Eye on China as Canada police investigate foreign ‘interference activities’
- RCMP commissioner confirms investigations into ‘broader foreign actor interference activities’ amid strained China-Canada ties
- Recent Canada reports claimed that Beijing had funded a ‘clandestine network’ of candidates in the 2019 federal election
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Canadian federal police are investigating widespread interference by China in Canadian affairs, including its “democratic processes” the nation’s top police official has said in a letter to a parliamentary committee but without detailing the allegations.
The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs is looking into possible foreign interference in Canadian elections.
The letter obtained by Agence France-Pressse on Tuesday was sent to the committee by Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Brenda Lucki.
In it she says there was “no evidence at the time” of interference in the 2019 federal election following Canada news reports that Beijing had funded a “clandestine network” of candidates.
But, she added: “the RCMP can confirm that it currently does have investigations into broader foreign actor interference activities”.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the House of Commons that Canada’s “intelligence services have highlighted many times that interference in Canadian affairs by foreign powers is an ongoing thing”.
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However, “Canadians can be reassured that the integrity of our elections was not compromised,” he added.
Beijing has previously accused Ottawa of exaggerating the China threat and making groundless attacks.
At the G20 summit earlier this month, Trudeau raised allegations of Chinese meddling with President Xi Jinping but got an on-camera dressing down by Xi after their discussions were leaked to the media.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino declined to comment on specific RCMP probes, but added: “We take allegations of foreign interference very seriously”.
On Monday, a Chinese electric battery researcher facing charges of industrial espionage was granted bail.
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The RCMP has also said it is looking into China’s use of illegal police stations in Toronto to carry out policing operations on foreign soil – which Beijing has denied as “completely false”.
And it is investigating the possible transfer of intellectual property to China by two scientists at Canada’s top-security infectious-disease laboratory in Winnipeg.
Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, have reportedly relocated to China after they were fired in January 2021 from the National Microbiology Laboratory.
