China's Spies In Canada


Recommended Posts

Beijing accused of espionage

By JIM BRONSKILL

OTTAWA (CP) - A Toronto woman says she was shocked and annoyed to see her personal information in a secret report to Chinese officials.

Jillian Ye, a database consultant in suburban Scarborough, found herself at the centre of a storm Friday over allegations of Chinese espionage in Canada.

The 39-year-old Ye, a longtime practitioner of Falun Gong, was the subject of a September 2004 report to security officials in China, where many say followers of the ancient meditative practice have been persecuted.

The federal Conservatives and a national group representing Falun Gong devotees expressed concern about Ye's case Friday, citing it as a prime example of Chinese government interference in Canadian affairs.

They accused the Liberals of failing to firmly voice Canada's opposition to harassment and spying by Beijing.

The leaked report, slated for circulation to government security bureaus throughout China, contains information about Ye's plans to start a communications firm as well as details of her recent purchase of a New York residence for her parents.

It was addressed to a Deputy Minister Liu with instructions to distribute the contents to the Central Cult Prevention and Management Leadership Committee Office, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and various security offices.

"Clearly, absolutely, my rights are violated," Ye said in an interview.

As a Falun Gong activist since 1995, Ye expected she and fellow practitioners in Canada were being monitored.

"However, to this extent - this kind of detail - it's a bit shocking."

The report was obtained by the Epoch Times, an independent newspaper based in New York that publishes Chinese, English and French editions in Canada.

The Times made a copy of the report available to The Canadian Press.

It was among about eight such documents received by the Times from Hao Fengjun, a former security officer in Tianjin, China, who is claiming asylum in Australia.

Chinese officials deny Hao's charges of government spying, saying he's simply trying to bolster his efforts to win asylum.

The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Hao claims Beijing maintains a network of more than 1,000 spies in Canada, with operatives in Toronto, Vancouver and several other major cities.

Hao says he smuggled hundreds of documents into Australia on a digital recorder as part of a visiting tour group.

He decided to seek asylum after the defection of Chen Yonglin, a Chinese diplomat stationed in Sydney, who also told of a vast foreign espionage web run by Beijing.

In 1999, the Communist government outlawed Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, which had attracted millions of practitioners.

Supporters say thousands of followers have been detained and hundreds killed, a charge China denies.

The Falun Dafa Association of Canada said Friday that Chinese spies, informants and agents compile dossiers on devotees of the practice and wage intimidation campaigns against them.

Between 30 and 35 practitioners across Canada have been targeted with harassing telephone calls, according to the association.

Ye said in the interview she received repeated phone calls early this year featuring a taped message denouncing Falun Gong.

Association spokeswoman Lucy Zhou was disturbed by the Chinese security report about Ye.

"It's very shocking for me to see because it shows how closely they're monitoring," Zhou said. "And this is something that has to be stopped."

In the Commons, Conservative deputy leader Peter MacKay pointed to the revelations about surveillance of Ye in urging the government to crack down on Chinese espionage.

MacKay said there was "growing and concrete evidence of a massive Chinese network" actively spying on the activities of Canadians and trolling for economic secrets.

"Has the foreign affairs minister called the Chinese ambassador to express our government's objection to these deplorable actions, and what specific measures have been taken to address this serious sovereignty and security breach?" MacKay asked.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan said the government tries to resolve outstanding issues with China through dialogue.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is "very much aware" of allegations about Chinese activities in Canada, she added.

McLellan also said if anyone believes he or she is being harassed, the matter should be taken up with police.

SOURCE

Well, it looks like this has largely gone under the radar which is kind of depressing. If our government doesn't do anything about this we can look foreward to many abuses against us as citizens in the future in our governments quest to make money through trad with the chinese despite their transgressions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't spying for another country one of the most heavily punishable crimes possible? Usually its considered treason and depending on where you are could be punishable by death, although I don't know if parts of Canada have the death penalty or not. I woud hope Canada responds in kind. I for one would be ticked off if that same thing happened to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't spying for another country one of the most heavily punishable crimes possible?  Usually its considered treason and depending on where you are could be punishable by death, although I don't know if parts of Canada have the death penalty or not.  I woud hope Canada responds in kind.  I for one would be ticked off if that same thing happened to me.

586086220[/snapback]

Canada outlawed the dealth penalty 3 decades ago and there is no chance of it coming back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For clarification, when I say "responds in kind" I don't mean that they should all be executed. I'm just saying I hope they don't get off without punishment for fear of some kind of international incident.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For clarification, when I say "responds in kind" I don't mean that they should all be executed.  I'm just saying I hope they don't get off without punishment for fear of some kind of international incident.

586090543[/snapback]

Deftinetly. If nothing is done about this I will be very dissapointed. This is what happens when we let the get away with what they already do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't spying for another country one of the most heavily punishable crimes possible?  Usually its considered treason and depending on where you are could be punishable by death, although I don't know if parts of Canada have the death penalty or not.  I woud hope Canada responds in kind.  I for one would be ticked off if that same thing happened to me.

586086220[/snapback]

This isn't spying, no state secret or commercial interest were compromised. Most of these chinese agents are informants and i am not even sure any laws are breached.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This isn't spying, no state secret or commercial interest were compromised. Most of these chinese agents are informants and i am not even sure any laws are breached.

586092033[/snapback]

They were spying on a woman and then sending all the information to different bureaus of their government. To me that's out of order, they have no right to do it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They were spying on a woman and then sending all the information to different bureaus of their government. To me that's out of order, they have no right to do it

586092142[/snapback]

I was responding to starcom on whether this form of spying can be considered as treason. It obviously doesn't fall into that category, you could hire a private investigator to get the private information of any body if you wanted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But who says that is all they are doing? I can't imagine they are keeping 1000 spies in Canada to keep track of those 'nasty' Falun Gong members.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But who says that is all they are doing? I can't imagine they are keeping 1000 spies in Canada to keep track of those 'nasty' Falun Gong members.

586092502[/snapback]

When this story first broke in Australia, the focus of this was on Chinese agents tracking chinese dissidents. Thats what I was referring to. Of course the chinese have other spy network targetting political, military or economical insitutions, thats expected and if they're caught they'll be imprisoned or deported. Same as the west's spy network in China.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Absolutely they should be imprisoned. Spying for another country is a deplorable act, and I'm astonished the government hasn't done anything about it yet.

-Ax

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was responding to starcom on whether this form of spying can be considered as treason. It obviously doesn't fall into that category, you could hire a private investigator to get the private information of any body if you wanted.

586092465[/snapback]

Treason is going against ones country, so by spying on somebody in another country how can it be treason? So, yeah I guess you're right there

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this is very depressing. when we view innocent citizens (or, more precisely, citizens prior to guilty acts) as criminals, which is implied, it is only one short step to self-destruction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.