A Toronto mayoral candidate said he’s running because he wants to “tell the China story well,” a phrase introduced by Chinese leader Xi Jinping in directing state media’s work of promoting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) messaging to the world.
In a May 3 press conference, Tony Luk announced that he will be throwing his hat into the ring for the Toronto mayoral election scheduled for Oct. 24. He also disclosed his motivation for entering the race.
“Time flies. Last year I ran for city councillor [by-election]. It was less than a year ago. This year I’m running again, but for an even higher position: mayor of Toronto,“ Luk said, speaking in Mandarin Chinese. ”Some people have asked me out of curiosity: ‘Why are you running for mayor?’ My answer is, to tell the China story well, to exert our Chinese people’s influence.”
The phrase “tell the China story well” is one of the core concepts of the CCP’s “external propaganda work,” spelled out by Xi in August 2013 in a speech at the National Propaganda and Ideology Work Conference, where Xi outlined his approach to international messaging.
“[We] must meticulously and properly conduct external propaganda, innovate external propaganda methods, work hard to create new concepts, new categories, and new expressions that integrate the Chinese and the foreign, to tell the China story well, to communicate China’s voice well,” Xi said at the time.
Xi, who has just secured an unprecedented third term as the leader of China—a degree of power concentration not seen since the days of the CCP’s earliest leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping—will remain in power for another five years. At the 20th National Congress of the CCP, a weeklong conference that concluded on Oct. 22, Xi reiterated the phrase of “telling the China story well, communicating China’s voice well,” adding the aim of “showing a credible, loveable, and respectable image of China.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Luk for comment but didn’t hear back.
Support for National Security Law
Luk was born in Hong Kong and came to Toronto in 1974, at the age of 16. His campaign website describes him as the founder and president of CanHome Group, an immigration consultancy firm.In 2021, Luk came in fifth place in the Toronto by-election for councillor in Ward 22 Scarborough-Agincourt. On his by-election campaign website, tonyluk.ca, the Chinese description of Luk’s background says he holds “important positions” in over 50 associations across China. It also mentions that he has served in the role of overseas representative at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
The CPPCC is led by a member of China’s highest-level decision-making authority, the CCP’s Politburo Standing Committee, and sets forth China’s broader United Front strategy, which provides direction for the Party’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), according to a 2018 staff research report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The UFWD is tasked with coordinating influence operations to quell potential opposition both inside China and abroad, the report says.
Luk has been “honoured” to serve five times since 2013 as the overseas representative at the CPPCC for various levels of government in China, according to a 2019 article on the website of The Legends Media, a Chinese-language media outlet in Canada.
Multiple Chinese-language media including Chinese state media have reported on Luk’s support of Beijing’s position on various issues, such as the CCP’s clampdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, the Canada-China dispute over the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, and the international diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in protest against the regime’s human rights violations.
A May 2020 report by TCN News, a Canadian Chinese-language news outlet, said Luk, along with three other Chinese community leaders, expressed strong support for enforcing Beijing’s National Security Law in Hong Kong. The law is widely seen as a violation of the international agreement that gave the former British colony relative autonomy after it was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
The other three Chinese community leaders were Weng Guoning, president of the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations; Zhu Jiang, executive chair of the Council of Newcomer Organizations; and Chen Bingding, chair of Chinese Canadians for China’s Reunification (GTA)—a Toronto branch of the CCP’s China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification.
On July 3, 2020, Luk published an advertisement on the chinanews.org website under the headline “Warm celebration of the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, firm support of the enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law.”
Cheering On
On Dec. 8, 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada is joining its allies in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over China’s human rights abuses, by not sending any diplomatic representation to the international sports event.A few weeks later, in January 2022, Luk hosted an event to celebrate the 20-day countdown to the Beijing Winter Olympics, reported Takungpao.com, a website with headquarters in Hong Kong and Beijing. He said at the time that he will actively promote the Beijing Winter Olympics through the Chinese media in Canada, Takungpao reported.
Luk also served as chair of a committee that organized an online celebration of the sports event’s successful completion on Feb. 20, 2022. Over 130 community representatives and Canadian politicians, athletes, coaches, sports professionals, and business representatives joined the celebration, reported The Legends Media.
‘Happy’ for Meng’s Release
Canada-China relations soured after Ottawa arrested Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on fraud charges in December 2018 on a U.S. extradition request. Shortly thereafter, Beijing detained two Canadian citizens—Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor—in what is widely seen as “hostage diplomacy” against Canada.On Sept. 25, 2021, the two men, who have become known as the “two Michaels,” were released and returned to Canada after spending over 1,000 days in Chinese prisons. Meng was released a day earlier and allowed to return to China after admitting her role in financial fraud and entering into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.
Luk told Takungpao on Sept. 26, 2021, that he was “very happy” to hear that Meng was released, also noting that overseas Chinese people in Canada were also “very excited” about Meng’s release and “feel the strong support of the motherland.”
