U.S. politicians want to hear from MP Michael Chong on threats from China
CBC
MP Michael Chong is about to appear in a unique locale for an Opposition politician: a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.
American lawmakers studying foreign interference by China have taken an interest in Chong's case and invited him to testify. He has agreed to appear before the congressional-executive commission on China on Sept. 12.
Members of the commission reached out to the Ontario Conservative after reading media reports about his family being targeted by Beijing.
"It's not an everyday occurrence," Chong said of his upcoming testimony.
"The message I want to bring is that transnational repression by authoritarian states like [China] is taking place in Canada, as it is in other democracies; that it's not just affecting individuals like me, but hundreds, if not thousands of Canadians across the country who suffer in silence, whose cases are not front-page news," he told CBC News.
"[I'll testify] that we have to work more closely together as like-minded democracies," against this, he said.
Chong says he has received threats related to his criticism of the authoritarian government in Beijing, in particular of its abuses against minority Uyghurs.
In addition, Chinese efforts to gather information on Chong's overseas relatives have resulted in an RCMP investigation and Canada's expulsion of a Chinese diplomat.
These are the sorts of issues being examined by the U.S. commission, which is pushing for new policies to combat cross-border coercion by Chinese officials.
"In addition to egregious human rights abuses within China's borders, Chinese authorities increasingly reached into other countries to silence critics and enhance control," the commission wrote in its latest annual report.
Chong's case caught the group's attention this past spring.
At the time, Chong expressed frustration that he was never told about a 2021 intelligence assessment that flagged risks to his family in China.
That news was first reported by the Globe and Mail in May. The next day, the details were shared with Chong by the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
American political interest was piqued by U.S. media coverage, which reported on Chinese government efforts against certain Canadian politicians, including Chong and former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu.
The Rachel Notley government's consumer carbon tax wound up becoming a weapon the UCP wielded to drum the Alberta NDP out of office. But that levy-and-repayment program, and the wide-ranging "climate leadership plan" around it, also stood as the NDP's boldest, provincial-reputation-altering move in their single-term tenure.