China has accused Canada of smearing its fame after Canadian federal police introduced this week that they had been launching an investigation into alleged Chinese language “police stations” working secretly within the province of Quebec.
Throughout a information convention on Friday, Chinese language overseas ministry spokesperson Mao Ning mentioned Canada ought to “cease sensationalising and hyping the matter and cease assaults and smears on China”.
“China has been … strictly abiding by worldwide regulation and respecting all nations’ judicial sovereignty,” Mao mentioned.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) mentioned on Thursday that it had launched a probe into two “covert police stations” believed to be engaged on behalf of the Chinese language authorities in Montreal and the close by suburb of Brossard, Quebec.
“The RCMP acknowledges that Canadians of Chinese language origin are victims of alleged actions carried out by these centres,” RCMP Sergeant Charles Poirier mentioned in an announcement, as Reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
“These actions and any type of intimidation, harassment or dangerous concentrating on of communities or diasporas in Canada will not be tolerated.”
Mao, the Chinese language overseas ministry spokesperson, didn’t touch upon the existence of the police stations or whether or not they had been operated by Chinese language authorities authorities.
Safeguard Defenders, a Spanish human rights group, mentioned China has dozens of such stations throughout the globe, together with in the UK and america.
In a report final September, it mentioned the stations had been used to “harass, threaten, intimidate and pressure targets to return to China for persecution”.
In October, the Dutch overseas ministry mentioned it was investigating reviews the Chinese language authorities had arrange unlawful police stations within the Netherlands to intimidate dissidents. Beijing known as these reviews “completely false”.
The Chinese language overseas ministry has beforehand described the overseas outposts as service stations for Chinese language people who find themselves overseas and need assistance with bureaucratic duties, similar to renewing their Chinese language driver’s licenses.
Strained relationships
Chatting with reporters within the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned the presence of Chinese language police stations in Canada “considerations us enormously”.
“We have identified in regards to the [presence of] Chinese language police stations throughout the nation for a lot of months, and we’re ensuring that the RCMP is following up on it and that our intelligence providers take it significantly,” he mentioned Thursday.
Nonetheless, the most recent allegations have heaped stress on Trudeau, who for months has additionally confronted rising calls to research allegations that the Chinese language authorities has interfered within the nation’s elections,
In November, Canadian media outlet International Information reported that Canadian intelligence officers had warned Trudeau that China was “concentrating on Canada with an enormous marketing campaign of overseas interference”, together with by way of meddling within the nation’s 2019 elections,
Final month, The Globe & Mail newspaper additionally Reported that “China employed a complicated technique” to disrupt the 2021 Canadian election“as Chinese language diplomats and their proxies backed the re-election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals … and labored to defeat Conservative politicians thought-about to be unfriendly to Beijing”.
“The complete extent of the Chinese language interference operation is laid naked in each secret and top-secret Canadian Safety Intelligence Service paperwork” seen by the newspaper, it mentioned.
Trudeau knew Beijing was interfering in our elections and did nothing to cease it.
He solely appears to care about defending himself and his social gathering.
Name an open, public, impartial public inquiry now: https://t.co/Bq8SOvYMso pic.twitter.com/1ObEtBVBHO
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) March 9, 2023
The China-Canada relationship has been frosty for a number of years, particularly after Canadian authorities detained Huawei Applied sciences govt Meng Wanzhou in 2018 on a US arrest warrant. China then arrested two Canadians on spying fees.
Whereas the standoff ended when all three individuals had been launched in 2021relations have remained bitter over a number of factors of competition, together with human rights and commerce.
On the sidelines of the G20 summit in November, as an example, Chinese language President Xi Jinping was caught on video chastising Trudeau for alleged leaks of an earlier assembly through which the Canadian prime minister raised “severe considerations” in regards to the alleged interference.
“Every part we mentioned has been leaked to the paper; that is not acceptable,” a smiling Xi advised Trudeau by way of an interpreter within the footage, which was revealed by Canadian broadcasters.
Trudeau requires investigations
This week, Pierre Poilievreleader of the opposition Conservative Occasion of Canada, known as for an “open, public, impartial public inquiry” into the allegations of Chinese language election meddling.
“Trudeau knew Beijing was interfering in our elections and did nothing to cease it,” Poilievre wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “He solely appears to care about defending himself and his social gathering.”
Trudeau has mentioned he would appoint an impartial particular investigator to probe the alleged election interference by China. The particular rapporteur could be an “eminent Canadian” and would have energy to make suggestions on overseas interference together with a public enquiry, the prime minister mentioned on March 6.
Trudeau has additionally requested lawmakers in parliament’s nationwide safety watchdog, the Nationwide Safety and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), to begin an investigation and report its findings to legislators.
Moreover, the prime minister has requested one other oversight company, the Nationwide Safety and Intelligence Evaluation Company (NSIRA), to conduct a evaluate of how Canada’s nationwide safety businesses dealt with the specter of overseas interference in elections, particularly “across the movement of data from nationwide safety businesses to choice makers”.
On Friday, the Canadian authorities additionally launched consultations on its plan to introduce a overseas agent registry.
“We’re at a crucial juncture in relation to the safety of our democratic establishments,” Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino mentioned throughout a information convention in Ottawa.
“And now, we’re taking one other step in defending them,” he mentioned, including that the aim of the registry is to advertise transparency with regard to professional overseas state lobbying actions.
