>An investigation by CBC News, in conjunction with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), has found attacks by the Chinese government on dissidents living in Canada — and around the world — are on the rise.
>It’s a trend that worries experts on China, who say the attacks damage democracy and national security in Canada.
>”You’ve got a foreign government that is causing Canadian citizens and permanent residents to not feel safe in Canada, to not feel they can exercise their own rights and freedoms and speak out,” said Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat and expert on Asia who was [detained by China for more than 1,000 days](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/michael-kovrig-solitary-confinement-interrogation-arsenault-1.7330152).
>After reviewing Chinese government guidelines, the investigation found that “tactics recently deployed against the subjects mirrored the guidelines on how to control individuals labeled as domestic security threats,” the ICIJ wrote.
>[…]
# A ‘genuine scourge’
>Most of those interviewed didn’t report the incidents to authorities in the countries where they were living, the ICIJ found, because they either feared retaliation or doubted the ability of local authorities to help.
>A number of victims in Canada declined interview requests from CBC News, saying they feared repercussions on themselves or their families.
>The ICIJ and CBC News found similar tactics being used against critics.
>In Canada, Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference heard from a number of witnesses — some in public and others behind closed doors — who described incidents of China targeting Canadian residents on Canadian soil.
>Hogue’s conclusion — transnational repression in Canada was a “genuine scourge” and the PRC was the “most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canadian democratic institutions.”
>Hogue said assessing the extent of transnational repression in Canada by China and other countries is difficult because those targeted “may fear reprisals.”
>China uses “a wide range of tradecraft… including using a person’s family and friends in China as leverage against them,” she wrote. “The PRC uses its diplomatic missions, PRC international students, community organizations and private individuals, among others, to carry out its transnational repression activities.”
!ping Can&Democracy
Plants_et_Politics on
I think it’s clear that—regardless of how western countries may view (or wish to reevaluate) their relationship with China in the wake of American chicanery—China views the west as a whole, as well as the international liberal order it upholds, as an enemy.
That’s unfortunate, but likely not something that can be altered.
2 Comments
>An investigation by CBC News, in conjunction with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), has found attacks by the Chinese government on dissidents living in Canada — and around the world — are on the rise.
>It’s a trend that worries experts on China, who say the attacks damage democracy and national security in Canada.
>”You’ve got a foreign government that is causing Canadian citizens and permanent residents to not feel safe in Canada, to not feel they can exercise their own rights and freedoms and speak out,” said Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat and expert on Asia who was [detained by China for more than 1,000 days](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/michael-kovrig-solitary-confinement-interrogation-arsenault-1.7330152).
>[…]
>[The ICIJ’s “China Targets” investigation](https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/china-transnational-repression-dissent-around-world/), in which 43 media organizations in 30 countries interviewed more than 100 victims, also documented how the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies have used international organizations such as [Interpol](https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/interpol-red-notice-police-warrant-jack-ma/) and the [United Nations](https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/united-nations-ngo-gongo-intimidate-human-rights/) to go after its critics and how little some countries have done to stop China’s attacks on people living within their borders.
>After reviewing Chinese government guidelines, the investigation found that “tactics recently deployed against the subjects mirrored the guidelines on how to control individuals labeled as domestic security threats,” the ICIJ wrote.
>[…]
# A ‘genuine scourge’
>Most of those interviewed didn’t report the incidents to authorities in the countries where they were living, the ICIJ found, because they either feared retaliation or doubted the ability of local authorities to help.
>A number of victims in Canada declined interview requests from CBC News, saying they feared repercussions on themselves or their families.
>The ICIJ and CBC News found similar tactics being used against critics.
>In Canada, Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference heard from a number of witnesses — some in public and others behind closed doors — who described incidents of China targeting Canadian residents on Canadian soil.
>Hogue’s conclusion — transnational repression in Canada was a “genuine scourge” and the PRC was the “most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canadian democratic institutions.”
>”What I have learned about it is sufficient for me to sound the alarm that the government must take this seriously and consider ways to address it, Hogue wrote in [her final report in January](https://foreigninterferencecommission.ca/fileadmin/report_volume_1.pdf).
>Hogue said assessing the extent of transnational repression in Canada by China and other countries is difficult because those targeted “may fear reprisals.”
>China uses “a wide range of tradecraft… including using a person’s family and friends in China as leverage against them,” she wrote. “The PRC uses its diplomatic missions, PRC international students, community organizations and private individuals, among others, to carry out its transnational repression activities.”
!ping Can&Democracy
I think it’s clear that—regardless of how western countries may view (or wish to reevaluate) their relationship with China in the wake of American chicanery—China views the west as a whole, as well as the international liberal order it upholds, as an enemy.
That’s unfortunate, but likely not something that can be altered.