A B.C. MP met with Canadian national security officials on Tuesday to talk about potential foreign interference.
There is little information about why Vancouver East, NDP MP Jenny Kwan is on the Chinese government’s radar only that she is a focus, which spurred a meeting with Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) officials.
“I am on their radar, on the Chinese government’s radar. But exactly what that means, I don’t know,” she told Global News.
Kwan said the spy agency discussed limited details with her on Tuesday, under the direction of the Prime Minister’s office.
And according to a Friday report by the Globe and Mail, she’s one of two MPs being contacted.
The other is former conservative leader Erin O’Toole.
This comes on the heels of the recent expulsion of a Chinese diplomat.
A government source told Global News Zhao Wei departed Canada on Friday. Wei is accused of targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong.
The accusations stem from a newly surfaced CSIS report from 2021, stating the intimidation campaign resulted from Chong’s criticism of China’s human rights record.
“This was a decision we took seriously and we took careful consideration in order to do the right thing and expel the Chinese diplomat,’ Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on May 9.
Kwan said she doesn’t have family in Hong Kong or China and she wonders how much her activism played a role.
“Given my outspokenness on a variety of the issues around human rights… it definitely appears that I am a person of interest,” Kwan said.
And while she is concerned, she also questions how many others were targeted.
“I’m very worried about people in the community who are not elected officials,” Kwan told Global News.
Kwan is renewing her party’s call for a public inquiry into the alleged Chinese foreign interference.
She said a more secure in-person briefing with CSIS is planned soon.
Comments