VANCOUVER MAYOR KEN SIM IMPLICATED IN PRC CHINA INFLUENCE

ON CANADIAN DEMOCRACY CSIS REPORT

 

WHY HAS THE RCMP REFUSED 2 INVESTIGATE SEE BELOW

Potential leaders of influential B.C. 

groups undergo Chinese ‘political review,’ recording reveals

NATHAN VANDERKLIPPEINTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT

APRIL 7, 2023https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-potential-leaders-of-influential-bc-groups-undergo-chinese-political/

China’s consulate in Vancouver conducts political screening on the potential leadership at influential community organizations that promote candidates for Canadian political office, according to a recording obtained by The Globe and Mail of remarks by a former executive of one of those groups...

But there are requirements for the associations’ leadership, and the 

Chinese consulate plays a role, according to comments made by 

Wang Yan in a recorded conversation in 2020. Ms. Wang previously

 served as the CCSA’s executive president, but resigned several years ago. She had been asked to consider a leadership role in CACA, she said in the recording.

“If you want to be the chairperson, you must not be a person with a

 Red Notice, or a supporter of Falun Gong, or Taiwan and Hong Kong independence,”

 she said. People who match that description “can never sit in the chairperson’s chair,”

 she said.

And, she said in the recording of a conversation that was made in 2020, 

“if we want to reach the chairman level, we must go through a political review.”

“We have to provide things to the Chinese consulate – everything must 

go through this political review process,” said Ms. Wang, who resigned 

from the CCSA several years ago.

A Red Notice is an Interpol tool that functions somewhat like an 

international arrest warrant, and has been frequently deployed by the

 Chinese government to seek the extradition of people it considers fugitives.

Beijing considers calls for independence in Hong Kong and Taiwan –

 the latter a self-ruling democracy – to be threats to its sovereignty.

The Globe is not identifying the person who made the recording, who

 risks professional retribution for its disclosure...

The Globe played back Ms. Wang’s recorded comments to her. In response,

 she said she does not now understand the process for selecting leadership.

Before coming to Canada, Ms. Wang worked in shipping and real estate development

 in China, she said on the recording. She also spent time with the 

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the feared internal 

graft-busting arm of the Chinese Communist Party, she said.

In the interview, she said she is now working in the diamond business

 in Canada and has no interest in politics.

But both Chinese associations have openly advocated for individual candidates...

The association has supported Richmond Liberal candidate Steven Kou,

 Vancouver city council candidate Steven Low and Karen Wang. Ms. Wang

 was a Burnaby Liberal candidate who pulled out of a 2019 by-election after

 a message on WeChat in which she called herself “the only Chinese candidate

 in the riding,” while describing opponent and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh

 as being “of Indian descent.”

The Chinese embassy did not respond to questions. Neither did the two associations...

Any Chinese political screening of CCSA leadership amounts to “a direct relationship”

 between the association and China, said Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow

 with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.

“I would see it as a direct impact on our democracy by the Chinese government,” she said...

Any Chinese political screening of CCSA leadership amounts to 

“a direct relationship” between the association and China, said Margaret McCuaig-Johnston,

 a senior fellow with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the 

University of Ottawa.

“I would see it as a direct impact on our democracy by the Chinese government,”

 she said.

Any Chinese political screening of CCSA leadership amounts to “a direct relationship”

 between the association and China, said Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.

“I would see it as a direct impact on our democracy by the Chinese government,” she said.

Formed in 2002, the CCSA said at a 20th anniversary celebration last year that

 its membership now exceeds 30,000 people, with 260 corporate members...

It organizes Lunar New Year galas, a cultural-heritage festival and a 

water-splashing festival. Its events are often attended by local politicians

 and Chinese diplomats – including former consul-general Tong Xiaoling,

 who was described in a 2022 Canadian intelligence document as seeking

 to mobilize voters in favour of a specific candidate in last year’s 

Vancouver mayoral election. That candidate was not named.

*NOTE THERE WAS ONLY ONE CREDIBLE CANDIDATE

OF CHINESE DESCENT  RUNNING

FOR MAYOR IN 2022 (KEN SIM)

SEE

https://www.greyzonewar.net/vancouver-mayor-sims-family-crushed-democracy-in-hong-kong-for-china-authorities

Still, political screening for leaders suggests the Chinese consulate is acting like a board of directors for certain groups, said Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China.

“This is direct evidence of China’s interference,” he said.

China’s Vancouver consulate interfered in 2022 municipal election, according to CSIS 

MARCH 16 2022

Left: Vancouver mayor-elect Kennedy Stewart, Monday October 22, 2018. Darryl Dyck/

The Globe and Mail; Right: Tong Xiaoling, Deputy Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

 Edward Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images

DARRYL DYCK/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

..Mr. Stewart said he had tense relations with Ms. Tong because of his 

pro-democracy position, opposition to the Chinese government’s 

human-rights violations and support for Taiwan’s independence. 

He would like to see Ottawa expand its inquiry into Beijing’s interference

 in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections to municipal and provincial politics as well...

The CSIS documents explain how in mid-November, 2021, Ms. Tong

 talked about orchestrating the Chinese diaspora to help elect a new mayor

 and a favoured city councillor...