Canada–China Ties Moving From Elite Control to ‘State Capture,’ Former Canadian Diplomat Warns
China's influence on Canada is evolving from influencing political and economic elites to a more dangerous form of "state capture," says a former diplomat posted to Canada's embassy in China.
"Sam concludes in the book that the current state of Canada–China relations is not only informed by comprehensive elite capture, but is also moving incrementally towards full state capture," Burton said at the event.
Full state capture "threatens the integrity of our democratic institutions and undermines the values of openness and honesty and the freedoms of citizenship that define Canada as a great nation," Burton said.
"Canadians need to learn about the United Front Work Department and take this threat from China much more seriously," Burton said.
"We need to cease tolerating the self-interested, willful blindness of our political and economic elite and replace it with renewed Canadian patriotic, willful awareness."
In the 2022 update to his book, Cooper examined intelligence on the United Front's election interference networks. He delved into a disinformation campaign on the Chinese platform WeChat, which targeted former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu during the 2021 election for his criticism of Beijing's human rights record and his promotion of a foreign interference registry.
Cooper expressed "extreme concern" about the CCP's increasing aggressiveness in its influence tactics, a topic discussed in the most recent edition of his book.
"I'm learning new information that [is] of extreme concern: these very same election interference and Chinese Communist Party police station networks—which I'm saying involve organized crime leaders and Chinese secret security services—are not only threatening, especially diaspora residences, [but] they're also harassing, surveilling, and potentially violently attacking," Cooper told The Epoch Times.
"We now have cases in Australia, potentially Canada [and] around the world, where it's suspected that Chinese operators in these networks could endanger, perhaps even threaten with death, or perhaps even kill dissidents who want to speak out against China."
In response to extensive media reports about Beijing's secret operations, Ottawa launched the Foreign Interference Inquiry to investigate Chinese interference in Canada's 2019 and 2021 elections. Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue acknowledged this influence in her interim report published in May.
Before Parliament's summer break, a bill aimed at increasing resilience against foreign interference quickly passed into law. Bill C-70 creates a foreign influence transparency registry and increases criminal penalties for foreign meddling.
When asked about the security measures in place for next year's upcoming election, Cooper said the new law is "a good step," but he expressed doubts about its effectiveness.
"The RCMP in Montreal have been very successful in reaching out to the Chinese community," Juneau-Katsuya told The Epoch Times. "I'm a little bit concerned and puzzled why other departments, other RCMP units, across Canada are not doing the same thing, if anything at all, in Vancouver, Calgary, and other cities like Toronto. We should have this outreach program like Montreal has done."
Independent MP Kevin Vuong applauded the efforts of allies in combating CCP interference, particularly the recent arrest and charging of Linda Sun, former deputy chief of staff to the governor of New York. Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, were accused of spying for Beijing and working to undermine U.S. democratic processes.
"I think the CCP's golden era of being able to interfere in Canada at the extent, the depth, and the breadth that they have been, is probably starting to end now that Canadians have woken up to how extensive they've been," he told The Epoch Times at the Sept. 26 event.
Donne Ho contributed to this report.
