Hearing testimony on Chinese repression abroad, US lawmakers call for tougher response
- Canadian MP tells US Congressional-Executive Commission on China about Beijing’s ‘systemic efforts’ involving threats, disinformation campaigns and surveillance
- China has engaged in such efforts in dozens of countries, including the United States, as documented by the human rights group Freedom House
US lawmakers are refocusing attention on international cooperation to tackle Beijing’s “transnational repression”, inviting a Canadian parliamentarian who reports falling victim to it to testify on Tuesday.
Citing the scope of China’s “sophisticated, global and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression”, described as a strategy to silence critics around the world, Senator Jeff Merkley called for a “redoubling” of efforts to understand the threat, raise awareness globally and work more closely with other governments.
Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, spoke at a hearing titled “Countering China’s Global Transnational Repression Campaign” hosted by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan panel on which he sits that advises lawmakers and the executive branch on human rights and the rule of law in China.
Canadian MP Michael Chong, a foreign policy critic who also serves as vice-chair of a special parliamentary committee on the Canada-China relationship, was one of four witnesses on Tuesday.
Chong spoke about a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat gathering information to target his family in Hong Kong and a disinformation campaign launched against him on Chinese social media platform WeChat, which the Canadian foreign ministry said was likely conducted by Beijing.