Ottawa Protest organizer previously met with United Front official in China
One of the directors of an organization that recently held a protest in Ottawa previously met with an official from China’s leading agency responsible for foreign influence, the United Front Work Department (UFWD). The main organizers of the protest have gathered some people in local Chinese-Canadian communities to oppose the proposed creation of a registry for foreign agents in Canada.
The group behind the June 24 protest on Parliament Hill, the Commission on the 100th Anniversary of China’s Exclusion Lawis a federally incorporated non-profit founded on May 1.
A day earlier, Zhang Jian, one of the directors, had attended a meeting of the Council of Newcomers Organizations where he encouraged the Chinese community to participate in the June 24 rally. He also lived one Zoom meeting on May 10, titled in Chinese: “From the 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act to the e-4395 petition,” promoting the parliamentary petition (e-4395) opposing Canada’s proposed registration of foreign agents.
The “Chinese Exclusion Act”, officially called the Chinese Immigration Act, led to the ban on Chinese immigrants at the time.
Zhang’s close contacts with UFWD-affiliated organizations are apparent in several reports from Chinese state media.
According to a June 9, 2020 document, the UFWD is the regime’s main tool for foreign interference. study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Public Safety Canada quoted the study, which states that “Beijing uses the UFWD to suppress criticism, infiltrate foreign political parties, diaspora communities, universities and multinational corporations.”
Informed about United Front Work
In the media reports, Zhang is often mentioned as the president of the Xuzhou Association of Canada (XAC). The association was founded in April 2019 with Zhang as founding chairman.
On October 11, 2019, Zhang traveled to China to meet with Wu Binaccording to the then-executive deputy minister of the Xuzhou Municipal Committee of the UFWD an article posted on WeChat by Xuzhou Municipal UFWD.
The Epoch Times reached out to Zhang for comment, but did not hear back.
Promotion of the Communist Party
Shortly after Zhang’s meeting with Wu in China, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Zhang quickly organized one large-scale campaign to send Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from Canada to China.
In what appears to be a cell phone screenshot, the XAC urged Chinese diasporas in Canada to donate to Xuzhou via e-mail to the organization’s Royal Bank of Canada account. The screenshot was included in an article posted on WeChat by the Xuzhou Municipal Department Jiangsu Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (JFROC).
The JFROC, in turn, is the county-level division of the national All-Chinese Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC), whose charter says that the ACFROC is committed to promoting the ideologies and image of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) abroad.
The ACFROC is a UFWD agency, according to ASPI’s 2020 study.
In March 2020, Zhang co-founded a “pandemic prevention group abroad” with the provincial JFROCs support. In a video posted on WeChat, Zhang praised the CCP and said, “Under the leadership of the party and the government, we will certainly be able to overcome this epidemic and restore our peaceful life.”
Opposition to the Register of Foreign Agents
Sen Victor Oh worked with Zhang’s Commission on the 100th Anniversary of China’s Exclusion Law to organize the June 24 protest on Parliament Hill. The organizers also took the opportunity to promote opposition to a registry of foreign agents in Canada.
Oh told the audience at an event in Montreal on June 12 that he views the proposed foreign registration law as a “disguised Chinese exclusion law” and said it would be used to oppress Chinese-Canadians. He urged those present to sign the e-4395 petition to oppose the registration.
Shortly after The Epoch Times published a report about some residents of Toronto’s Chinese community being offered a free bus ride and a $15 “lunch grant” to participate in the Ottawa protest, organizers issued instructions to participants and asked them to say they would. Don’t support or sign the petition.
The protest saw a group of demonstrators, who appear to be elderly, parade in military style on Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill. The Chinese army’s military anthem, “March of the People’s Liberation Army”, played in the background.
The proposed register of foreign agents aims to increase transparency for those working in Canada to represent the interests of a foreign entity. In February 2022, Senator Leo Housakos proposed Bill S-237, legislation that would establish a registry of foreign influences in Canada. The bill is currently in second reading in the Senate. However, it receives no government support. A similar account C-282was introduced to the House in April 2021 by former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu.
Chiu told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview that neither his nor Housakos’ proposed legislation mentions “China” or “Chinese,” since a register of foreign influence is not intended to target specific countries, but to prevent meddling by all authoritarians. regimes comprehensively.
Chinese consulate
In addition to his positions with the XAC and the organization that orchestrated the Ottawa protest, Zhang also serves as chairman of the Canadian Association of Chinese Performing Arts (CACPA), a group that says it aims to promote Chinese culture.
Since 2018, CACPA organizes the annual Toronto Dragon Festivala cultural event in downtown Toronto.
At the 2019 Festival, the Chinese Consul General in Toronto, Han Tao, gave a speech at the grand opening. Several other Chinese diplomats were in attendance, including Vice Consul General Zhuang Yaodong and Consul for Overseas Chinese Affairs Yang Baohua. In particular, Zhuang reportedly “Handled security files from the Toronto Consulate” said a report from Globe and Mail in February.
A few days after the festival, Zhang and his team were invited to Han’s official residence for an appreciation ceremony.
In 2022 it was Toronto Dragon Festival praised as “a bright and beautiful business card that showcases Chinese culture” in an article on Qiaowang, a website maintained by the Chinese regime’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO).
The OCA is part of the UFWD, according to a 2019 article published by the Jamestown Foundation on the “growing role of the CCP’s United Front Work.” The office is said to be engaged in espionage activities “contrary to Canada’s interests,” declared a January 2022 federal court pronunciation.
The Dragon Festival’s WeChat channel has posted a number of articles promoting the Ottawa protest and the e-4395 petition against the foreign agent registry. The party is partially funded by the federal government, according to its website.
