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【CMHnews post】August 11, 2024
Dear Commission Members,
My name is Jonathan Dai. I am 69 years old. I am a Canadian citizen having resided, studied and worked in Canada for a total or 39 years by now. During my early years in Canada (1985-1991), I studied at Queen’s University for my second Master’s degree, and University of Alberta for my Ph.D. I have four beautiful children and two lovely grandchildren, in Alberta and in Ontario. I am the founding president of Canada-China Council for Cooperation and Development, and Executive Director of Chinese Taiwanese Alliance of North America.
My participation/involvement with federal and provincial elections, nominations and leadership campaigns.
In November 2000, I ran in the 37th federal election in Edmonton-Strathcona as a Liberal, achieving 17,816 votes, which is the highest for any candidate of the Liberal Party in that constituency since 1997 to date.
Between 2001 and 2003, I was one of the major organizers of Paul Martin’s leadership campaign in Alberta.
In 2003-2004, I was seeking Liberal nomination again in the same riding. I was unfairly and brutally shut out, and I became very sick and did recover until five years later.
In 2011, I became a major organizer for Gary Mar’s leadership campaign of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, amassing the most memberships (over 4,600) for him.
In 2014, I was one of the organizers of the late Alberta Premier Jim Prentice in his leadership bid for the Alberta PC party.
In 2015, I ran as an Alberta PC candidate in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood.
In 2018, I was one of the key organizers for Stephen Mandel (former Mayor of Edmonton)’s leadership campaign for the Alberta Party, Alberta.
In 2019, I ran as an Alberta Party candidate in Edmonton-Whitemud riding.
During the above-mentioned period (about a span of some 20 years), I have also helped with the organization, strategizing, recruiting, door-knocking, etc. of many candidates from federal Liberal and Conservative parties alike, and from provincial ones.
My own experience in terms of “foreign interference from China”.
I would like to mention that
I came from mainland China and can communicate well in Chinese Mandarin,
I was openly and actively promoting friendship, trade, and investment between Canada and China, and organized many such events and activities, including “West China Meets West Canada” trade and investment conference in 2001, which many federal and provincial ministers attended.
In the early 2000s, I was the first person from mainland China ever to run in Canada or in any western countries, which was new, interesting and perhaps enamoring to the Chinese.
In addition,
I was on relatively good terms with some Chinese diplomats in Alberta.
Because of the above-mentioned factors, particularly my heavy participation and prolonged involvement in Canadian elections and political activities, I should have presumably been an ideal target for the Chinese if they wanted to do anything to “interfere” through me.
However, in approximately 20 years from 2000 (my first election) to 2019 (my last election), the Chinese never interfered, or showed interested in interfering with the elections or election-associated activities I carried out or was involved with.
Hereby I solemnly state that the Chinese diplomats I knew or was in contact with, never tried, said and/or suggested to me anything relating to:
Provision of support or assistance in my elections, nomination campaigns, or other political activities.
Gathering of support or assistance from within Canada for my elections, nomination campaigns, or other political activities.
Gathering support or assistance from China or elsewhere for my elections, nomination campaigns, or other political activities.
Assistance by doing things negative or detrimental to my opponents, etc.
I can’t think or imagine any other possibilities associated with “Chinese interference” than the above. I am willing to attend and testify at any hearings held by your Commission pertaining to the subject, in open or closed sessions. And I have no objection if the CSIS wishes to co-host such hearings.
Why China is NOT interested in “interfering” with Canada’s internal affairs?
I understand the Canadian government and society, for decades, has been very much pre-occupied with the idea that China has been trying to find agents or whatnot in Canada to interfere with our elections or election-associated events and/or activities. However, my personal experiences in that regard in the last over 20 years, plus the following facts, have proven otherwise:
Over the last many decades, not a single case has been established pertaining to “Chinese interference” with Canadian elections.
Over the last many decades, China has never been found in a single case in planning, instigating, supporting or involved with any coup d’etat, subversion, or changing of government in another country.
Our southern neighbour, and our biggest and closest ally, has been alleging and accusing China of interfering with their elections. But like in Canada, no such evident cases have been found. Please refer to this link: https://thediplomat.com/2018/09/is-china-really-interfering-in-the-us-elections/
Being a Chinese Canadian scholar for over 50 years with good knowledge of Chinese history, philosophy, culture, and foreign policy, and a person now very much interested in researching in world’s geopolitics, I would like to share with our respectable Commission Members, the following thoughts with facts,
In 1954, the late Premier Zhou Enlai of China advanced the famous “Five Principles for Peaceful Co-existence” governing international relationship. They are: Respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, Mutual non-aggression, Mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, Equality, co-operation for mutual benefit, and Peaceful co-existence. The world has witnessed that China, and Chinese diplomats have been strictly abiding by these five principles.
Historically, China always regarded Canada as a friendly country, not a rival, less an enemy. This is because:
WWII saw China and Canada fought side-by-side against the Nazis and Japanese militarists.
During WWII, in the Chinese theatre, Dr. Norman Bethune, a Canadian, went over to support the Chinese in their heroic Resistance War against the invading Japanese. Dr. Bethune laid down his life treating Chinese soldiers in the battlefield and the late Chairman Mao Zedong of China wrote a famous essay “In Memory of Norman Bethune”, which millions of Chinese learned by heart. Since then, Dr. Bethune has been regarded by the Chinese as a martyr and even a saint for China, and by association Canada became a dear friend of China. Unfortunately, few Canadians know this and understand how much the Chinese cherish Canada and Canadians in their minds. I remember when I was heading for Canada in 1985, I was so excited that I was going to “Dr. Bethune’s hometown”! Here I would highly recommend that you respectable Commission Members read Chairman Mao’s article:
In the late 19th century, Canada was NOT among the eight western countries that launched and/or joined the invasion, killing, luting, and occupation of China, thus saving us from the list of imperialist invaders and bullies imposing the “Century of Humiliation” on the Chinese people.
Since establishing formal diplomatic relations in 1972, Canada and China enjoyed for over 46 years good and friendly relationship, until the end of 2018. The end of that year saw Canada, at the baton of the United States, arrested Meng Wanzhou for no reason.
Geo-politically or geo-economically, Canada is of minor or little strategic importance to China:
Located in a remote and cold corner over 10,000 km away, we have no border disputes or even potential issues of conflict in terms of national interests and geo-politics with China.
Although an ally with the US, which now regards China as an archrival and biggest contender for supremacy, we have small armed forces, no nuclear weapon, and post no threat to China.
The economies of Canada and China in fact complement each other. We need to know China’s manufacturing power is bigger than that of all the G7 countries combined. China supplies almost everything that we do not produce, and we can sell them almost everything we produce. Neither country is a competitor to the other. In terms of market, Southeast Asia, Europe, Latin America and even Africa are bigger or have greater potential than us. In aspects of trade, investment, science and technology, and even energy, China does not depend on us, or need little from us. So, for what reason, with what motive, should China negatively target Canada?
In its long history, China has always been self-sufficient and never an aggressive or imperialist power. As it is known to all, China has no history or records of subverting or interfering with other countries. Given Canada being neither imperialistically aggressive nor strategically challenging to China, why should China bother to interfere with Canada’s internal affairs?
Are we somewhat like Don Quixote, the aging knight in Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, who has totally lost touch with reality, and stubbornly charges and wields his spear at the “villainous” windmills?
Do we suffer from foreign interference?
When speaking on the subject of China, Dr. Kishore Mahbubani, former Singaporean ambassador to the UN, former President of UN Security Council, and renowned scholar on international geopolitics, said, “The West is an open society, but with a closed mind”. What Dr. Mahbabuni was saying is quite true. The western world has been long brain-washed, dispositioned and therefore very biased in looking at China. Canada is no exception.
I do think we have been having foreign interference, and very bad interference. But not from China.
Our respectable Commission Members perhaps could think about and try to answer my following questions:
Why did we send troops to Afghanistan to join a war that has been proven disastrous? We know that war has caused hundreds and thousands of lives and creating humanitarian crisis.
Which country has been, without even notifying our government, bluntly sending their destroyers into our Arctic waters, which area is disputed between Canada and that country? On the contrary and on the record, when China goes to the same area of ours to conduct scientific researches, they always apply to and get consent from Canada before going.
Under whose directions did we move, without thinking its consequences, to arrest Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou, thus drastically changing our relationship with China from a positive to a disaster? That stupid move has caused us billions of export and tourism dollars, billions of dollars of Chinese investment, thousands of Canadian jobs, and substantially made our telecommunication, electronics, and AI research and industrial capacity a ”laggard”, while Huawei has now become 10 times as strong. That also put our “two Michaels” in precarious situations. More embarrassingly, it was later revealed that the Chinese, in addition to their revenge, had good reasons to arrest the two Michaels (See a Global and Mail report: “A new twist in the two Michaels saga” .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnIDcIG_HU
Official documents from Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) show that, during the 10-year period of time between 2004 to 2014, the country that topped the list of the espionage cases against Canada was the United States, with “five Americans evicted for spying to obtain state secrets or spying that targeted intellectual property or corporate secrets”. (see The Star article “Canada turfed out more spies to the U.S. than elsewhere”, https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/canada-turfed-out-more-spies-to-the-u-s-than-elsewhere/article_47f12eac-6252-5f9e-a119-c358fa19ca4c.html. This revelation clearly and effectively contradicts the CSIS claim that China is Canada’s primary threat in terms of national security and democratic process.
Canadians should feel proud that Alberta, my province, boasts the fourth largest oil deposits in the world. As the province is geographically land-locked, we need to build a lot of pipelines to transport oil to other provinces, especially overseas. But for years the efforts of building pipelines via B.C. for overseas have been interfered with or rather, sabotaged because our southern neighbor wants the continuous flow of cheap oil to them, usually at half or so of the international prices. There are many news and reports about it, and you can read this: “U.S. foundations funding Canadian anti-pipeline protests…” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/anti-pipeline-american-funding-protest-conspiracy-theory-1.4987202. Most Canadian politicians have kept reticent about it because they are afraid of “repercussions” from our big brother.
So, have we been barking at the wrong tree?
Looking beyond
When dealing with international issues, we usually look up to Australia, a medium-sized Five-Eye country like us, for ideas. When asked about what Australia should react and act amongst the conflicting dynamics of the worlds’ two superpowers, Dr. Mahbubani jokingly quoted an Indian saying, “when two elephants fight, the grass suffers; when two elephants make love, the grass also suffers.” Apparently, Australia has conducted itself wisely towards China these two years.
I believe our respectable Commission Members are working in the best interests of Canada and us Canadians. But I also understand the initiation, drafting, discussions, etc. pertaining to Bill C-70 occur very much against the backdrop of much more intensified geo-political contentions between the two superpowers, of the rise of a new McCarthyism in North America, and the rise of anti-Asian racism these years.
Foreign relations may change often and drastically, but legislation pieces stay much longer and affect people. So please consider and weigh the different factors from a long-term point-of-view. Please keep in mind that we have two million Chinese Canadians and seven million Asian Canadians. You know how much the Chinese pioneers have suffered from discrimination but persevered to contribute to Canada in its formative and nation-making days, and how much we Chinese Canadians have continued to contribute to Canada today. Lessons need to be learned from history.
I would also like to ask you Commission Members to include, in your deliberations, the view of a bigger picture.
We have already made Russia an enemy, a major military and biggest nuclear power that has no historical nor present feuds with Canada. A few years ago, we started to make another enemy by provoking China. In addition to arresting Ms. Meng Wanzhou, we have been supporting riots in Hong Kong, which is a Special Administrative Region of China, sending our parliamentarians to the separatist Taiwan, which is an inseparable part of China according to the #2758 UN Resolution and the basis of Canada’s diplomatic relations with China established in 1972. And we have been sending warships to the Taiwan Strait…
We should be very worried about the future safety of our children and grand children, and of this piece of our very dear land.
Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Dai
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