Trudeau’s inscrutable China policy

CHELSEA, QUE.—What is up with Canada and China? There are so many accusations and counter-accusations—concerning media reports of Chinese commercial spying, harassment of Chinese citizens living in Canada, alleged attempts to interfere with our elections—and from the federal government, all we get is nothing. Worse than nothing: we get pious defences of “Canadian values," a prickly exchange between the prime minister and a clearly unimpressed Chinese president, and bland assurances from Trudeau that our security agencies are keeping an eye on “foreign entities." Given what has unfolded at the inquiry into the Emergency Measures Act in recent weeks—in particular, the failure of various police and security forces to act expeditiously—you have to wonder if these forces have the wit and will to bust a suburban car-theft ring, never mind intercept a sophisticated foreign spy operation. But back to Trudeau. Global News reported recently that the prime minister and some cabinet members were told last January that the Chinese consulate in Toronto dispersed $250,000 to 11 candidates of different parties, and to 13 political staffers, in the 2019 federal election. It was, apparently, an attempt to push China-friendly policy at the federal level. As opposition MPs pushed for the names in Question Period, selected stand-ins for the travelling prime minister refused to answer, offering instead, aggrieved and condescending lectures on the effectiveness of Canada’s security regime. Then, having let these damaging allegations dangle for days, the prime minister finally announced that he had not been given any information about this specific plot—not in January, not until the Global News report. Is this true, and, if so, why didn’t he say so immediately, if only to spare his ministers and backbenchers days of humiliation in the Commons? Also, what was he talking about when he warned Chinese President Xi Jinping to stop interfering in Canadian “activities” when they both attended the G20 in Indonesia? As Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman noted “It’s hard to imagine complaining to China about something you haven’t been briefed on.” Unless the prime minister was referring to other examples of Chinese meddling. The most common targets for Chinese intelligence in the western world are commercial—Beijing plants agents in science research labs, or within public/military institutions, or at high tech companies. According to one U.S. report, half the workforce in their research labs are of Chinese descent and, of the 6,000 total, some 180 have been investigated for stealing information. And, of course, Chinese tech giant Huawei has long been suspected by western governments of using its 5G technology to spy. Only last week, a 35-year-old engineer, Yuesheng Wang, was charged in Quebec with economic espionage—the first such charge in Canada—for allegedly sharing trade secrets and his own research into electric vehicle batteries at Hydro-Quebec’s top-flight research facility with Chinese universities. And, in yet another perplexing case—made more mysterious by official silence—a prominent Chinese-born virologist, Dr. Xiangguo Qiu, and her researcher husband Keding Cheng, were fired by Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Lab in 2021. They have never been charged, but Qiu is apparently suspected of improperly sharing intellectual property with China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2015. In the interim, the accused couple—who own property in Winnipeg and Gimli and had lived in Canada since the 1990s—are, apparently, nowhere to be found. The most complete account of what happened and why comes not from police, but from freelance journalist Justin Ling, in a long report in March’s Maclean’s magazine. Ling’s thorough reporting—and the fact that sharing research information with the Wuhan lab was considered uncontroversial for years—suggests the groundbreaking scientist may be guilty of nothing more than violating administrative protocols. To date, there have been no criminal charges. Meanwhile, her career—which included award-winning research leading to a vaccine against Ebola, and, possibly, other diseases—is in ruins and the true story is unknown. After months of partisan bickering, Parliamentarians have agreed to hold top-secret meetings to discuss the case, with three independent judges to determine what information can be shared with the public. And the RCMP is said to be investigating, for what that’s worth. (The federal force is also looking into reports from a Spanish human rights organization of three extra-territorial Chinese “police stations” in Markham and Scarborough, Ont., which are supposedly used to persuade, or threaten, fugitive Chinese nationals to return home to face changes. Defenders say the offices only provide ex-pats with access to Chinese government services.) Especially since the long imprisonment of the two Michaels, Spavor and Kovrig, (finally released in 2021), Canadian feelings towards China have hardened. The belligerent tone of the Xi government, intermittent threats to Canadian agricultural exports, the hectoring lectures from the Ottawa embassy—the latest, last week, berating “sinister” and “despicable” media reporting on Canadian-Chinese issues—have done nothing to endear Canadians to the regime, either. For right-wing politicians and online conspiracy pedlars, it is tempting to broaden general unease with the Chinese government into prejudice against millions of law-abiding, democracy-loving Chinese-Canadians. Indeed, Qiu has already been labelled a security threat by Conservative MPs, with no reliable evidence. To be charitable, this may partly explain the Trudeau government’s attempt to bring down the temperature on the file by treading lightly and providing so little information about what, exactly, China is up to within our borders. Nor is China the only suspect, of course. There are other reports, fragmentary and mostly conjecture, of Iranian and Russian attempts to subvert our democracy, and better documented cases of threats to expats who have been critical of their former governments. There is another well-worn excuse for official secrecy, of course: national security. In another context, Justice Minister David Lametti told the emergency act inquiry last week that “obviously, there is a need for transparency, but there’s also a need for security forces to protect their sources, to protect the methods by which they gather intelligence.” In other words, to protect friendly foreign spy agencies that keep an eye on Canada and forward incriminating information. But how reliable, nimble, well-staffed, and well-informed are our own security agencies? No one can say, of course. “National security” concerns. The RCMP, for instance—which has hardly covered itself in glory in recent years—has said it is “aware” of attempts at foreign interference in the 2021 federal vote, but can’t comment further. Meanwhile, Elections Canada CEO Stéphane Perreault told a House committee recently there is no reason to believe the 2019 election was not “free and fair.” The Trudeau government also established a Critical Election Incident Committee of senior security officials in 2019 to communicate “in a clear, transparent and impartial manner” any evidence of foreign shenanigans. No alarm bells from that corner, so far. So it goes: some security officials hint at nefarious doings by foreign actors, other officials offer assurances that nothing is amiss. As to the larger threat to our trade relationship with China, our most valuable export in the first six months of this year was $2-billion in coal—which can be seen as scandalous in a different way. And International Trade Minister Mary Ng said last week that while the trade relationship with China remains “respectful," Canada is looking for new partners in the Indo-Pacific, with details of a new policy on the region to come soon. Meanwhile, it would be naive to believe that foreign governments don’t attempt to steal trade secrets, or undermine public trust in our democracy. For our allies, Canada’s anti-espionage efforts have long been seen as pitifully weak. But how serious is the threat? How effective are counter-measures? The answer remains obscured by shadow, leaving most Canadians in the dark. Susan Riley is a veteran political columnist who writes regularly for The Hill Times. The Hill Times