Canada releases report on foreign interference in elections, saying China is the biggest threat behind it

Judge Marie-Josee Hogue, who is investigating whether Canada has been subject to foreign interference, released the first phase report, confirming that foreign forces did interfere in Canadian elections, and that China was the biggest "perpetrator." The report named two Chinese-American politicians who may have been in different situations due to Beijing's interference. Dong Hanpeng was successfully elected as a member of Congress, while Zhao Jinrong was unsuccessful.

Canada plans to strengthen legislation to prevent foreign interference

After 21 days of hearings and investigations, listening to the testimonies of more than 70 witnesses, and reviewing tens of thousands of pieces of information, the investigative committee led by Hogg concluded that foreign forces had interfered with Canada's 2019 and 2021 federal elections, among which China was "The most persistent and sophisticated threat of foreign intervention."

However, Hogg emphasized that the intervention did not affect the final power of government, and the Liberal Party would still be in power anyway. She warned the government not to ignore the problem. "Foreign interference is indeed happening and is a serious threat. It is unlikely to be completely eliminated, but we must still do our best to detect and prevent it."

Hogg said that due to Chinese interference, the voting behavior of some voters was affected, and the voting process in some individual constituencies was tainted.

The 242-page report specifically pointed out that during the 2019 election, during the Liberal Party’s nomination campaign in the Don Valley North constituency of Greater Toronto, there were strong indications that buses picked up Chinese students to vote on site. Liberal Party candidate Dong Hanpeng. Dong Hanpeng was later elected as a member of Congress. Hogg believes that Chinese interference cannot be ruled out as affecting the nomination results in this constituency.

Hogg also mentioned that during the 2021 election, Zhao Jinrong, the then Conservative MP in Richmond, British Columbia, faced a large amount of false information against him in the media and the Internet after proposing the Foreign Influence Registration Act. Therefore, there was " There is a reasonable possibility (suspect) that Zhao Jinrong lost his seat due to the potential influence of Beijing's influence."

Zhao Jinrong said that this was a belated relief to him personally, but it had caused harm to Canadian democracy and voters. He said that the saddest thing was not that he lost the election, but that under foreign intervention, people might blindly elect a party that went against their own values. "Because they were manipulated, abandoned their own well-being, and were used by these malicious countries."

The foreign interference tactics mentioned in the comprehensive report include bribery, extortion, attacks, etc., such as providing financial support to candidates; intimidation of members of the diaspora community, threatening to refuse to provide travel documents or have their family members in the country of origin harassed; and manipulation. The media spreads false information; attacks the electoral system through the Internet. Foreign governments use intermediaries to operate these tactics to conceal the true identity of foreign adversaries.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: "We will continue to use methods and tools to fight foreign interference and prevent some countries from undermining our democracy."

The Chinese Embassy in Canada responded to the report, saying that China's interference in Canada's internal affairs is a complete political lie.