More than one in three Canadians have doubts about the Canadian electoral system. Such suspicion, which undermines democratic institutions, is precisely one of the effects the Chinese government seeks to weaken democracies.
China has an impressive propaganda war machine. This machine has been in service in Canada for decades.
It is waging a psychological war, a public opinion war, and a legal war against Canadians.
The goal of psychological warfare is to discourage Canada from moving against China, or at least to convince it to proceed with extreme caution.
Photo archives, AFP
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met his Chinese counterpart during an official visit to China in August 2016. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since then.
This goal is fully achieved if we look at the extreme reluctance with which Justin Trudeau’s government is proceeding on the issue of Chinese interference.
This war is fueled by misinformation from China.
- Hear the chronicle of Loïc Tassé, specialist in international politics, on the microphone of Benoit Dutrizac, via QUB radio :
Public Opinion and Law
The second war, that of public opinion, is being fought both among the Chinese diaspora in Canada and among the general public.
China controls virtually all Chinese-language media in Canada and is not afraid to censor election candidates’ messages when it suits them.
In general, China tries to create an interpretation of politics that is favorable to the country.
The discourse of blaming the West for undermining trust in democracy or overestimating China’s power is nurtured by Chinese agents.
Thus, several fights of the wokes are followed with enthusiasm by the government of Xi Jinping.
The third type of war takes place on the legal level. This is intended to allow China to use the weaknesses and inconsistencies of Canada’s legal system to its advantage.
File Photo, Portal
The extraordinary support received by Meng Wanzhou, a vice president of Huawei, is a clear testament to China’s legal strength, but China also makes full use of international law to assert its interests, as demonstrated by its aggressive crackdown on various UN agencies .
Some will argue that China’s actions should be measured against what other countries like the United States are doing.
Exactly. Like no other country, China has a political, economic and social apparatus of influence.
Its actions are channeled through two very discreet Chinese organizations, but their power has increased significantly.
The first organization is that of the United Front and the second that of the Chinese Army.
The united front in action
The task of the United Front is to gather support for China. It is he who is behind the opening of Chinese “police stations” around the world, a project initiated in 2014 that was originally intended to expand to 38 countries including Canada.
The united front is at work in several areas. It stands behind the agreements in culture, education or research.
He is building databases on Chinese living abroad. For example, it would have a database of 2.2 million Chinese researchers working around the world.
- Don’t miss the column by Loïc Tassé, specialist in international politics, at the microphone of Benoit Dutrizac QUB radio :
The Role of the Chinese Army
The Chinese military is behind Chinese propaganda on social media and runs various organizations and front companies in various fields, particularly in the fields of media and high technology or energy.
The main military organization coordinating these actions is based in the Chinese province of Fujian. It’s called Base 311. It’s very difficult to get information about it.
Even more worrisome, since 2015, all research that could have implications for national security has been submitted directly to the military. Suffice it to say, no university collaboration between China and Canada escapes him.
A big impact
As we see, China’s influence in Canada goes beyond simple threats against the families of elected officials.
It goes far beyond lobbying MPs. It penetrates into all areas and on all levels.
For this reason, a public inquiry is required.
The Canadian government’s weak response to this decades-long intrusion alone warrants this public inquiry.
If such an investigation is conducted, it should not be limited to the Xi Jinping government’s treatment of elected officials. It must also have a mandate to scrutinize all actions by China in Canada.
Unfortunately, the Trudeau administration looks like it is trying to buy time or focus the investigation on a small part of the problem. If so, who is he trying to protect?
♦ Several facts reported on these pages are from: P. Charon and J.-B. Jeangene Vilmer, Chinese influence operations. A Machiavellian momentReport of the Institute for Strategic Research of the Military School (IRSEM), Paris, Ministry of the Armed Forces, 2e Edition, October 2021.
How China works
INFLUENCE IN COMPANIES AROUND THE WORLD
The Interparliamentary Alliance on China published a few years ago a list of two million Chinese Communist Party members who worked in major international companies around the world.
Being a member of the Chinese Communist Party does not automatically mean being a spy.
However, absolute obedience to the party, which goes beyond loyalty to hiring companies, is a duty of party members.
STUDENT MONITORING
Canada hosts almost a quarter of the more than 500,000 Chinese students studying abroad at its universities.
These students are at the heart of the collaboration between Canadian and Chinese universities.
These students are closely watched, especially if they are scholarship holders or belong to Chinese minorities.
In the United States, some Chinese students are using the political correctness promoted by aroused currents to deter criticism of the Chinese regime in universities.
Expelled diplomats and Chinese ultranationalism
The slowness with which the Canadian government expelled Zhao Wei, the Chinese diplomat accused of pressuring MP Michael Chong and his family, shows the Trudeau administration is vulnerable to Chinese psychological warfare.
The expulsion from Shanghai of Canadian consul Jennifer Lalonde, who has a higher diplomatic rank than Mr. Zhao, suggests the Chinese government is already escalating.
Given the rise of ultranationalist groups in China, it would not be surprising if Xi Jinping’s government went further in its retaliatory measures.
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND INDIGENOUS WAR
The Chinese government is trying to draw parallels between the Chinese and the Aborigines in Canada.
He likes to point out that the Chinese and Aborigines were involved in building the railways in the 19th century.
A way of indirectly indicating that Chinese and Aborigines suffered together at the exploitation of English Canadians.
Conversely, Chinese authorities are using old federal policies of assimilation and cultural genocide against indigenous people to avoid criticism of the treatment of Uyghurs and Tibetans.
