On February 9th, 2021, CSIS director David Vigneault, identified the Government of China as representing a significant strategic threat to Canada, in a speech he gave on February 9, 2021 at the University of Waterloo.
In response to Vigneault’s remarks, the Chinese government tweeted factually incorrect information claiming that the PRC does not interfere in the internal affairs of other states.
Yet the 2019 report published by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliament clearly states that there “is ample evidence … that Canada is the target of significant and sustained foreign interference activities,” including from the government of China and Russia.
Furthermore, the report notes that these governments target “Canada for a variety of reasons, but all seek to exploit the openness of our society and penetrate our fundamental institutions to meet their objectives. They target ethnocultural communities, seek to corrupt the political process, manipulate the media, and attempt to curate debate on postsecondary campuses. Each of these activities poses a significant risk to the rights and freedoms of Canadians and to the country’s sovereignty: they are a clear threat to the security of Canada.”
Chinese dissident communities in Canada have reported being subjected to foreign harassment and intimidation. Pro democracy Hong Kong Canadians were physically and verbally harassed at rallies as part of a subjected to a campaign to silence them rallies documented in Alliance Canada Hong Kong’s report. Chemi Lhamo denoted similar tactics being used by counter protestors targeting Tibetan activists in an episode of Pod Bless Canada, the Macdonald Laurier’s Institute podcast. In March 2020, the Canadian Coalition of Human Rights and Amnesty International released a report which examined an organized and sustained campaign of intimidation and harassment aimed at activists working on China-related human rights issues in Canada.
The Chinese government tweet claims that China does not arbitrarily arrest a third country’s “citizen at the behest of foreign powers”, however it has arbitrarily arrested and continues to detain three Canadian citizens: Michael Spavor, Michael Kovrig and Hussein Celil. Canadian citizens have been known to renounce their citizenship once they are detained by the state. One such case would be Sun Qian, a Falun Gong practitioner currently sentenced to eight years in a Chinese prison. She renounced her Canadian citizenship, however, many close to Sun alleged this was done under duress. Given the opaque nature of the Chinese judiciary system, it is near impossible to know if Sun had renounced her citizenship on her own accord.
This Chinese government “whataboutism” propaganda tactic is intended to deflect blame on to Canada for the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou on a US fraud related extradition request.
