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Canada worried about Chinese influence

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Some in Candada, including the head of the nation’s intelligence agency, worry that China is out to exert its influence on Canadian officials. The concern is that the Chinese government is behind covert actions to influence local councils and politicians. Reporter Curt Petrovich has the story from Vancouver.

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KATY CLARK:  Some of the suspected Russian spies arrested this week claimed they were from Canada. But our neighbor to the north is worried about a different sort of covert operation. One allegedly orchestrated by China. Last week, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service made some startling comments to the CBC. Richard Fadden suggested that China is out to influence Canadian politicians at the most basic level. Curt Petrovich reports from Vancouver.

CURT PETROVICH:  The allegations rolled off Richard Fadden’s tongue almost casually. The head of Canada’s spy agency claimed that political figures in two Canadian provinces were “a bit too close” to a foreign government.

richard fadden: Before you know it, a country is providing them with money. There’s some sort of covert guidance.

PETROVICH: Fadden coyly suggested China was the country he was talking about and he confirmed that CSIS had been investigating several municipal councils in British Columbia and cabinet ministers in two provincial governments.

FADDEN: All of a sudden decisions aren’t taken on the basis of the public good, but on the basis of another country’s preoccupations. So we do worry about them.

PETROVICH: In a written statement Fadden later suggested the incidents he had in mind weren’t troubling enough to alert the prime minister’s office or provincial governments before going public. His backtracking, however, didn’t wash with British Columbia’s Provincial Leader Gordon Campbell, who said CSIS had made suspects out of hundreds of public servants.

gordon campbell: It really was not just unprecedented, it is incredibly unprofessional and I think that it calls into question how this organization is working.

PETROVICH: But there’s no question that China is keen to manipulate public opinion. Last week it was revealed that a Chinese embassy official in Canada’s capital Ottawa ordered dozens of Chinese students on government scholarships to Parliament Hill. They were told to paste smiles on their faces and wave flags to welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao on his visit to Canada. The goal was to drown out human rights protestors including Falun Gong members. Clive Ansley, a lawyer who represents Falun Gong in Vancouver, celebrates the claims made by Canada’s spy chief. Ansley believes it was China’s influence over former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan that led the city to dismantle a protest wall outside the Chinese consulate here.

CLIVE ANSLEY: We know from the practice all around the world that that would be the number one assignment of the consul general in Vancouver would be to put pressure on the local government to have that thing taken care of.

PETROVICH: Mayor Sullivan, who admitted he was routinely treated like an Emperor on his trips to China, has denied he was swayed by his political relationships with the Chinese consulate, Chinese Regime. Sullivan declined an interview, but said if current politicians are being influenced, they should be investigated. If they are, CSIS isn’t saying. It’s refusing to comment after the director’s extraordinary revelations. The outrage and umbrage has also mysteriously subsided. This week a spokesperson for BC said Provincial Leader Gordon Campbell had no plans to follow up on his demand that CSIS director Richard Fadden explain himself and provide evidence to justify the allegations. For The World, I’m Curt Petrovich in Vancouver.

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