Diaspora and civil society groups are raising concerns about Liberal candidate Peter Yuen’s activities with groups closely aligned with Beijing.
The former deputy police chief with the Toronto Police Service is the nominated Liberal candidate for the Toronto-area riding of Markham-Unionville. He replaces a former candidate who had suggested a Conservative rival be turned in to Chinese officials for a bounty.
Yuen attended a military parade in Beijing in 2015, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping was present, at the invitation of a key organization of China’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), which Canadian officials have said is used by Beijing for foreign influence activities.
Yuen has also attended many events hosted by the Chinese Consulate in Toronto, including celebrations for the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. At one such
event in 2016, held in front of the Ontario legislature, he is
seen giving a military-style salute to a raised Chinese flag.
As of April 10, Yuen was listed as an
honorary director of the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada (JCCC), a pro-Beijing group with ties to China’s United Front. His name has since been
removed from the list of honorary directors on JCCC’s website following media coverage of the issue.
Yuen’s link to JCCC and Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s photos with the group’s leaders became a campaign trail topic last week, with the
Conservatives raising questions about the issue and Carney being asked about it by reporters.
The Epoch Times sought comment from Yuen and the Liberal Party but did not hear back by publication time.
Yuen told The Globe and Mail that his JCCC role ended a decade ago but declined to comment on whether he supports Taiwan’s self-determination, disapproves of UFWD activities, or condemns China’s human rights violations.
Carney has said that he supports Yuen’s candidacy. He said it was understandable that a person in the capacity of deputy police chief “meets with a variety of community groups, in the community, because that’s his job.”
“This is a person who has served his community for decades,” Carney said. “We’re proud to have him as a candidate.”
According to the Foreign Interference Commission’s final report, released Jan. 28, China is “the
most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions.”
Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, said he’s concerned that “we, as a country, have effectively surrendered to the Chinese Communist Party in certain ridings—Markham, Don Valley, Richmond Hill, among others.”
“At this point, I have to ask: if nothing is going to change, then why did we spend years, dedicate massive public resources, and conduct a national public inquiry into foreign interference?” Tohti said.
Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, said his organization is concerned about Yuen’s “very seemingly intimate ties to the Chinese regime.”
“It’s very disturbing to find out that he is part of the group that got invited to Beijing for the military parade. The reason is that this is the kind of tactic that China uses to [get] the support of overseas Chinese Canadians by giving you that kind of royal treatment,” Kwan told The Epoch Times.
Consulate Events
Yuen was part of a group of roughly 80 members of Canada’s Chinese community who attended a military parade in Beijing in 2015, also attended by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Japan in World War II, as
reported by Chinese-language media.
Yuen was invited by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO), an organ of the Chinese regime’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), which CSIS has said is involved in foreign interference activities in Canada. A federal judge cited a Canadian security official in a
2022 ruling saying that the OCAO “had engaged in acts of espionage that are against Canada or that are contrary to Canada’s interests.”
A September 2015 Chinese-language news report described Yuen, referred to by his Chinese name Yuan Zhimian, as a “high-ranking official of the Toronto police force.” The report also said one of the hot topics discussed by local Chinese on the internet was why no higher-level Canadian government representatives attended and whether this “cold treatment” meant Ottawa “does not attach enough importance to Canada-China relations.”
Another Chinese-language media
report that also mentions Yuen as an attendee describes the parade as a display of “the strong growth of China’s national and military power.”
In addition to attending events in mainland China, Yuen has also attended pro-Beijing activities in Canada, including those held by the Chinese Consulate in Toronto.
In 2014, the Chinese consul general in Toronto, Fang Li, attended a Chinese community
event celebrating Yuen’s promotion
to superintendent at the helm of one of the police divisions of the Toronto Police Service. In 2016, Yuen
met with
Chinese Consul General Xue Bing to discuss
“further strengthening the relationship between the Consulate General and the Toronto police department” and “safeguarding the legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens,” among other issues. In 2017, at an event organized by groups that often take positions in line with Beijing’s, he
sang “My Chinese Heart,” a key song of the Chinese communist regime that conveys “attachment and affectionate praise for the motherland,” according to the
regime.Tohti said the song isn’t about “cultural pride,” but rather about “pledging loyalty to a regime that actively undermines Canadian sovereignty and democratic institutions.”
In 2018, Yuen attended an event alongside the Chinese consul general in Toronto, marking the 124th anniversary of the Toronto branch of the Chinese Freemasons, a group that has supported the “peaceful” reunification of China and the self-ruled nation of Taiwan.
A photo from the event,
posted by the Chinese Consulate in Toronto, shows Yuen with several guests, including former Liberal MP Han Dong, who
left the Liberal caucus in 2023 over reports about his alleged interactions with the Chinese Consulate. Dong has denied any wrongdoing and taken legal action against the reporting.
Yuen
was part of the advisory board of the NOIC Academy, a private high school in Markham, Ont., whose international students were bused to the Liberal nomination vote of Dong ahead of the 2019 federal election, as
revealed by hearings and published documents at the Foreign Interference Commission. Intelligence officials said that during the nomination process for Dong’s Don Valley North riding, Chinese officials had arranged for international students to vote for Dong under coercion.
Information about Yuen’s appointment to NOIC’s advisory board appears to have been removed from the
NOIC’s website this week.
Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada
Yuen appeared on the JCCC’s list of honorary directors as of April 10, but his name has since been taken down.
The JCCC was established in 2002 as the product of “decades of friendly relations between Ontario and Jiangsu provinces,” according to its
website. Its stated purpose is to promote trade, business co-operation, and “friendly relations” between Ontario and Jiangsu, and between Canada and China.
Various JCCC leaders have held titles at organizations linked to China’s United Front. For example, Jiang Rui, former JCCC president, is a current member of the China Overseas Friendship Association. A 2023 parliamentary
report notes expert commentary given at parliamentary committees that the China Overseas Friendship Association is one of the “key United Front groups.”
Rui has also served as an overseas representative of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), according to Chinese-language media
reports.
The Epoch Times attempted to seek comment from JCCC and Rui but didn’t hear back.
Carney’s Response
Carney last week was asked during a press conference about JCCC’s post on its website stating that he had an “in-depth” conversation with JCCC executives.Carney said he had never heard of the group and didn’t have any meetings with them.
“I am a politician, I go to events where there are thousands over the course of the day of different people there–that’s not a meeting,” Carney
said. “If somebody happens to be in the room and takes a picture with me, that’s not a meeting.”
The Liberal Party
told media that JCCC’s claim about Carney having an “in-depth” discussion with the group is false and that it has made JCCC remove the claim.
The claim has since been removed from JCCC’s website.
Among the JCCC executives that Carney was seen in
photos shaking hands with are Rui as well as Xu Xiaoguang,
current JCCC president, who served as CEO of ZTE, a Beijing-aligned firm that was
blacklisted in the United States over security concerns and has been banned from Canada’s 5G networks.
Previous Candidate
Yuen was appointed by the Liberals as their new candidate in Markham-Unionville to replace incumbent MP and former police officer Paul Chiang, who dropped out of the election following backlash for comments he made suggesting his former rival, Tory candidate and Hong Kong democracy activist Joe Tay, be turned over to the Chinese Consulate for a bounty.
Tay is a Canadian citizen and one of several pro-democracy activists targeted by Hong Kong authorities, who have issued international bounties on Tay and other activists.
Carney had faced calls from the Conservatives and the NDP to drop Chiang as a candidate. Carney rejected the calls, saying that Chiang had a “terrible lapse in judgment” but that it was a “teachable moment” and Chiang had acknowledged his mistake.
Chiang announced his resignation late on March 31. Earlier that day, the RCMP said it was investigating Chiang’s comments.
The Liberal Party
announced Yuen’s candidacy on April 5.
