Years of infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Canada has enabled the regime to use the country as a launching point to subvert the United States, says former RCMP intelligence officer Scott McGregor.
Released on Oct. 25, the book delves into the regime’s “hybrid warfare,” a multi-faceted strategy aimed at undermining and defeating its adversaries without resorting to conventional warfare.
In an interview with The Epoch Times on Oct. 24, Mr. McGregor said a primary objective of the CCP’s infiltration is to use Canada as a “stronghold” to advance its geopolitical and economic competition against the United States.
Beijing has been “undermining Canada to get through to the United States,” he explained.
“They also try to go directly through the United States, but Canada has really become this foothold, a stronghold if you will, for the hybrid war piece, whether it be through cyber or any of the other aspects, especially in transnational organized crime.”
Operation Dragon Lord
Mr. McGregor’s book referenced Canadian and U.S. intelligence operations dating back to the 1990s that revealed China’s interference operations, which were executed through a complex network of triad gang members and Chinese business tycoons.“The [intelligence agencies] were able to identify that Canada is becoming a threat to the United States because of the level of infiltration here—that is very significant,” Mr. McGregor said.
Notably, the book featured an excerpt from a 1999 document linked to Operation Dragon Lord, a highly classified U.S. intelligence operation that relied on multi-agency reporting.
In the document, U.S. intelligence highlighted a “major and undeniable finding” pointing to the “worrying and potentially destabilizing presence” in Canada of what it described as the “unholy trinity” of CCP intelligence, triad members, and Chinese tycoons.
“At first, Canadian intelligence officials believed that the trinity was using Canada as a fertile, and easily accessible testing ground for its operations. Rut [sic] now, regrettably, it is apparent that Canada has become the gateway for the trinity’s operations throughout North America,” the document said.
Hybrid Warfare
The concept of hybrid warfare was initially introduced by two Chinese colonels in their 1999 book, “Unrestricted Warfare.” The colonels openly deliberated on tactics that Beijing could employ to overcome “technologically superior opponents,” such as the United States. The tactics they outlined in the book can be categorized into five areas: lawfare, economic warfare, cyber warfare, terrorism, and media warfare.Mr. McGregor noted that cyber warfare has seen a significant surge in prevalence. He pointed to British Columbia, where he said government agencies are facing up to 1,000 attacks per minute originating from China. He emphasized that Beijing has established a dedicated apparatus that has been militarized solely for the purpose of conducting cyber warfare.
Other facets of China’s hybrid warfare encompass what was described as “soft power” and “sharp power,” according to Mr. Gregor. Soft power primarily involves the economic subversion of Canadian corporate entities and critical infrastructure, while sharp power centres on political influence, spanning from grassroots levels to federal politics.
“There is no target that isn’t worth pursuing,” he said in reference to the CCP’s strategy.
Infiltrating Police Agencies
Mr. McGregor expressed concerns about the CCP’s infiltration of Canadian police institutions because it allows the regime to undermine the authority of those police agencies.“The question was, why? Because [there is] a 99.9 percent conviction rate in China. What are you learning? Human rights are not a really big thing in China right now, so it didn’t make a lot of sense,” Mr. McGregor said. Through further investigation, he said he had identified CCP infiltration of the Vancouver Police Department and the RCMP.
He illustrated this with the recent arrest of an individual by U.S. authorities who was allegedly connected to a covert Chinese police station in New York City and was revealed to have received training at the JIBC.
Awareness
Mr. McGregor expressed optimism that Canadians have become more aware of CCP operations on Canadian soil over the past year.“I think public opinion is really what’s going to drive change,” he said, adding he hopes that his book will further bring attention to the issue.
“We’re already at war. It’s a hybrid war, but that can easily move into a conventional conflict. That is my concern, and it’s something I think Canadians are waking up to.”