New Delhi: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wednesday called China’s alleged efforts to target certain Canadian MPs, a move documented by the North American country’s intelligence agencies, a “part of what diplomats do” across the globe.
Trudeau was speaking before the Foreign Interference Commission, a panel set up to probe interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections.
He said “what the targeting paper actually talks about is that China has broadly classified into three different groups parliamentarians in their diplomatic activities. Some as being positive towards China and perhaps there to engage in constructive ways, others who are neutral or convincible to be more positive towards China and others who have demonstrated themselves to be more antagonistic towards the Communist Party of China”.
The Canadian PM added: “The fact that Chinese diplomats are categorising MPs in their outreach abilities into those three categories is not itself particularly revelatory or new information to me. It is fairly obvious and a part of what diplomats do in all countries in all parts of the world.”
Trudeau went on to explain how the Canadian government, during the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2016, had also categorised US decision-makers in a similar manner to approach or ignore accordingly.
His categorisation of Chinese influence efforts comes even as Canadian intelligence reports allege that Beijing clandestinely interfered in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections in the North American country, both of which Trudeau won.
A summary made public by the Foreign Interference Commission explains that “targeting can cross the line from overt diplomacy to become foreign interference”.
“Some federal MPs (Members of Parliament) have been targeted by the PRC (People’s Republic of China) in relation to a number of issues of relevance to the PRC. This is mainly through overt influence activities, but CSIS assesses that some have also been targeted through clandestine, deceptive and/or coercive activity,” the summary further stated.
The document added: “The PRC sought to build profiles on a number of MPs following their support of the motion. This research may have informed the PRC’s decision to impose economic sanctions on some of those MPs or may have informed other actions.”
The motion in particular pointed out by the summary was a vote in the House of Commons in February 2021 recognising the treatment of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in China as a genocide.
One of the particular outcomes of the profiles built by the Chinese diplomats, according to Canadian intelligence reports, is that MPs such as Michael Chong were targeted by a disinformation campaign in 2023, around the time when Ottawa declared a Chinese diplomat as persona non-grata.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) reports claim China and India are the two main actors in election interference in Canada. The Canadian intelligence agency alleged that the Indian government put effort “into individual campaigns” during the 2021 federal elections in an attempt to “align” domestic decision-makers with pro-India positions.
India has rejected any suggestion of interfering in Canadian elections, pointing out that it is Ottawa that is interfering “in our internal affairs” in a statement in February this year.
Trudeau’s comments also come into focus given the recent chill in diplomatic ties between India and Canada over Ottawa’s allegations that India’s High Commissioner to the country Sanjay Kumar Verma is a “person of interest” in an investigation into the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, an India-designated terrorist, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. Four Indians have been arrested and charged with the killing. New Delhi maintains that no specific evidence has been shared of any links between Indian officials and the killing of Nijjar.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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