Last week, a number of prominent politicians from British Columbia joined Chinese Communist Party CCP officials during a celebration of China’s takeover of Hong Kong.
Richmond News reports that on June 23, the anniversary of the founding of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The event was hosted by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office.
VIP attendees included Tong Xiaoling, former Conservative MP Alice Wong, Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, and Jeff Nankivell, the CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation.
The event was met with protestors who gathered outside holding signs to denounce the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
“Given the huge influence of Hong Kong immigrants, or those who came by way of the Hong Kong pathway, seeking refuge here in Canada to start a new life in the past two or three years, I think we cannot allow ourselves to just be so naive, or just be so wilfully blind to just look at the invitation as no harm and it’s just standard practice,” said Fenella Sung of Vancouverites Concerned about Hong Kong.
“I would say the celebration of the handover, at this particular point in time, in Canada, it cannot be called or seen as an equivalent of a multicultural event representing the Hong Kong or Chinese community in Richmond,” said Sung.
“When people attend those events, you are not just being polite, you are encouraging and fostering the relationship with that foreign power. You’re like not cultivating a relationship with your electorate or community. You are fostering and building relationship with that foreign power with their representatives there.”
In 2020, Chinese authorities quickly moved into Hong Kong and introduced a National Security Law which gives the communist government sweeping powers to deport and arrest dissidents within Hong Kong.
For weeks the law was met with rolling dynamic protests and demonstrations. Critics say this crackdown effectively ended the “one country two systems” agreement in place in Hong Kong since 1997 and should be upheld until 2047.
Public officials should be weary of foreign interference from nations like China, the Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Services David Vigneault cautioned in a speech to the University of British Columbia last month.
