Vancouver city hall retracts claim Ottawa agreed to meet with Chinese ambassador
Vancouver city hall now says Global Affairs Canada did not approve of a meeting held last month between its staff and Chinese officials regarding an event by players critical of Beijing.
In an unsolicited email to Global News, the city admitted it was false that the federal government had treated the meeting with the Chinese embassy in Vancouver as a routine diplomatic interaction.
“Global Affairs Canada has not taken an official position on the meeting,” city spokeswoman Cecilia Ho said in an email sent Tuesday correcting her earlier statement on the matter.
A spokesman blamed an “internal misunderstanding.”
Global Affairs Canada did not respond to questions about the incident, which some have cited as an example of China’s continued efforts to interfere in Canada’s domestic affairs.
On May 4, Global News reported that Chinese embassy officials requested a meeting with a city employee in charge of a Vancouver theater where the Shen Yun dance troupe was scheduled to perform.
Sources told Global News that the ambassadors wanted the employee to cancel the show. Beijing has long targeted Shen Yun because of its ties to the Falun Gong movement and its negative portrayal of the Chinese Communist Party’s rule.
Responding to this report, the office of Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim in a statement on May 5 that the meeting “is not a violation of the agreement, and there is no pressure” on embassy officials to cancel the event.
“Staff discussed the meeting with Global Affairs Canada and confirmed that the meeting was within the bounds of normal communication with China,” the statement said.
But the city now says its statement was inaccurate and Global Affairs Canada did not give the thumbs up before the meeting, as the Mayor’s office said.
The show also faced bomb threats from China, but went ahead without incident at the Queen Elizabeth Theater on April 8-12 after a police investigation failed to turn up any explosives.
Ahead of the Vancouver leg of the tour, the Canadian Opera Company canceled Shen Yun’s performance in Toronto following threats to attack the venue. The games have since been postponed to June.
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The apparent effort to silence the demonstration critical of the communist party’s repression came as Prime Minister Mark Carney pursued a trade deal with Beijing despite national security concerns.
Pro-democracy activists have called on the Carney government to crack down on foreign interference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is scheduled to arrive in Ottawa on Thursday, the first such visit in a decade.
In a letter sent to Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand on Tuesday, the organization representing Canadian Falun Gong practitioners asked her to expose China’s attack on Shen Yun and Wang’s show.
The letter asked Anand to demand that China “cease pressure from Canadian officials and territories, and stop planning threats against Shen Yun and Canadian politicians.”
It also said that Anand should demand that China cooperate with the Canadian police’s investigation into those who threatened to bomb Shen Yun venues.
In addition, Anand should ensure that Canadians have the right to attend cultural events and practice their faith “without intimidation from other countries,” wrote the Falun Dafa Association of Canada.
“Raising these concerns directly and on the record will show Beijing that Canada recognizes and takes seriously foreign interference and intimidation against Canadian communities, and that efforts to suppress legitimate cultural and religious expression through coercive means are unacceptable,” she said.
The group was to hold a press conference on Parliament Hill on Thursday to press the issue, as well as the arrest in China of Falun Gong practitioners and family members in Canada.
Shen Yun dancers pose with their tour bus.
Shenyun.org
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service reported on May 1 that China remains the leading instigator of foreign interference against Canada, along with India, Russia, Iran and Pakistan.
A report released Wednesday by the Montreal Institute for Global Security said Canada is a “prime target” of China’s influence, including election meddling.
The report called on the G7 countries to coordinate their responses to this threat, which it called “a major challenge to national security” in the political systems, institutions and societies of democratic countries.
“As strategic competition intensifies, authoritarian countries are increasingly using covert, coercive, and overt tools to shape decisions abroad,” said the report, Beijing’s Guarding the G7: Counting Influence Operations.
“The Chinese Communist Party uses an extensive system of affiliates, intermediaries, and informal networks covering the political, economic, educational, and social domains to influence and disrupt the G7 countries,” it said.
“These actors often operate behind the scenes of formal trade, allowing influence to be exercised in ways that are difficult to see, explain or control.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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