Conservative candidate targeted by election interference from China, watchdog says

Open this photo in gallery:

A federal election-threats watchdog has uncovered a foreign interference operation from China aimed at shifting public opinion among Chinese-speaking Canadians against a Toronto-area Conservative candidate who is a sharp critic of Beijing’s crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong.

Joe Tay, the Conservative Party candidate for the federal riding of Don Valley North, is the target.

The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force announced Monday this campaign is taking place on the social-media platforms where Chinese-speaking Canadians are active including WeChat, Facebook, RedNote, TikTok and Douyin, a short-video application owned by the same company as TikTok.

SITE described this effort as a transnational repression operation. This is a form of foreign interference where authoritarian governments reach beyond their borders to harass, threaten and intimidate people overseas who are critical of these regimes.

Federal officials say the content of the operation targeting Mr. Tay features disparaging commentary and a mock “wanted” poster of the Conservative candidate, whom the government in Beijing-controlled Hong Kong seeks to arrest and charge for his criticism of civil-rights violations in the former British colony.

Mr. Tay was born in Hong Kong but immigrated to Canada in 2020, according to the Conservative Party.

Last December, Hong Kong police announced a bounty of HK$1-million – about $184,000 – for information leading to Mr. Tay’s arrest for allegedly violating a national-security law imposed on the Asian port city by China. Mr. Tay runs a YouTube channel, HongKongerStation, that draws attention to repression in Hong Kong.

Laurie-Anne Kempton, an assistant secretary to the cabinet, said SITE has observed “inauthentic and coordinated amplification” of online attacks “related to the bounty and arrest warrant against Joe Tay, as well as content related to his competence for political office.”

Intelligence reporting indicates that one of the Facebook accounts involved in this activity “is historically connected to the People’s Republic of China government authorities and pro-PRC entities in Hong Kong,” Ms. Kempton told reporters Monday.

Carney says China is a foreign interference, geopolitical threat for Canada

She said Ottawa has also found “deliberate suppression” of internet searches for information on Mr. Tay on Chinese-language social media platforms so “when people in Canada search his name, the search engine only returns information about the bounty and arrest.”

She said SITE has briefed Conservative officials twice about this campaign against Mr. Tay. Ms. Kempton said the government considers it deplorable that Hong Kong has issued bounties against civil rights activists such as Mr. Tay. “This attempt by Hong Kong authorities to conduct transnational repression abroad, including by issuing threats, intimidation and coercion against Canadians or those in Canada, will not be tolerated.”

Mr. Tay in a statement Monday said all political parties should denounce this foreign interference by China. He said it’s consistent with past attacks on him by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that has ruled China for more than 75 years.

“The information revealed is, unfortunately, not new to me or my volunteers,” he said. “We have seen these ‘wanted posters’ and other threats circulating throughout this campaign. They are consistent with the CCP tradecraft, similar to the other threats that have been made against me throughout this campaign.”

SITE said it has talked to the social media platforms where this interference is occurring to flag concerns, but did not say whether these companies took action. It also said it’s providing personal security services to candidates who feel threatened but didn’t meet the threshold for police protection.

Ms. Kempton said it is SITE’s opinion that this foreign interference is so far not affecting Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election, including in this riding.

She acknowledged, however, the “profound psychological impact” on ethnic groups and exile communities targeted by transnational repression. This can include religious groups, human rights defenders, activists, students, scholars and journalists and others.

Anyone singled out for this kind of foreign interference may experience fear, anxiety, stress “due to continuous surveillance and harassment they face,” she said. “Just knowing that a foreign government can monitor their activities or harm their families can lead victims of transnational repression to self censor or withdraw from public life.”

Ms. Kempton said this kind of foreign interference sows mistrust and division in ethnic communities as people within them fear infiltration by foreign agents.

In a statement to Canadians, however, she reminded people that balloting is confidential in federal elections and assured voters that nobody would be able to find out how they voted.

“No Canadian should feel afraid to vote. That’s why we’re here to reassure you. Your vote is secret. The Elections Canada voting process is anonymous, and no one will know who you vote for,” Ms. Kempton said. “Your vote is secure. Voting ballots are put into the ballot box where they are mixed with other ballots so they cannot be attributed to a specific person,” she said. “It’s illegal to break the secrecy of the vote or to threaten someone, to get them to vote in a certain way.

An estimated 300,000 Canadian citizens live in Hong Kong, which was handed over to the People’s Republic of China in 1997 by Britain. A crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong has steadily eroded the territory’s political and social freedoms, which were unique in China – a legacy of Hong Kong’s years under British control. Critics say the 2020 national-security law effectively criminalizes dissent and opposition.

In 1984, the Chinese government had pledged in a treaty with Britain that, for 50 years after the handover, Hong Kongers would be guaranteed freedoms not available elsewhere in China, including freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Instead, starting in 2020, Beijing-backed authorities in Hong Kong have conducted mass arrests of opposition politicians and activists.

Canada has taken steps to recognize that Hong Kong is not longer autonomous from China, including suspending arms exports to the former colony and implementing an extradition treaty.

In December last year, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly publicly condemned the Hong Kong bounties on people including Mr. Tay. “Hong Kong authorities are targeting these people for actions that amount to nothing more than the exercise of freedom of speech by standing up for democracy and human rights,” she said at the time.