(NewsSpace.com) – There’s been a lot of concern that foreign actors have tried to influence election outcomes in other countries. China and Russia are the two nations that frequently come up in this respect. Now, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has admitted that China has tried to interfere in not one, but two elections.
Last year, amid pressure from opposition legislators, Trudeau set up a commission to conduct a public inquiry into whether there was foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections. Reports surfaced alleging that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) indicated Beijing was backing efforts to influence election outcomes. Of particular note, the CSIS was concerned that China backed Trudeau’s Liberal Party. The CSIS summary, which was made public, also indicated that Russia and India may have tried to interfere as well, a claim that all governments deny.
Trudeau testified before the committee on Wednesday, April 10, and said there were “attempts by foreign states to interfere,” but that they had been unsuccessful. The elections, he said, “were decided by Canadians.” He admitted that most of the focus of the summary was on Han Dong, a liberal lawmaker who was accused of being “part of a Chinese foreign interference network.” He denied the allegations but also resigned from the party. At the time of the 2019 election, Trudeau didn’t feel he had “sufficiently credible information” to remove Dong as a candidate.
The CSIS had stronger words during the testimony, saying there was evidence that China “clandestinely and deceptively interfered.”
Naturally, China made it clear that it condemned the statements. A spokesperson for Canada’s Chinese embassy accused Trudeau of slandering the Asian nation with no evidence to back up his statements. They said that the country has “never had any interest” when it comes to “interfering in Canada’s internal affairs.”
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