Conservative MP and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong is calling for the expulsion of Chinese diplomats after a report said there are two more secret Chinese police stations in Canada.
In
a Twitter post on Dec. 13, Chong reiterated his call last week for Ottawa to expel the Chinese diplomats, citing
a report from Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders that has identified two additional secret Chinese police service stations being operated in Canada, on top of the three police outposts reportedly established in the Greater Toronto Area, according to the organization’s previous
report in September.
“The Indo-Pacific strategy says, with respect to Beijing, that the government will ‘push back against any form of foreign interference on Canadian soil.’ It is time to put those words into action. Today we learned about another two illegal police stations being operated by Beijing on Canadian soil, on top of the three we learned about last October,” Chong said in Parliament on Dec. 5.
“So when will the government put the words of the Indo-Pacific strategy into action, push back, and expel diplomats responsible for this outrageous violation of our sovereignty?”
The Indo-pacific Strategy,
released in late November, has labelled China as an “increasingly disruptive global power,” acknowledging that Beijing has ambitions to become the leading power through “assertive pursuit of its economic and security interests, advancement of unilateral claims, foreign interference and increasingly coercive treatment of other countries.”
In response to Chong’s question on Dec. 5, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the government has taken several actions to address the influence campaigns from China.
“I would have thought that my honourable colleague would have been assured by the concrete action the RCMP is taking to root out allegations of foreign interference in this country as a means of protecting our national security,” Mendicino said.
“I would have thought that my honourable colleague would have been assured by the things we are doing around allegations of foreign interference: creating independent panels to assure the integrity of our elections, cracking down on foreign fundings, and we'll continue to do whatever is necessary to protect our interests here and abroad,” he added, referencing a
Nov. 7 report by Global News that said China has sought to influence Canadian federal elections by providing funds to at least 11 candidates in the 2019 federal election.
Over 100 Police Stations Worldwide
Safeguard Defender’s latest report, titled “Patrol and Persuade,” has identified over 100 Chinese police service stations established around the world. In its earlier reports on Beijing’s long-arm policing and transnational repression, the organization said these service stations are part of the Chinese Communist Party’s Operation Fox Hunt, which aims to coerce Chinese nationals to return home.
While Operation Fox Hunt, and its broader Sky Net surveillance operation, says it only
targets economic criminals and officials accused of crimes like corruption or bribery, Safeguard Defenders said Sky Net has been found to also target human rights defenders.
In
a January report, Safeguard Defenders reported that the Chinese authorities have touted the success of Sky Net in bringing some 10,000 “fugitives” back to China from around the globe since 2014, when the Fox Hunt Operation was launched as part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. The group’s September report showed that the Chinese police have further “persuaded” some 230,000 Chinese nationals to return home between April 2021 and July 2022.
“Persuasion to return,” is part of Beijing’s “involuntary returns” operations, which includes methods of police harassment and intimidation against either the victim’s family in China or by sending secret agents abroad to directly threaten the targeted Chinese nationals.
Weldon Epp, director general for Global Affairs Canada’s Asia Pacific Bureau, testified at the
House Canada-China committee on Nov. 29, that his department has formally raised objections to the China ambassador in response to reports of the illegal Chinese police service stations. Epp said the ambassador has been
summoned several times and insisted the Chinese regime take account for any illegal activities in Canada.
