(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Richard B. Fadden, the Director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) gave a briefing to Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, The House of Commons of Canadian Parliament on July 5, 2010. He talked about foreign interference in Canada.
Mr. Richard B. Fadden, Director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Mr. Fadden said, "Parliament clearly recognized the existence of this problem at the time the CSIS Act was passed in 1984, that CSIS has a clear mandate to investigate foreign interference as a potential threat to the security of Canada. I say 'potential' because unlike cases of terrorism or espionage, where the threat to national security is more immediate and where the ramifications can be extremely serious--for example, loss of life or loss of serious national secrets--foreign interference operates on a range of seriousness, and it is only the most serious cases that constitute clear threats to national security. I'll provide some examples in a couple of minutes.
"First, what is foreign interference? Simply put, it is an attempt by agents of a foreign state to influence the opinion, views, and decisions of Canadians with the aim to obtaining a political, policy, or economic advantage. The CSIS Act talks about the threat of foreign influenced activities as 'activities within or relating to Canada that are detrimental to the interests of Canada and are clandestine or deceptive or involve a threat to any person.' It is also important to note that, unlike espionage and terrorism that can result in more immediate damage to our national security, foreign influence is really more of a process of relationship-building. This is not a simple, binary, black and white issue. We are dealing here with a spectrum of behaviour by foreign entities that often start out innocently but later veer toward something that actually harms Canadian interests. This is a very subtle process.
"CSIS's objectives are threefold: to identify the foreign agent and to cause the influence to be stopped; to identify the person being influenced, with a view to making the appropriate authorities aware; and to generally protect Canadians from this sort of pressure. The persons being influenced are often Canadians with whom the foreign agent can relatively easily develop a relationship.
"Unlike terrorism or espionage, there is not always a breach of the law. Like terrorism or espionage, however, at least some of the influence is covert or secretive. Unless the Canadian being influenced commits a specific violation of Canadian law, the issue of concern to CSIS is Canada's democratic process being affected secretly and by a foreign state.
"Thus, a case that would be of interest to CSIS would involve an agent of a foreign power providing a Canadian, over months or years, with various benefits, which become increasingly significant yet less and less open over time. This relationship includes an extensive exchange of views, opinions, and information slanted toward what the foreign state is interested in. At some point, consciously or not, the Canadian's views are changed and he or she begins to push or advance them as his or her own, thus potentially affecting decisions with which he or she is involved. The very important point is that foreign interference is intrinsically objectionable to Canada, whether or not it succeeds in attaining the objective of the foreign state, because such activity becomes detrimental to the interests of Canada. First of all, national security is not always directly or immediately involved in cases of foreign interference, but, where the possibility exists that there is harm to national security, and we have reasons to suspect this is true, we must investigate.
"Second, CSIS' mandate is to protect Canadians and our democratic process from covert and deceptive influence.
"Third, the Canadians identified to be influenced can be anyone with the potential to affect decisions in a manner favourable to the foreign state."
Falun Gong practitioners are victims of Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s Interference in Other Countries
In a press conference following the hearing, reporters were told of specific examples of foreign influence from the Falun Dafa Association of Canada. Lucy Zhou listed a string of occurrences where politicians seemed to advocate on the Chinese regime's behalf after returning from a trip to China.
She said that the group faces constant attacks from the Chinese regime relating to its activities in Canada, encountering interference for everything from participating in parades to getting routine proclamations from city governments. Falun Dafa is the most severely persecuted group in China today, say human rights groups.
She gave an example, "In May this year, Mayor Larry O'Brian of Ottawa refused to issue a proclamation of Falun Dafa Day as he did in past few years after his business trip to China. He said he made a promise. Apparently the promise is to Chinese officials. Later the city council passed a resolution to issue the proclamation."
"Every move we have here, the embassy gets us," said Zhou, referring to the efforts of Chinese foreign missions to stifle the activities of Falun Dafa across Canada.
Wenzhuo Hou, a one-time visiting fellow at Harvard Law School, has testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China. At the press conference, Hou said that the regime recalculated its foreign policy strategies following the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, using an often hidden and multifaceted approach to establish long-term infiltration program in countries around the world.
"This is a long-term project called 'transforming by raindrops,' meaning change the West by subtle and imperceptible means," she said.
In 2005, Mr. Chen Yinglin, the former first-tier secretary in Department of Politics in Chinese Consulate in Sydney, fled and exposed CCP's policies on Chinese embassies and consulates to manipulate Chinese students and communities, as well as Chinese media and influence foreign country's policy to China. Persecution of Falun Gong is the number one task of Chinese embassies and consulates.
Mr. Chen disclosed CCP strategies, including exerting pressure on foreign government officials and exchanging political interest with economic benefit. He said the most effective way was to provide free trips to China to political leaders and luxury recreational services after they arrive in China. The method is widely used on China's diplomatic issues with Western countries.
He gave an example, "Chinese Embassy and consulates in Australia intentionally lobby federal and provincial officials and offer scholarships to their siblings under the name of cultural exchange. The Chinese Consulate in Sydney conducts periodical personal business communication with political leaders and members of federal and provincial parliaments."
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