Canadian MP Michael Chong will testify on China's interference in Washington
Chong will discuss his case with U.S. congressional-executive commission on China, Sept. 12.
Chinese intelligence’s threats against Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family — and the Chinese Communist Party’s broader incursions into Canadian institutions — will come under the powerful microscope of the United States Congress.
Chong, who was targeted by Chinese agents that conducted in-depth research on Canadian politicians that were deemed harmful to the Chinese Communist Party’s interests, according to Canadian intelligence documents reviewed by The Bureau, has agreed to testify for the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
Chong was targeted specifically because he sponsored a Parliamentary vote in 2021 regarding Beijing’s genocide against Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
However Chong was not alone, according to a January 2022 intelligence report reviewed by The Bureau, which said in Canada, “elected officials are harassed, intimidated, pressured or punished as a result of what the CCP deems ‘anti-China’ policy positions.”
The Bureau has reported extensively on similar cases, including the alleged targeting of western Canadian mayor Brad West, an outspoken opponent of Beijing’s human rights abuses.
Members of the Congressional-Executive Commission asked Chong to testify after reading media reports this year about intelligence operations against Chong and his family, which ultimately led to the expulsion of a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat.
It is not standard procedure for a sitting Canadian MP to testify in front of another government.
And in Chong’s case, could mean an explosive case with far-reaching ramifications is examined by the world’s most powerful government and chief rival of China, before the Trudeau Government has agreed to hold a public inquiry into these very same issues.
Chong’s testimony, therefore, could be expected to increase pressure on Ottawa to hold an inquiry and take steps to counter China’s widespread interference in Canada.
In a press statement today, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China said:
Amidst its systemic attempt to rewrite global norms, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has engaged in a campaign of transnational repression to harass diaspora communities and regime critics living around the world, specifically targeting Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Tibetans, and others from groups that have been suppressed domestically. PRC agents – including those linked to the Ministry of State Security and provincial police forces – have engaged in forced rendition of asylum seekers, street assaults, digital surveillance, online harassment, and the coercion and intimidation of the family and friends of dissidents and political prisoners in the United States and globally. The PRC’s transnational repression campaign is “the most sophisticated, comprehensive, and far-reaching” in the world according to Freedom House.
This hearing will highlight the PRC’s use of transnational repression. Witnesses will discuss the diverse tactics used by the PRC, discuss specific cases of transnational repression and its effects on diaspora and dissident communities in the United States, Canada and worldwide, and offer recommendations for further congressional and administrative action and transatlantic cooperation.
The hearing will be livestreamed on the CECC’s YouTube Channel.
Witnesses:
Panel 1
Michael Chong, Member of Canadian Parliament, Wellington-Halton Hills
Panel 2
Yana Gorokhovskaia, Research Director for Strategy and Design, Freedom House
Laura Harth, Campaign Director, Safeguard Defenders
Rushan Abbas, Founder and Executive Director, Campaign for Uyghurs
Thank you. Your work is so valuable to Canadians.
I suspect Freeland and Joly are in a snit and sent the travel advisor after the report that Port Coquitlam’s Brad West received an interview with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin.
Joly after all, is the minister of foreign affairs.
Lt Steven Rogers speaks out weakly and embraces information from Canada to pass on. He made a scathing podcast over Joly’s far right president comment.
We don’t function in a vacuum, and this is good news.
Once again, I forward your work far and wide. I am today and all days grateful.
Great move by Michael Chong! Liberals should be embarrassed.