China's New Ambassador, Tariffs on EVs, Watchdog Claims MPs Supported Interference, Defence Ministers Hold First Talks
Beijing's new top diplomat in Canada, parliament watchdog's claims of MP-supported foreign interference, and defence talks in Singapore.
This week's edition of IPD's Canada-China Brief covers information about Beijing's newest ambassador to Canada, the parliamentary intelligence watchdog's new report claiming MPs supported foreign interference from China, and India, and the first talks between Canadian and Chinese defence ministers in years.
First, here is exclusive commentary from IPD experts on Canada’s potential tariff hike on Chinese electric vehicles and Biden’s expansion of China tariffs.
From Our Experts
On Canada’s potential tariff hike on Chinese electric vehicles following the Biden administration:
Any tariff actions taken by Canada must be fact-based and consistent with our international trade obligations. While the U.S. may have determined that it is going to impose tariffs of up to 100% on Chinese EVs and parts, Canada must follow its own process to determine what level of tariffs is necessary to respond to Chinese subsidies. Canada's trade policy toward China, and indeed other partners, cannot ignore our close economic relationship with the U.S., and commitments made in the CUSMA. That said, Canada must follow its own internal requirements and international rules in assessing import tariffs on goods from China or any other market.
Canada cannot allow itself to become a "back door" to the U.S. market in ways that are inconsistent with CUSMA but neither should it be forced to take actions that may not be consistent with broader Canadian interests simply because of our close proximity and close economic relationship with the U.S.
– Hugh Stephens, Advisor, Institute for Peace & Diplomacy
On foreign interference from China and India and whither Canada’s response:
As Canadians have been consumed by alleged foreign interference in our political system for 18 months now, it behooves us to keep some things in perspective. First, while there is a bright red line separating legitimate diplomatic representation of national interests from interference in the electoral process and the recruitment of parliamentarians to serve foreign interests, the line between legitimate interests and malign influence is mainly a judgment of the actor, not of the interests. When the US Ambassador declares in his first interview in Canada that his number one job is to align Canadian policy with that of the US with respect to China -- imagine if the incoming Chinese Ambassador declared that HIS no 1. Job was to align Canadian policy with that of his country with respect to the US…
Alleged Indian influence in Canada is at least as pervasive and in some ways far more destructive than Chinese, -- extending to daylight murder. And yet the Hogue Inquiry, and media attention paints the People’s Republic of China as the country of greatest concern. I wish to be clear: Chinese influence is malign both because of the means employed and because of its ends – directed at silencing or muting criticism of China particularly from within the exiled minority and diaspora communities. This is rightly seen as an infringement of the rights of Canadians to express themselves freely without fear or intimidation on Canadian soil.
2. The reality is that Canadian foreign policy and Canada in general is hardly on the list of top 20 Chinese foreign policy concerns. Whereas for Canada by our own declaration as seen in our Indo-Pacific strategy China’s global and regional influence counts among our top concerns. This asymmetry means that we are far keener to influence China’s behavior than China is to influence our own. And yet, rather than concentrating our efforts to more effectively influence and challenge China’s global influence we are consumed with our own domestic finger pointing with respect to Chinese influence here. The truth of the matter is that none of the political parties represented in Parliament is looking to serve or promote China’s interests and foreign policy goals. Chinese influence operations cannot be said to have had any measurable success in furthering closer ties with China. Chinese efforts at influence appear mainly to damage the reputations of politicians in the Chinese diaspora community and to instill fear that maintaining relations with their country of origin will leave then tainted in the eyes of other Canadians and potential employers and colleagues.
Fortunately, to the dismay of the Opinion columns of the Globe and Mail, Elizabeth May revealed there is no secret wall of shame in the form of a list of names of Parliamentary traitors. And with the exception of a single member who allegedly carried information to a secret agent of a foreign power (both unnamed) the government in whose service the former Parliamentary members served was – India.
Anyone in government who knowingly conspires with the security agents of a foreing power should answer to charges in a court of law. Meanwhile, the government that represents us should not be distracted from pursuing the national interest by working diplomatically alone or in concert with our allies to influence China to behave in accord with founding values enshrined in the UN Charter and actively engage with China to use its growing power to promote a sustainable future for humankind. We should be working both to curb China’s malign influence while at the same time engaged with it to channel its growing power spread the benefits of development in ways that ensure a common future for the planet. Canada is still virtually alone among our allies in having no meaningful diplomatic dialogue with Beijing. That is a serious impediment to our global influence and a damper in the pursuit of our national interest.
– Jeremy Paltiel, Senior Fellow, Institute for Peace & Diplomacy
On the wisdom of new protectionism and how it will be perceived in Asia:
Any effort to limit Chinese exports will inevitably impact other regional states, especially as China has prioritized [regional value chain] expansion and economic integration across Asia. For example, tariffs on batteries, battery components, and critical minerals will impact Southeast Asian states like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
While the Biden administration justifies its new tariffs on national security grounds, this rationale rings hollow across the Indo-Pacific, particularly in Southeast Asia, which serves as the beating heart of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. Asian states are resistant to U.S. policies that securitize regional trade and investments since they view such policies as antithetical to their own security interests. ASEAN member states, for instance, prioritize socio-economic stability and growth as their primary security concerns, according to regional polling. Where U.S. policies undermine regional economic integration, energy security, food security, and employment, Asian states’ opposition to such policies will grow, as seen in the case of U.S. support for Ukraine.
– Jeffrey Reeves, Senior Fellow, Institute for Peace & Diplomacy
Top Stories
China’s New Ambassador to Canada Assumes Post
H.E. Wang Di, the most recently-appointed Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Canada, arrived in Ottawa at the end of last month, formally succeeding his predecessor Cong Peiwu who was newly-dispatched to represent Beijing in Iran.
A new arrival — Ambassador Wang presented a copy of his letter of credence to the Chief of Protocol of Canada Sébastien Carrière:
Wang said that “in the spirit of respecting each other, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and pursuing win-win cooperation, he stands ready to work with the Canadian friends to enhance mutual trust between China and Canada, deepen friendship between the two peoples, and advance exchanges and cooperation.”
Carrière welcomed Wang’s arrival in Canada, stressing that Ottawa attaches importance to its relations with Beijing.
Middle East hand — Wang comes from a background of postings largely focused on Middle Eastern affairs:
Before his current appointment, Wang previously served as Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of West Asian and North African Affairs since 2019, and before that as Ambassador to Kuwait for four years in addition to postings to Riyadh, Cairo, and Algiers.
As Director General, Wang was a frequent visitor to the region, holding consultations in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria, Turkey and Egypt as well as a mission to Russia to discuss Middle Eastern coordination and cooperation with working-level counterparts.
Intelligence Watchdog Asserts MPs Have Assisted Foreign Interference
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), which is made up of MPs and senators from across the political spectrum, suggested several parliamentarians of more than one party have "wittingly" helped foreign governments like China and India to meddle in Canadian politics and that the Trudeau government had been slow to respond.
What the report says — NSICOP’s reporting on CSIS and CSE findings spoke of multiple parliamentarians who were witting and unwitting participants in interference:
It stated that several elected officials "began wittingly assisting foreign state actors soon after their election" as in one case, MPs worked to influence their colleagues on India's behalf and proactively provided confidential information to Indian officials whereas another maintained a relationship with a foreign intelligence officer, seeking to arrange meetings and providing confidential information.
The report noted that “CSIS assessed that the PRC believes that its relationship with some members of Parliament rests on a quid pro quo that any member’s engagement with the PRC will result in the PRC mobilizing its network in the member’s favour.”
Unnamed MPs “communicated frequently with foreign missions before or during a political campaign to obtain support from community groups or businesses to be mobilized by diplomatic missions” and “accepted knowingly, or through willful blindness, funds or benefits from foreign missions or their proxies.”
Others “provided foreign diplomatic officials with privileged information on the work or opinions of fellow parliamentarians, knowing that such information would be used by those officials to inappropriately pressure parliamentarians to change their positions” and “responded to the requests or direction of foreign officials to improperly influence parliamentary colleagues or parliamentary business.”
The report stated that the Liberal government has known since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 2018 trip to India about the need to take foreign interference more seriously, but was slow to do so in part due to the crisis in which the government found itself in late 2022 and early 2023.
Government response — Ottawa has said it will take serious action including internal follow-up, though disagrees with some elements of the report:
Asked whether the activities described in the report rise to the level of treason, Trudeau said Canada must “take foreign interference with all the seriousness it requires” and that the Liberal Party supports a Bloc Québécois motion that calls for the report to be sent to foreign interference inquiry commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland commented that the government takes the threat of foreign political interference very seriously and that they will conduct an “internal follow-up” while not making a promise to eject involved MPs from the Liberal caucus.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the government will consider NSICOP's findings and recommendations but disagrees with elements of the report, which “lacked the necessary caveats inherent to intelligence, as well as the lack of acknowledgement of the full breadth of outreach that has been done with respect to informing parliamentarians about the threat.”
Party leaders sound alarm — All parties have expressed concern over the report with some calling for internal reviews of caucus:
Elizabeth May, Green Party co-leader and the first party leader to read the entire report, said “I have no worries about anyone in the House of Commons. There is no list of MPs who have shown disloyalty to Canada” and that she was “vastly relieved” that the most “worrying case” in the report was the former MP who proactively provided privileged information to a foreign operative.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who didn’t go through the requisite security clearance to read the report, demanded the Liberals to identify MPs named in NSICOP report as “Canadians have a right to know who and what is the information.”.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who will receive his confidential briefing on Wednesday, said that he would not hesitate to kick out any of his MPs who were found to have “wittingly” collaborated with foreign powers.
Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet is in the process of receiving his top-secret security clearance and said that he wants to make sure none of his MPs are under foreign influence. If that was the case, he is asking them not to run in the next election.
What commentators think — Experts have noted that much work needs to be done on the foreign interference front:
Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada’s former ambassador to China, told media that he is not surprised about the bombshell allegations, but that it was “mind-boggling that not more has been done” as “Canada’s democracy is under attack.”
Lynette Ong, Professor at the University of Toronto, explained in a podcast hosted by The Hill Times that China's efforts aim to reshape political outcomes in other countries in its favour, including through disinformation spread via social media, advising that Canada should also take measures to protect diaspora communities.
Michael Nesbitt, Professor at the University of Calgary, stated that “talking about treason is almost absurd,” saying it is not a crime to speak with diplomats or agents of other countries. He added that the Canadian laws on treason are “so poorly drafted it’s totally unenforceable.”
Canada and China Hold First Ministerial Defence Talks in Years
National Defence Minister Bill Blair met with Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore this month, marking the first meeting between defence ministers in 11 years as the two countries work to re-establish lines of communication.
Foreign interference, Taiwan, and Russia — Discussions spanned a range of issues including maritime encounters, interference, and more:
On social media, Blair posted that “Canada believes that open lines of communication between our countries, and particularly between our defence establishments, are essential. This meeting was an important step in that regard.”
In DND’s news release, Minister Blair reiterated the importance of responsible state behaviour in accordance with international law. He particularly expressed Canada’s concern regarding PRC’s foreign interference and the recent Chinese military exercises around Taiwan, as well as China’s ongoing and growing economic and financial support to Russia.
During his time in Singapore, Minister Blair also announced the deployment of Royal Canadian Navy ships to the Indo-Pacific, saying that “as a Pacific nation, the security and stability of the Indo-Pacific region is vital to Canada's future… this Canadian naval deployment demonstrates that Canada is committed to promoting a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.”
In his speech at Shangri-La Dialogue, China’s Dong Jun stated that “anyone who dares to separate Taiwan from China will only end up in self-destruction” and that “we should protect the legitimate security interests of all countries” as he added that “China calls for inclusiveness for peace and opposes building
exclusive military alliances.”
Canada’s opportunities and challenges — Observers have highlighted the potential for more to come:
Stephen Nagy, Professor at the International Christian University, suggested that the Shangri-La Dialogue was a “constructive opportunity for Canadian policy-makers and security and defence professionals to learn the currency of security and defence in the Indo-Pacific, and assess trends that will be useful for Canada in its security and defence engagement in the region.”
He added that “the minilateral trend will be important for Canada as it thinks about how to pursue its interests in the Indo-Pacific. Canada’s comparative advantages in countering disinformation may be a concrete area of co-operation to form its own mini-lateral partnership.”
If you enjoy our work, please consider contributing:
Image credit: PRC Embassy | PMO | Bill Blair