China Canada Tensions: In the midst of efforts to establish its dominance in Asia and Europe, China also interfered in the Canadian elections. Following some revelations from Canadian media reports, a Canadian parliamentary committee has passed a motion for a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference in national elections. Under this, Chinese interference in Canadian elections will be investigated.
Chinese interference in Canadian elections
Let us tell you that in the month of November last year also there were reports of interference of China in the Canadian elections. Then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau targeted China and said that China is attacking democracy by being aggressive against Canada and its institutions. According to reports in the Canadian media, China had launched a campaign to influence federal election results in favor of the ruling Liberal Party in the 2019 and subsequent 2021 elections. This has been disclosed in the Canadian media on Friday.
Soon after this disclosure, it has now been reported that the Pearl Committee of Canada has passed a proposal for investigation in this matter, although whether such an investigation will happen or not will depend on the government. Because, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said in his latest statement that China had tried to interfere in Canadian elections, but its efforts did not change the result.
Canadian parliamentary committee took a big step
At the same time, there has been no reaction from China on the allegations of interference in the Canadian elections. However, earlier the Chinese Foreign Ministry had rejected such allegations outright. The news of Chinese handiwork to influence the 2019 and 2021 elections in favor of the ruling Liberal Party in Canada has been appearing in the Canadian media for the last few days.
Following this series of reports, a Canadian parliamentary committee has taken a major step to publicly investigate allegations of foreign interference in national elections. The special thing is that this move has been supported by the opposition MPs of the House of Commons Procedure and House Affairs Standing Committee, while the members of the Liberal Party have opposed this proposal.
Last Tuesday, the Canadian government released a report by retired bureaucrat Morris Rosenberg. It was then said that Canadian security agencies had observed attempts at foreign interference in the elections, but there was no evidence that those efforts affected electoral integrity. This means that the ruling Liberal Party in Canada does not want to investigate the alleged Chinese interference, and therefore its members have opposed the proposal presented by a Canadian parliamentary committee.
Donation was given by Chinese businessman
At the same time, the opposition in Canada has defied the report of retired bureaucrat Morris Rosenberg. According to Canadian opposition parties, Rosenberg was the CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation between 2014 and 2018, and during that period he received a large donation from a Chinese businessman. The news of receiving a donation from a Chinese businessman was published by an outlet ‘The Globe and Mail’.
The Globe and Mail, in its report, claimed that Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), had recorded a conversation between a Chinese diplomat and billionaire Zhang Bin, in which the official offered Zhang Bin a substantial sum of money. Was instructed to donate.
The case of donation is being told in the same year, when Trudeau’s party came to power with a majority, and he became the Prime Minister of Canada (in 2015). The donation case came into the limelight on Wednesday when the Trudeau Foundation, owned by Rosenberg Pierre, announced that it was returning the $140,000 it had received so far from donors. “We cannot hold any donation that is sponsored by a foreign government,” Pascal Fournier, the foundation’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
Mention of Chinese interference in intelligence reports
The ‘foreign government’ that is being talked about in this is being shown in the media as China. And, therefore, many such media revelations have increased the pressure on Canada’s Trudeau government to conduct an inquiry in this regard. On February 17, The Globe and Mail reported a report saying, “China launches strategy to influence Canadian democracy in 2021 federal election campaign, with Chinese diplomats and representatives backing Justin Trudeau candidates in the election.” I supported to win and worked to defeat the people of the Conservative Party because the Conservatives have not been close to China.
China wanted – Conservative candidates should not win
This report by The Globe and Mail is based on documents from Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service or CSIS. According to this report, intelligence reports suggest that Beijing was determined to prevent the Conservatives from winning the elections. For this, behind the scenes in Vancouver and the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), China encouraged disinformation campaigns between Sino-Canadian organizations. There are large Chinese immigrant communities in Vancouver and the GTA, which have been opposing the Conservatives and favoring Trudeau supporters.
Earlier this week, outlet Global News also cited a December 20, 2021 report by CSIS that said “the Liberal Party of Canada is becoming the only party China can support.”
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