The ‘Unholy Trinity’: The Chinese Intelligence Service, Triads, and Tycoons

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former Asia-Pacific Bureau Chief of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, in Washington on Sept. 27, 2023. Wei Wu/The Epoch Times

In a recent episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek sits down with Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former Asia-Pacific bureau chief of Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Over two decades ago, Mr. Juneau-Katsuya authored a classified report, Sidewinder, which uncovered for the first time the depths of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) infiltration in the West and the workings of an “unholy trinity” of Chinese intelligence services, tycoons, and criminal triads. His discoveries form the basis of the book “The Mosaic Effect: How the Chinese Communist Party Started a Hybrid War in America’s Backyard.”

Jan Jekielek: Way before most people, you were aware of the Chinese Communist Party infiltration of North America. Before we go there, let’s talk about who you are and where you came from.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya: I started my career with the Army but was chosen to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP], our federal police. They are the equivalent of the FBI. I worked as a criminal investigator from 1979 to 1984, when I joined the National Security Division, where I worked the Soviet desk, learning the craft of a counterintelligence officer.

Then the government created CSIS [Canadian Security Intelligence Service]. Friday night I was an RCMP officer and Monday morning I was a CSIS officer. I ended up as the chief of the Asia-Pacific desk.

After retiring in 2000, I helped private companies defend themselves against economic espionage. I was also teaching and writing books on spy activities in Canada. I even created a TV series on historical cases of spy activities in Canada.

Mr. Jekielek: In 1997, you wrote a report called Sidewinder. It caught a lot of flak. You’d seen a significant level of Chinese Communist Party infiltration into Canada with something you called the unholy trinity. What did you find out?

Mr. Juneau-Katsuya: I became head of Asia-Pacific in the mid ‘90s. We were preoccupied with Hong Kong because a lot of people from there were coming to Canada. Their arrival was facilitated by new categories of immigration. Entrepreneurs could come to Canada if they paid $250,000 Canadian. They were basically buying Canadian citizenship, with the understanding they meant to open a business. A lot of them wanted Canadian citizenship in case something went wrong once Hong Kong returned to mainland China.

This opened the door to the triads, and the Chinese intelligence service was active as well. We discovered donations being made by the Chinese Embassy to both political parties.

Once we saw this link between the intelligence service, the Hong Kong tycoons, and the triads, we called it the unholy trinity.

Mr. Jekielek: What was the reaction to the Sidewinder report?

Mr. Juneau-Katsuya: Skepticism and resistance. But as we explored the relationship between these three groups, we discovered how close they had become with Canadian officials as well as the prime minister. We saw that prime ministers were on the take, and that didn’t go over too well. We also saw major Canadian companies using ties with China to advance their own businesses.

We produced a binder showing the evidence we’d collected, confidential reports and source reports, but our bosses didn’t want to hear about it. We shared our information with our counterparts at the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, and they understood. They were seeing exactly the same phenomenon.

Mr. Jekielek: I want to stress that it wasn’t even the year 2000 yet.

Mr. Juneau-Katsuya: That’s right.

Mr. Jekielek: After you were on a CBC program discussing CCP infiltration in Canada, the viewing audience was stunned. You said, “Every Canadian prime minister has been in some way compromised.” That’s an astonishing statement.

Mr. Juneau-Katsuya: In Canada last spring, the problem with Chinese foreign interference came into the open. More than 350 witnesses testified before four different parliamentary committees investigating that issue. We’ve been infiltrated for the last 30 years or more. Unfortunately, every prime minister had been compromised. Not only prime ministers, but every single political level in Canada.

The Chinese Communist Party is a formidable opponent with lots of assets. Their intelligence services work with the Central Committee, which has a phenomenal chain of command. They coordinate and organize well. Their intelligence services have many more people than ours and work in a totally different way. They operate a mass information collection process where they are able to use everybody.

Mr. Jekielek: Your work is an important part of “The Mosaic Effect.” Please give me a quick overview of that book.

Mr. Juneau-Katsuya: “The Mosaic Effect” describes how the Chinese government and intelligence service have infiltrated so many parts of our society—political, economic, cultural, and academic.

Our intelligence organizations are more compartmentalized, focused on specific work, so that sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. But because of China’s Central Committee and its ability to direct information and activities, there’s coordination. They know what the left hand is doing without the left and the right talking to each other.

Mr. Jekielek: Where should our efforts go right now in understanding what the CCP is up to?

Mr. Juneau-Katsuya: We were glad to have Chinese workers paid 25 cents an hour rather than pay our workers several dollars an hour. We built and fed that monster. Now, that monster is bigger than us with its tentacles everywhere in the world. To undo this won’t be an easy job.

But what’s different lately is that the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has been bolder and more audacious than previous leaders. Xi Jinping says, “I’m going to be in your face and do what I want.” That’s a mistake on his part. He’s awakened the Western world. I’m hoping our leaders respond correctly to the CCP’s hegemony and transnational repression.

Curbing China needs to be a collective effort, which is not necessarily natural for the Western democracies. That’s the challenge we face. We need to be able to work together.

This interview was edited for clarity and brevity.