By Rebel News | Created at 2024-11-29 01:51:31 | Updated at 2024-11-29 03:44:30
2 hours ago
A Senator, believed to have worked with Chinese agents to influence our elections, has downplayed evidence on China targeting two MPs.
Liberal-appointed Senator, Yuen Pau Woo, claimed accusations of Beijing gathering “human intelligence” on MPs Michael Chong and Jenny Kwan were “cavalier and flimsy.”
Intelligence officials failed to inform either MP despite ongoing surveillance by foreign actors, spanning years.
My latest: GAC recently revealed that Michael Chong has been targeted online once again. I traced the campaign back to the People’s Daily- the official press of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
Why is the People’s Daily permitted to run an overseas bureau in Canada? https://t.co/iMoRIHtyKg
In a submission to the Foreign Interference Commission (FIC), Woo suggests Chong and Kwan inflated claims of being “targeted” by the Chinese government.
“Other claims made by prominent witnesses, for example, Mr. Michael Chong and Ms. Jenny Kwan, are not only cavalier and flimsy, but they amount to a smear on individuals and groups that is highly corrosive of Canada’s multicultural identity,” Woo wrote.
“Could it be that the Chinese Embassy ‘targeted’ Mr. Chong and Ms. Kwan only in the sense that they kept files on the two MPs, among other files that they keep on parliamentarians?”
A nine-page memo previously explained that staff in positions to clandestinely and deceptively influence elected and appointed officials were “targeted” in favour of Chinese and Communist Party interests.
“Staffers control schedules and often act as ‘gatekeepers’ for their employers,” it reads.
A Conservative MP was silenced in Commons by the Speaker of the House for refusing to withdraw comments demanding Trudeau apologize for Liberal MPs lies about Chinese Communists targeting Michael Chong. pic.twitter.com/u6GsOJKPvy
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) May 4, 2023China tried swaying MP votes condemning their mistreatment of Muslims, testimony at the Foreign Interference Commission revealed.
A 2021 CSIS report revealed MP Chong was targeted by Chinese actors for this reason. “To conduct these threats the Chinese Communist Party leverages a range of Party, government and non-government assets,” wrote analysts.
“China is unique in how it conducts such activities,” said the report. “It uses a complex array of both overt and covert mechanisms to achieve its goals.”
Between May 4 and 13 of last year, Chinese actors engaged in a “smear campaign” of MP Chong over WeChat, a Chinese application. It was conducted during and after the expulsion of Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat who allegedly threatened Chong’s relatives.
The MP expressed disbelief last May 1 after learning CSIS and the Trudeau government failed to inform him of the intimidation campaign and foreign surveillance on family, spanning years.
WATCH: A reporter grills Justin Trudeau on why Canada's Parliament can say China is committing genocide against its Uyghur population, but he won't.
After stalling, Trudeau says "designations of genocide need to be made by proper international authorities." pic.twitter.com/GuhwCF8esK
“We know the People’s Republic of China clandestinely and deceptively interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 general elections,” said a confidential document, Briefing To The Prime Minister’s Office.
As late as May 3, 2023, Trudeau denied being told of Chinese interference against any MPs. “The Canadian Security Intelligence Service knew about certain things but didn’t feel it reached a threshold that required them to pass it up out of CSIS,” Trudeau told reporters at the time.
“Was it briefed up out of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service? It was not,” Trudeau said. “CSIS made the determination it wasn’t something that needed to be raised to a higher level because it wasn’t a significant enough concern.”
NDP MP Jenny Kwan says elderly Chinese people in her riding were fearful for their safety if CCP proxies found out how they voted. pic.twitter.com/wXq4h1JpJ6
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 3, 2024NDP MP Jenny Kwan also learned in 2023 that China targeted her for years, which CSIS believes is ongoing. Citing national security concerns, Kwan did not divulge details of the alleged interference, reported Global.
Testifying to the Foreign Interference Commission, Kwan said she would be an “evergreen target” for Beijing, even if she retires from elected office.
Kwan told commission lawyers the alleged interference severely damaged her relationship with the Chinese community, a significant voting bloc in her Vancouver East riding.
"The agencies will inform the affected party ...of the incident directly."
However, they didn't inform Kenny Chui, Michael Chong, Bob Saroya, Jenny Kwan, and Alice Wong, although agencies knew about foreign state actors targeting these MPs and candidates. pic.twitter.com/6SH5ukws7Z
Woo told Global News the term “target” suggests a threat of violence against the MPs, which he said was not reflected in testimony by Chong or Kwan.
“And where [Hogue] chooses to put her interpretation of that spectrum is important because if she puts it at the extreme end and leaves the impression [with] Canadians that any government collecting information on politicians is harmful, then it’s an overstatement of the threat,” Woo said.
Asked if he condoned foreign security agencies collecting information on the families of Canadian politicians who live abroad, Woo suggested that does not automatically lend itself to nefarious purposes.
“All of that, I think, is normal intelligence collection, and it doesn’t have to be seen in a sinister light,” Woo said.
Trudeau was asked about Kenny Chiu, who said that he felt like he was drowning in foreign interference and that all the government did was watch.
Trudeau answers by blaming Harper and then goes on a seven-minute monologue about nothing.
Imagine he was told to write a book… pic.twitter.com/F2qTU8tkjF
Kwan’s lawyer, Sujit Choudhry, told Global that Woo’s comments projected a “false and misleading” narrative of alleged interference.
“It was CSIS who informed MP Kwan in a classified briefing that she was a long-time target of interference and will remain an ‘evergreen target.’ MP Kwan testified and brought to the commissioner’s attention that she believed she had been de-platformed by Chinese community organizations,” wrote Choudhry in a statement.
He maintains that testimony from CSIS officials suggests China uses proxy agents from the Chinese diaspora, and said Kwan expressed grave concerns they would target her over her human rights advocacy.
“Senator Woo has every right to turn a blind eye to foreign interference actors and activities,” wrote Choudhry. “MP Kwan chooses to use her voice to speak up and speak out to protect and defend Canada’s democratic institutions and processes.”
Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
