Chinese students in Canada say they are being targeted by Beijing’s fear campaign

Some Chinese students in Canada accuse Beijing of targeting them and their families in China with online threats and intimidation — part of a campaign to crack down on anti-government dissidents abroad.

Ruohui Yang is one of those students. He said he came to Canada in 2015, when he was 15 years old, because his parents wanted him to study abroad.

In Canada, he said, he began learning things about his home country — such as details about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre — that challenged the Chinese government’s version of events.

“In mainland China we have our own way of describing this event, this massacre. We just stated that this is not a massacre, not that many people were killed,” Yang told CBC. The house.

‘I’m starting to realize this [protest] The movement received the support of almost the entire country, even officers, police, some from the army, some from the government. And everyone was talking about freedom, democracy, a new start.

“I was really shocked that for someone like me, who grew up under the dictatorship of the Communist Party almost all my life, it’s hard to imagine that there was a time that was … so different and so hopeful.”

That hope, coupled with the example of the 2019 demonstrations in Hong Kong against a proposed extradition bill, inspired Yang to join pro-China democracy protests in Toronto. He also founded the Assembly of Citizens, a Canada-based pro-China democracy organization.

‘They call me a slave’

Yang said he initially hid his identity during the demonstration because he feared reprisals from China.

“I wore wigs, a mask and even stuffed my jacket to really make me look different,” he said.

Eventually he threw off the disguise and began showing his face during demonstrations. Then the death threats started.

‘I’m already receiving a lot of threats [messages]a lot of swear words and insults on my various social media accounts,” he said.

The persecution did not end there. He said his activism in Canada also caused his parents — who work for the Communist Party in China — to turn against him.

“She [were] “I’m really, really angry about my activities,” he said. ‘They call me a traitor. They call me a slave.”

Yang is one of a handful of dissidents who testified before a U.S. congressional committee hearing this summer on China’s human rights abuses, including the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.

“The national border cannot stop the Communist Party from spreading fear overseas,” Yang told US lawmakers.

About half a dozen other current and former Chinese students who studied in Canada shared similar stories with CBC News.

‘Fred’ is another member of the Assembly of Citizens. CBC is keeping his real name secret because he fears reprisals against his family in China.

“I’ve been bullied and spammed by people trying to threaten my friends,” he said.

“They say I must die. I am a traitor to the Chinese nation, I am the traitor to the Han people.”

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Both pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and those in China who want the protests to end have deployed advanced technological methods to spread their messages.

“Zion,” a recent Concordia University graduate – whose real name is also being withheld by CBC News – also shared The house that he believes his social media chat group has been infiltrated by Chinese police.

“There was a time when I was contacted by a new member who asked where I live, what I think about the independence movement of Ganzhou, my hometown,” Zion said.

He said he traced the number to a police officer in Ganzhou. After confronting the mystery user, they said they deleted their account.

China wants foreign students to ‘keep silent’: report

In May, Amnesty International published a report about the experiences of Chinese dissidents abroad. According to the report, many Chinese international students studying at foreign universities live in a climate of fear.

“They feel forced to self-censor and limit their social and academic activities and relationships or risk repercussions from the Chinese state,” the report said.

“This atmosphere is the result of the Chinese government’s efforts to ensure that the country’s foreign students remain silent and do not engage in political issues that the government perceives as sensitive.”

An organization called the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) operates on college campuses across the country.

A 2019 report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) quotes the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) describing the CSSA as “an important support mechanism for international students studying abroad [that provides] a social and professional network for students.”

But the NSICOP report also noted growing public concern about the relationship between the CSSA and the Chinese government’s embassies and consulates.

“CSSA conduct may also threaten freedom of expression and assembly,” the NSICOP report said, citing previous reports of individuals disrupting campus events.

In one incident, a student council election at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus was disrupted. In another case, a speech by an activist critical of the Chinese government’s treatment of Uighurs was disrupted at McMaster University.

McMaster’s student association later stripped the CCSA of its official club status due to alleged ties to the Chinese consulate.

In both cases, the Chinese embassy denied any involvement.

Embassy calls accusations ‘slander’

In a statement to CBC News, the Chinese Embassy dismissed as “pure slander” claims that CSSA groups are being used to further the government’s political objectives and that Beijing is harassing the families of foreign students at home and slander’.

The embassy said Chinese students studying in Canada formed the CSSA to help each other.

“The Chinese embassy and consulates in Canada are obliged to provide appropriate consular protection services to overseas Chinese citizens, including students and scholars, in accordance with the law, and urge Canadian governments, universities, colleges and schools to protect their personal protect security and legitimate rights. and interests during their stay in Canada,” said an embassy spokesperson.

“What the embassy did was beyond expectations and impeccable.”

Parliament this summer accelerated legislation aimed at combating foreign interference through criminal sanctions for deceptive or collusive acts and a new transparency register for foreign influence.

‘It is our duty’

A former national security analyst says current Canadian law can only do so much to protect Chinese students from this harassment.

“When it comes to some kind of pressure on students, Canada doesn’t have a lot of foreign interference laws that are able to deal with these things,” said Dennis Molinaro, who now teaches intelligence history at Ontario Tech University.

“How do you stop China from doing things like putting pressure on people’s families or taking it out on someone’s family because of what they’re doing here? That is something that Canada clearly has very little ability to change or influence, at least on its own.”

Despite the threats and fear they feel for their families in China, Fred and the other members of the Assembly of Citizens said they are determined to continue fighting for political reform.

‘It is our duty. Lots of people [of] Our time in China has been suffering and sacrifice,” he said.

“Even if we can’t see this, we can’t see democracy blossoming in the country of China. We hope we can at least plant the seed.”