How does a critic of China know when they’re being effective? Answer: When the Chinese state organizes online campaigns against you to try to destroy your credibility.
In March, I appeared as a witness at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology to testify about Chinese electric vehicles. I spoke about the risk that its industry uses aluminum processed by forced labour of the Uyghur people, as documented by Human Rights Watch.
At the committee, Liberal MP Michael Ma asked aggressive questions that appeared aimed at undermining my expertise. He later apologized on X.
But Chinese state media such as Tianshan Net, the sole state news network in Xinjiang, portrayed Mr. Ma as a hero for taking on a critic of China, and me as a zero. From March to May, each of these posts generated thousands of comments from everyday Chinese people. Similar messaging appeared on the Chinese platforms WeChat and Weibo, and then in Canada, via WeChat.
Many comments mimicked the state’s messaging. But many others agreed I was right, saying that there is forced labour across China, with some referring to their own experiences. “How can I testify on behalf of this righteous woman?” one said. Others reached out through e-mail to thank me for speaking up about forced labour and offer evidence, which I’ve passed on to the non-profit China Labor Watch.
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Just when I thought these events had played out, I was contacted by the Office of the National Counter Foreign Interference Coordinator about another campaign against me. It was identified by the Rapid Response Mechanism, a team at Global Affairs Canada established to monitor Canadian elections for foreign interference, whose purview has expanded to identify attempts at transnational repression more broadly across Canadian society. According to the Hogue Commission, China targets diaspora communities and is “the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions.”
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In targeting me by name, they might have added that I had been a friend of China for 40 years, helped develop their research regime, and had been vice president of the Canada-China Friendship Society in Ottawa. But China has changed dramatically under Xi Jinping, and those of us with strong values refuse to be silenced by disinformation campaigns.
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We can expect more of these attempts at silencing. China’s new Ethnic Unity Law was signed into law in March; that policy contributes to the reported “re-education” and “integration” of children as young as three to destroy Uyghur, Tibetan and Southern Mongolian cultures and languages. Article 63 is a provision declaring that those outside China deemed to have undermined “ethnic unity and progress” will be “pursued for legal responsibility.” It’s not clear how Beijing would enforce this abroad.
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Perhaps the Chinese government thought Canadians would meekly stand down when it sanctioned 20 of us by name in December, 2024, for speaking out about Uyghur and Tibetan repression. Sanctions mean we can’t visit China, but I would not visit a country that has kidnapped innocent Canadians and conducted what Canada’s Parliament has called a Uyghur genocide. Sanctions also mean that I’m no longer able to collaborate with my friends in China; I have cut ties for their protection. They will have seen the online posts about me, but they know that I’m describing an injustice about which they must be silent, or risk detention.
So no: Chinese state-backed campaigns won’t silence us. They only demonstrate that we’re having an impact – and that’s great motivation to speak out even louder.