{"id":78827,"date":"2024-04-04T08:24:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T13:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/?p=78827"},"modified":"2024-04-04T08:24:30","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T13:24:30","slug":"20240404-csis%e5%9c%a8%e9%97%ae%e8%af%a2%e4%b8%ad%e5%85%ac%e5%b8%83%e6%9c%89%e5%85%b3%e6%8b%a6%e6%88%aa%e4%b8%a4%e4%b8%aa%e8%bf%88%e5%85%8b%e5%b0%94%e7%94%b5%e8%af%9d%e7%9a%84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/?p=78827","title":{"rendered":"20240404\/CSIS\u5728\u95ee\u8be2\u4e2d\u516c\u5e03\u6709\u5173\u62e6\u622a\u201c\u4e24\u4e2a\u8fc8\u514b\u5c14\u201d\u7535\u8bdd\u7684\u62a5\u544a"},"content":{"rendered":"

CSIS report on intercepted call about \u2018Two Michaels\u2019 released at inquiry<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Touria Izri Global News
\nPosted April 2, 2024 7:23 am
\nUpdated April 2, 2024 9:27 pm<\/p>\n

A declassified intelligence summary made public at Canada\u2019s inquiry into foreign election interference alleges former Liberal MP Han Dong discussed the imprisonment of two Canadians with a Chinese envoy, as first reported by Global News.<\/p>\n

The summary highlights Dong\u2019s discussions with the envoy including his alleged thoughts on how any action from Beijing in the matter could be viewed by Canadians and the Liberals\u2019 political opposition.<\/p>\n

China detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in late 2018 on widely condemned espionage charges. They spent two years in prison before being released shortly after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, detained by Canada at the behest of the U.S., was released from house arrest.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the inquiry heard Canada\u2019s spy agency recorded a phone call between Dong and China\u2019s consul general in Toronto discussing the detentions of the \u201cTwo Michaels\u201d in early 2021, when the Canadians were still in custody. It is the first time the intelligence report describing that discussion has been made public.<\/p>\n

The document, primarily created by CSIS, is described as an \u201cincomplete\u201d intelligence summary and its allegations have not been proven. It alleges Dong speculated that freeing the pair right away would bolster opponents of the Liberal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Dong expressed the view that even if the PRC released the \u2018Two Michaels\u2019 at that moment, opposition parties would view the PRC\u2019s action as an affirmation of the effectiveness of a hardline Canadian approach to the PRC,\u201d read the report.<\/p>\n

The CSIS intelligence summary also alleges Dong \u201cstressed that any transparency provided by the PRC in relation to the \u2018Two Michaels\u2019 such as a court hearing or a court date, would help to placate Canadian public opinion and provide some valuable talking points to his own political party against the opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about the call, Dong testified it was \u201cpossible\u201d he said that but did not \u201crecall that conversation.\u201d He added that the discussion was \u201cmostly Mandarin\u201d and that \u201cwhenever I talked about the \u2018Two Michaels\u2019 \u2026 [I] always advocated for their early release\u201d along with \u201cimproving their conditions.\u201d He also testified that he was confused by information in the report and \u201cdidn\u2019t quite get the logic.\u201d
\nThe report is among the declassified information presented at the inquiry, including a secret memo that said the People\u2019s Republic of China is Canada\u2019s \u201cbiggest concern\u201d when it comes to foreign election interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PRC is highly capable and motivated against Canada,\u201d it reads. \u201cTheir activities often transcend political party lines and may involve supporting many candidates who promote PRC views.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dong \u2013 who represents the Toronto-area riding of Don Valley North resigned from the Liberal caucus last year.<\/p>\n

His departure came after Global News reported Dong advised the senior Chinese diplomat that Beijing should hold off freeing the Canadian men, according to two separate national security sources.<\/p>\n

Dong now sits as an independent, denies the allegations and is suing Global News.<\/p>\n

The inquiry also heard that Dong met with international students from China and encouraged them to register as Liberal members during his nomination race in 2019 \u2014 but the MP didn\u2019t mention that to an ongoing federal inquiry into foreign meddling until he took the stand Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The reports alleged that Chinese international students with fake addresses had been bused into the riding and coerced to vote for Dong\u2019s nomination to avoid losing their student visas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntelligence reported after the election indicated that veiled threats were issued by the (People\u2019s Republic of China) Consulate to the Chinese international students,\u201d the summary reads.<\/p>\n

That intelligence implied that \u201ctheir student visas would be in jeopardy and that there could be consequences for their families back in the PRC if they did not support Han Dong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Special rapporteur David Johnston found last May that there were \u201cirregularities\u201d observed with Dong\u2019s nomination and \u201cwell-grounded suspicion\u201d they were tied to China\u2019s Toronto consulate, but that Dong was not aware of such issues.<\/p>\n

It turned out Dong did meet with international students from a private school called NOIC Academy during his nomination battle at their residence at Seneca College, he confirmed for the commission Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He encouraged the students, who mostly spoke Mandarin, to volunteer for his campaign and vote in his nomination battle, he said.<\/p>\n

He had not mentioned the meeting to inquiry lawyers when they interviewed him in February.<\/p>\n

Dong also neglected to mention that a busload of international students showed up to vote for his nomination \u2014 though he said he didn\u2019t see it himself. He said he was told about the bus and presumed it had been organized by the school itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t pay attention to busing international students because \u2026 I didn\u2019t understand it as an irregularity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dong\u2019s campaign manager, Ted Lojko, testified that he didn\u2019t know anything about the busload of students.<\/p>\n

The commission lawyer grilled Dong about why he failed to come forward with the information until Monday, but the now-independent MP said his wife reminded him about it only after his interview with the commission.<\/p>\n

He decided to let the commission know about the additional information after a recent discussion with his lawyer, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a short period of time for the campaign and I was reaching out to as many groups as I can,\u201d Dong testified.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not illegal for international students to vote in Liberal nominations, as long as they can prove they live in the riding. Dong denied any knowledge of the students using falsified documents to vote in the nomination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be the first one condemning it. I think it\u2019s an insult to our democratic system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With files from The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/10396644\/foreign-interference-inquiry-mp-han-dong\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CSIS report on intercepted call about \u2018Two Michaels\u2019 released at inquiry By Touria Izri Global News Posted April 2, 2024 7:23 am Updated April 2, 2024…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78828,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78827\/revisions\/78828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}