taste of Chinese medicine

The Australian public discovered the extent of China’s influence on their politics in 2017 when investigative television reports aired.

The Australians then understood with amazement that Chinese agents had infiltrated as far as the Australian government. These agents were promoting measures aimed at undermining Australian democracy and undermining the country’s sovereignty. Subsequently, various media outlets will undertake further investigations which, one after another, will reveal various aspects of China’s undue influence in Australia.

As in Canada, China has influenced elections there, particularly at the local level. As in Canada, it has bought many companies there. As in Canada, it has extended its stranglehold on Australian Chinese-language media. As in Canada, it leads a psychological war, a war of opinion and a legal war.

SOLUTIONS

The Australian government has taken various measures to respond to these intrusions.

For example, he strengthened Australia’s National Espionage Act, including increasing penalties for espionage and broadening the definition of subversive activity.

He canceled numerous Chinese investment projects and launched investigations into more than 1,000 Chinese-owned companies.

He also passed a law that allowed him to cancel an agreement concluded between China and the State of Victoria within the framework of the new silk roads.

REACTIONS

The Chinese government has reacted strongly to the campaign against Chinese interference. In 2020, using the pretext of a call from the Australian government to launch an independent international investigation into the Chinese origins of COVID-19, Xi Jinping’s government decided to boycott various Australian products such as iron, wheat and wine. Australia loses $3 billion every year because of this boycott.

However, the Australian government is far from taking all the measures required to curb China’s influence in the country. As the country’s former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull points out, China’s agents are known, but still active. It is because, according to him, it is difficult to solve the problem without dissatisfying a good part of the business community.

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