Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent strategic partnership with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing extends well beyond trade deals on canola and electric vehicles. Several overlooked provisions raise significant concerns about police cooperation and cultural influences.
Hidden Elements Beyond Trade
The agreement includes non-trade components focused on people-to-people ties, cultural exchanges, museum investments, support for digital creators and visual artists, heritage preservation, education, travel, and creative industries at sub-national levels. Critics view these as mechanisms for expanding Beijing’s soft-power operations abroad.
Expert Warnings of ‘Trojan Horses’
Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy and spokesman for the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China, labels these provisions ‘Trojan horses.’ Edmund Leung, chair of the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement, calls the dozen non-trade deals ‘very, very upsetting.’
Leung emphasizes that the arrangements aim to boost the Communist Party’s influence in Canada through transnational repression, political interference, and disinformation. He states, ‘This is all about expanding the Communist party’s influence and expanding their capabilities in Canada.’
Revived RCMP-Ministry of Public Security Collaboration
A key memorandum of understanding revives a 25-year-old partnership between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), which previously collapsed amid scandals involving tortured witnesses and fabricated charges. This comes despite 2023 revelations of clandestine MPS police stations operating in Montreal, Toronto, and Metro Vancouver under Beijing-linked community groups.
Canada’s foreign interference laws remain inadequate, with the RCMP limited to detection and disruption. Bill C-70, the Countering Foreign Interference Act, tabled two years ago, only recently completed public consultations.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, responding to questions from Conservative MP Michael Cooper, highlighted shared interests like fentanyl but avoided specifics on rule of law or agent deployments targeting Chinese diaspora communities.
Propaganda Department Ties Formalized
The pact formalizes operations for two divisions of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department. Shen Haixiong, deputy minister and director of China Media Group (CMG)—controlling CCTV, CGTN, and China Radio International—oversees an expansive propaganda network. Shen describes CMG as Beijing’s ‘aircraft carrier,’ boasting 12,000 favorable placements on overseas platforms in 88 countries in 2023 alone.
An MOU signed by Shen and Canadian Ambassador Jennifer May during Carney’s visit promotes mutual media support and travel convenience. Canadian readouts frame it as a tourism deal with Destination Canada, but critics note CMG staff function as propaganda officials, not independent journalists.
Another agreement restores collaboration between the Department of Canadian Heritage and China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, led by Propaganda Department deputy Sun Yeli, to foster cultural exchanges and trade. This joint committee briefly existed before collapsing in 2018 amid the detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
Fears of Extradition and Repression
China expert Charles Burton warns that RCMP-MPS information sharing could enable transnational repression. Leung expresses fear that the deal might lead to an extradition treaty, allowing Beijing to pursue ‘political criminals.’
Beijing has issued arrest warrants for 19 diaspora Chinese, including Canadians Victor Ho, former Sing Tao B.C. editor-in-chief, and Joe Tay, a recent Conservative candidate. Liberal MP Paul Chiang once suggested turning Tay over for a reward, leading to his resignation.
Leung concludes, ‘All we can do is push for clarity, push for transparency and push for safeguards. We’re not in a position to change what has been agreed on between China and Canada. All we can do is push for our own red lines and guardrails.’
