Mehmet Tohti, ED of Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, complains about supposed Chinese infiltration in Canada and the foreign interference inquiry. URAP relies on CIA funding, via the National Endowment for Democracy.

Written by: Aidan Jonah

Revelations from Canada’s foreign interference inquiry have been sorely lacking. Instead, the rabid anti-democratic character of anti-China groups participating in the inquiry has been the main show.

Despite managing to force out the initially appointed Special Rapporteur on Foreign Interference, David Johnston, in retaliation for not calling for a public inquiry, the anti-China groups have been constantly miserable and complaining throughout the process. They, shockingly, were mad when their main parliamentary sponsor, the Conservative Party, didn’t get full Intervenor Standing. Their anger turned to rage when two political figures in Canada, targeted by allegations of supporting foreign interference, were granted full Intervenor Standing, allowing them to ask critical questions of the activists with so much to say about them and review documents which couldn’t be seen by the general public. One got Intervenor Standing only, which means they can’t cross-examine witnesses.

While the anti-China activists claim the document element is their problem, it’s really not. Their main issue is, in the words of anti-China academic Margaret McQuaig-Johnston, that anti-China diasporas are:

“upset that those accused of interference will be able to crossexamine them, when those people should themselves be in the witness box."

The two political figures with full standing, Independent MP Han Dong and ex-Liberal MPP Michael Chan, and the person with just Intervenor Standing - Senator Yuen Pau Woo - are no communists frankly, and uphold the Liberal party view of Chretien, that was critical of Chinese socialism, but was willing to ignore their ideological issues because trade with China benefits Canada economically. As such, the neo-Conservatives see them as an effective group, along with Senator Victor Oh, who must be crushed in oh-so-democratic Canada.

This faction’s favourite reporter, Sam Cooper, has even called for Chinese Canadian organizations against McCarthyism to be prevented from suing Canada’s Attorney General in regular courts - under the guise that their resistance is “CCP lawfare” – they should only be allowed to sue in special ‘national security’ courts. It’s very consistent with the mentioned desire to crush opposition.

And when crushing opposition doesn’t work for the neo-conservatives, the mentality that breeds the desire to dominate and control China as a whole, or imaginary separatist nations that would be created under their control - the desire to dominate and control regardless of support from the people - bleeds out into the public eye.

This has most bluntly been seen through the behaviour of “The Human Rights Coalition”, a coalition of anti-China diaspora groups. Their main representative, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project’s Executive Director, Mehmet Tohti, has reflected clearly the loss in composure of the coalition. It should be added to consideration that Tohti’s group is funded by the CIA-front National Endowment for Democracy.

It was through CSIS and the anti-China diaspora coalition’s closest media friend, the Globe & Mail, that this revelation came to the fore. On January 28, Tohti threatened that the coalition would withdraw from the foreign interference inquiry if the Intervenor Standing wasn’t stripped from the three political figures. As per usual with Tohti and URAP, they slander those who they don’t agree with.

The Globe & Mail quoted Tohti as saying these political figures have “acted like Chinese officials in Canada”, so he was “not ready to make myself available to be cross-examined by them.” Back in Summer 2021, when Senator Woo opposed the Uygur ‘genocide’ bill voted on in Canada’s Senate, Tohti claimed without evidence that Woo "was acting as a spokesperson for China rather than Canada". The trend of temper tantrums is clear to see, with Tohti being the least disciplined of the lot.

Tohti’s temper tantrum came to its completion on January 31, when URAP withdrew from the Canadian foreign interference inquiry entirely, because inquiry runner Justice Marie-Josée Hogue declined to appease their temper tantrum and strip any Intervenor Standing from the three political figures. Now of course, the inquiry still carries on without URAP, which laughably believes that the current Trudeau government is not anti-China, soft on China, or some other word salad as detached from reality as the rest of the Chinagate discourse.

Open hawks versus hawks in disguise

As hinted earlier, the Canadian elite battle isn’t between peaceniks and hawks - the economically minded China peaceniks having been isolated long ago - but rather between two factions of hawks. Those who want outright, unrestricted hostility with China, and those who want to be hostile to China under the guise of good will. But those who want to operate under the guise of good will aren’t very good at this.

Canada’s foreign minister Melanie Joly showed how much she truly respects Chinese sovereignty, by having an online meeting with Chinese dissident, Chen Siming, who pushes lies about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and their end. Canada’s immigration department showcased their valuing of Canada-China relations by granting asylum to an anti-communist seeking the end of Chinese socialism. Canada’s foreign affairs department showcased their respect for Chinese sovereignty by allowing Siming to participate in a Global Affairs Canada co-hosted “China Human Rights Forum”, which promoted Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang separatists, along with lies about governance of the special autonomous and autonomous regions.

Canada’s Liberal Party had earlier seen four of its cabinet ministers (including one who is Minister of Justice & Attorney General) meet with Tibet separatist Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the “Central Tibetan Administration”, who explicitly came to Canada “to garner support for Tibetan freedom struggle”. Another 20 Liberal MPs would meet with Tsering before he left, with Liberal MP James Maloney going on to acknowledge CTA President Tsering in a live session of Canada’s parliament.

The demonstrated lack of care for Chinese sovereignty, which extends to China’s Taiwan province, shows that the Canadian elite battle is not for policy, but rhetoric used while a policy is carried out. The open hawks, to justify their more blunt warmongering, must create an imaginary ‘Communist threat’ seeking to ‘subvert our elections’.

In Canada there is no communist spectre, no mass communist organization, no large or even moderately notable portion of the masses who look to communism as the solution to their problem. The Chinese Canadian diaspora has been pummelled into silence, enabled by the ordinary people who’ve chosen to let them be isolated rather than risk their own skin. This isolated community doesn’t pose a threat at present, to the power of Canadian elites.

The Canadian elite battle is for something tangible, but everything around it is a farce. The Canadian anti-China circus goes on.

Editor’s note: The Canada Files is the country's only news outlet focused on Canadian foreign policy. We've provided critical investigations & hard-hitting analysis on Canadian foreign policy since 2019, and need your support.

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Aidan Jonah is the Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, a socialist, anti-imperialist news outlet founded in 2019. Jonah wrote a report for the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September 2021.

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