Foreign interference is ‘not in our genes’, China’s embassy in Canada says, denying diaspora ‘harassment’ report
- A report to Canadian parliament by advocacy group Alliance Canada Hong Kong said Beijing had created ‘a global system of control, surveillance, and influence’
- The embassy calls the charges a ‘smear’ and warns critics to ‘refrain from going down the wrong path further’
China’s Canadian embassy has denied that Beijing harasses opponents there, saying that it was “not in our genes” to conduct foreign interference, and that such claims in a report to Canada’s parliament are a “smear” meant to poison bilateral relations.
The report was presented by the Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK) advocacy group to a parliamentary committee on Canada-China relations last week. It said that China had created “a global system of control, surveillance, and influence over the [Chinese] diaspora”.
“Many are fearful of criticising the Chinese government as it could cost them career opportunities, business prospects, bar them from returning to PRC-controlled territories, and even jeopardise their personal safety and their extended family members,” the 42-page report stated.
It accused China of “harassment and intimidation campaigns” against dissident and other groups in Canada. The report recommended creating a registry of people and groups acting on behalf of foreign states, and a commission on foreign influence.
We have never conducted and will never conduct any interference or infiltration against another country. This is not in our genes
The embassy rejected the charges, issuing a statement on its website on Saturday that said the report was “arrant nonsense”.
“We have never conducted and will never conduct any interference or infiltration against another country. This is not in our genes,” it said, adding that some Western countries, in contrast, “have long been engaging in coercion, espionage and infiltration all over the world”.
China’s relations with Canada have been strained by a series of events, most notably the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co executive Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver’s airport in December 2018, at the request of US authorities, and China’s subsequent detention of two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, on spying charges.
