A classified Canadian intelligence report from June 2019 reveals shocking allegations about China’s strategic interference in the 2019 federal election to influence the extradition case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
The “Canadian Eyes Only” report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), obtained exclusively by The Bureau, says that China’s Ministry of State Security carefully calibrated its support for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party in the 2019 election.
The goal was to exert pressure on Canadian political leadership regarding Meng’s potential extradition to the United States.
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According to the report, while Beijing provided clandestine backing to Trudeau based on “multiple corroborated reports” from Chinese missions in Canada, it also “hedged its bets” by supporting some non-Liberal candidates. This was part of a strategy to “maximize influence” on the Meng proceedings.
The CSIS document reveals several other critical pieces of intelligence that have not been examined by the ongoing Commission investigating foreign election interference. This includes assessments that the Ministry of State Security was tasked “from high levels” to make the “largest possible impact” in 2019, and that Chinese agents targeted politically connected Canadian businesses with trade action to influence senior leaders.
Related: CSIS Report Identifies More Chinese Interference
Shockingly, the report indicates Beijing expected Canada would eventually extradite Meng, but the Ministry nevertheless launched a “multi-faceted pressure campaign” involving the two Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor detained in China. It even suggests Chinese authorities may have contemplated assassinating or extracting Meng if all other options failed to avoid “significant national harm.”
The Commission’s Interim Report is due next week, May 3rd. It has so far not commented on whether it has reviewed this CSIS document detailing Beijing’s motives and tactics regarding Meng and the 2019 election. Former diplomat Charles Burton called the document a “game-changer” showing CSIS’s sophisticated intelligence on China’s state security operations in Canada.
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