The Liberal government finally expelled Chinese consulate official Zhao Wei last week when it became virtually impossible not to.
With mounting evidence that Zhao had put the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong under surveillance in Hong Kong, even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau understood he needed to do something to indicate Canada’s official diplomatic disapproval that China cannot continue to interfere in Canadian politics—and elections—without any sanction.
However, as is becoming increasingly obvious, the government was only willing to act because Zhao’s activities were not just being documented by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) but by the Canadian media.
And as the Globe and Mail has reported, Zhao was responsible for many more articles of intimidation, keeping tabs on a wide range of dissidents and opponents of the Chinese communist regime.
The Liberals have removed Zhao but, as usual, it’s a case only deciding to get tough when the story has been widely reported by the media. It seems apparent that Trudeau knew about the spying on Chong’s family but decided to do nothing until the story was reported. Only then, with the press clippings on his desk, did Trudeau decide to take action and consequently declared Zhao “persona non grata.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly explained that the decision was based on “careful consideration of all factors at play” in the matter. “I have been clear: We will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs,” she said in a statement.
What a monumental joke. The Liberal government has been tolerating exactly that for years. Not only have the Chinese spied on the family of an MP and former cabinet minister, they have interfered in the past two federal elections and possibly in other electoral contests across Canada. They have even operated their own police agencies in major Canadian cities like Toronto.
As the Soviet Union was fond of declaring, it couldn’t be an imperialist state because imperialism was a consequence of exporting capitalist exploitation to other countries. That didn’t stop the Soviets from invading and occupying other countries or controlling their diplomatic and trade authorities. That hasn’t stopped China from treating Canada like the West treated China at the turn of the 20th century—dividing the coast into autonomous economic zones that ignored Chinese authority.
China really does think it can act with impunity on Canadian soil, and the current federal government has provided them with ample evidence to make that assumption.
For, according to a Globe and Mail source within CSIS, who has been granted anonymity because he risks being prosecuted if his identity is revealed, Zhao was up to more than just targeting Chong’s family—as outrageous as that was.
Zhao was also the henchman who kept surveillance on the key opponents of the communist Chinese regime residing in the Greater Toronto Area, including Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghur human rights activists, Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, and supporters of Tibetan and Taiwanese independence, the Globe reported.
Zhao tracked the activities of these Chinese regime opponents, documented any protests with video and photographs, wrote down the names of the participants, and sent all the information back to Beijing and its secret police, the Ministry of State Security.
The Globe’s source also said Zhao networked with Toronto Liberal MP staffers, telling them to make sure their bosses avoided any pro-Taiwan events.
There must be an astronomical degree of frustration at CSIS for whistleblowers to be risking their careers—and perhaps even their lives—by talking to the media about what the government won’t tell Canadians and just how remiss it has been in ignoring the diplomatic hardball played by China.
The Liberal government finally found the outrage to expel Zhao over Beijing’s invasive and intimidating tactics when aimed at a sitting MP.
Why has it not been similarly incensed by China’s propensity to target Chinese-Canadians who practice a religion or hold views that are contrary to the Communist Party line? Are the lives of these individuals not also of value and worth defending from China’s long authoritarian arm?
If the Trudeau government knew of this intimidation and the depth of this foreign interference in the lives of Canadian citizens, why did it take so long to expel Zhao from the country? Why has it still not acknowledged the actual weight of that interference and why does it only move to assert Canadian sovereignty in the face of Chinese aggression when the issue is reported by the media?
Perhaps we should not be surprised at the pusillanimous indifference exhibited by the Trudeau government, given the prime minister’s inexcusable admission at a Liberal Party fundraiser that he admired China’s “basic dictatorship” that could turn its economy “around on a dime.”
It can also spy on its citizens without fear of legal reprisals or political backlash.
But that is not the Canadian way.
Canadians deserve answers to the government’s apparent indifference to that loss of sovereignty, and this week the public is demanding even more answers than previously as the depth of Beijing’s diplomatic depravity becomes better known—thanks to courageous CSIS sources and honest media reporting.
