{"id":2266,"date":"2021-09-24T02:34:32","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T02:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=2266"},"modified":"2021-09-24T02:34:34","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T02:34:34","slug":"red-chinese-meddling-cost-straight-shooting-anti-communist-tory-mp-his-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=2266","title":{"rendered":"Red Chinese Meddling Cost Straight Shooting Anti-Communist Tory MP His Seat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"mailto:?Subject=I%20saw%20this%20on%20nationalpost.com&amp;Body=https:\/\/nationalpost.com\/news\/politics\/election-2021\/defeated-tory-mp-fears-attacks-by-pro-beijing-forces-swung-votes-against-him\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/nationalpost.com\/news\/politics\/election-2021\/defeated-tory-mp-fears-attacks-by-pro-beijing-forces-swung-votes-against-him&amp;display=popup\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/nationalpost.com\/news\/politics\/election-2021\/defeated-tory-mp-fears-attacks-by-pro-beijing-forces-swung-votes-against-him&amp;text=Defeated%20Conservative%20MP%20fears%20attacks%20by%20pro-Beijing%20forces%20swung%20votes%20against%20him\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Red Chinese Meddling Cost Straight Shooting Anti-Communist Tory MP His Seat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"articleTitle\">Defeated Conservative MP fears attacks by pro-Beijing forces swung votes against him<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>There was evidence that China\u2019s focus turned during the election to the Conservatives, whose platform outlined a multi-pronged approach to confronting Beijing Author of the article: Tom Blackwell Publishing date: Sep 22, 2021 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.prod.postmedia.digital\/nationalpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Kenny-Chiu-1.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288\" alt=\"Due to a private members bill critical of China that Conservative Kenny Chiu introduced last April, he was hounded by supporters of the Chinese Communist Party during the federal election.\"\/><figcaption>Due to a private members bill critical of China that Conservative Kenny Chiu introduced last April, he was hounded by supporters of the Chinese Communist Party during the federal election. Photo by Jason Payne\/Postmedia\/File<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When Kenny Chiu introduced a <a href=\"https:\/\/parl.ca\/DocumentViewer\/en\/43-2\/bill\/C-282\/first-reading#ID0ELBA\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">private member\u2019s bill<\/a> that would set up a registry for agents of foreign governments, he may well have painted a target on his back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bill was inspired largely by China\u2019s suspected interference in Canada and the B.C. Conservative says he was attacked over it in Chinese-language media throughout the election. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the bashing bled into mainstream social media, with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bagofhurt\/status\/1440222876880101381\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">one poster on Twitter<\/a> this week saying \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a more self-hating Chinese person in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Much of the criticism, Chiu says, misrepresented what that legislation really stated, but it had its effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Constituents in his Steveston-Richmond East riding who had previously voted for Chiu suddenly gave him the cold shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen I go door knocking \u2026 there have been supporters of mine who just shut the door in my face,\u201d said the politician. \u201cThere is so much hatred that I sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then on Monday, Chiu lost to Liberal Parm Bains by almost 3,000 votes, just two years after he was first elected, even as the Liberals more or less duplicated their 2019 performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His defeat \u2014 and that of other Conservative MPs in ridings dominated by Chinese Canadians, \u2013 has raised the question of whether proxies for the People\u2019s Republic government managed to influence the election \u2013 just as security agencies and <a href=\"https:\/\/disinfowatch.org\/chinese-state-interference-in-canadas-2021-election\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">other watchdogs have warned<\/a> could happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chiu stresses that his issue is with China\u2019s regime, but said online critics implied that meant he was opposed to the country itself and even the race, despite his own Chinese heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said Chinese-Canadians \u2014 even if they ended up disliking him \u2013 are victims themselves of such disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charles Burton, a former diplomat in Beijing who\u2019s fluent in Mandarin, said he tried to help Chiu by seeking out and warning him about disinformation on WeChat, the popular Chinese social media site, and elsewhere online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there seemed little they could do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt spread like a cancer over his campaign,\u201d said Burton, a fellow with the Macdonald Laurier Institute and prominent critic of Beijing. \u201cHe just saw his campaign disintegrating over the last couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Burton said Canadian authorities should investigate the online campaigns to determine if the Chinese government itself was behind the attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is not the first to raise the issue. David Vigneault, head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/security-intelligence-service\/news\/2021\/02\/remarks-by-director-david-vigneault-to-the-centre-for-international-governance-innovation.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said in a speech<\/a> in February that attempts by foreign states to influence Canadian politics and politicians were among the agency\u2019s \u201cmost paramount concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bains could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and there is no suggestion he had anything to do with the online sniping Chiu faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, the Liberals themselves have been the target of harsh attacks from the Chinese government and state-run media in the ongoing feud over the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It spread like a cancer over his campaign<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there was evidence that China\u2019s focus turned during the election to the Conservatives, whose platform outlined a multi-pronged approach to confronting Beijing. That included barring Huawei from 5G networks, imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions on Chinese rights violators and advising universities against partnering with state-owned companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/liberal.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/292\/2021\/09\/Platform-Forward-For-Everyone.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Liberal platform<\/a> made a brief mention of measures to combat \u201cillegal and unacceptable behaviour by authoritarian states,\u201d singling out China, Iran and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In what appeared to be a comment on the Conservative blueprint, Chinese ambassador Cong Peiwu told the Hill Times newspaper in August that China opposes politicians who \u201chype\u201d or \u201csmear\u201d the country. Then barely a week before election day, the Chinese Communist Party-run <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202109\/1233869.shtml\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Global Times ran a story<\/a> blasting the Tories\u2019 policies, predicting that if the party were elected China would launch a \u201cstrong counterstrike\u201d against Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael Chan, a former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister who has spoken in defence of Beijing, wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/info.51.ca\/news\/canada\/2021-09\/1029672.html\">recent Chinese-language column<\/a> that implementing the Conservative policies could trigger hatred and discrimination against Chinese people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s impossible at this point to determine what factors caused results in individual ridings, but Chiu was not the only Conservative incumbent to be defeated in seats with large Chinese-Canadian populations, people exposed to such ethnic-Chinese media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though not all the votes had been counted Tuesday, Alice Wong appeared headed for defeat in Richmond Centre, next to Chiu\u2019s riding, despite having held the seat through four previous elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bob Saroya lost the Toronto-area riding of Markham-Unionville \u2014 where almost two thirds of residents are ethnic Chinese \u2014 to Liberal Paul Chiang after taking the previous two elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have chat rooms and chat groups dedicated to unseating Kenny Chiu<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chiu, a Hong Kong native, says he has never been shy about his dislike of the Communist government in Beijing. But last April he introduced a private member\u2019s bill that would require any agents of a foreign government to register with Ottawa and report on their activities. It was modelled after similar legislation in Australia and a law that has been in force in the United States for several decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Local Chinese-language media ignored the bill when it was introduced but as the election campaign turned into a dead heat between the Liberals and Conservatives, \u201cattacks rained down on me,\u201d the former MP said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/KHXpU#selection-41.64-240.0\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">article posted anonymously<\/a> on WeChat, and that later showed up on various other online platforms, suggested it was designed to \u201csuppress\u201d the Chinese community and that anyone connected to China would have to register.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A similar story on a Chinese-language site called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.todaycommercialnews.com\/canada\/49207\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Today Commercial News<\/a> said it would curb the freedom of speech of the Chinese community and have a \u201cprofound impact\u201d on Chinese Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, the legislation would require registration only for those acting on behalf of foreign governments or political groups who lobby a senior civil servant or an elected politician. It has actually been <a href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/magazines\/july-2021\/is-canadas-first-proposed-foreign-influence-legislation-ruthless-or-toothless\/\">criticized for being too narrowly focused<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Other WeChat posts suggested erroneously the Conservatives had proposed to ban the widely used social media site itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very much organized,\u201d said Chiu. \u201cThey have chat rooms and chat groups dedicated to unseating Kenny Chiu.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the president of the Chinese Benevolent Association, a group that has repeatedly run advertisements backing up Beijing on contentious issues like Hong Kong\u2019s National Security Law, hosted a free lunch on behalf of the Liberal candidate in Vancouver East riding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New Democrat Jenny Kwan still managed to win the seat handily, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2022 Email: <a href=\"mailto:tblackwell@postmedia.com\">tblackwell@postmedia.com<\/a> | Twitter: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tomblackwellNP\">tomblackwellNP<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Red Chinese Meddling Cost Straight Shooting Anti-Communist Tory MP His Seat Defeated Conservative MP fears attacks by pro-Beijing forces swung votes against him There was evidence that China\u2019s focus turned during the election to the Conservatives, whose platform outlined a multi-pronged approach to confronting Beijing Author of the article: Tom Blackwell Publishing date: Sep 22, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1666,1621],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2267,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266\/revisions\/2267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}