Han Dong's Communist Ties - Part One
Despite disputing allegations that he accepted assistance during federal elections from a "foreign country," all evidence points to the contrary. Did China contribute to the rise of Liberal Han Dong?
"I was not offered, I was not told, I was not informed, nor would I accept any help from a foreign country, whether during my nomination or during my election campaign," the former Liberal MP stated in response to allegations of being a witting participant in foreign interference when they first surfaced back in March.
As a much-anticipated public inquiry into foreign influence gets underway, Han Dong (董晗鵬), now sitting as an independent after stepping down from the Liberal caucus, will be a key player in the probe. Granted party standing, which means he has the ability to question witnesses and access all available evidence presented to the inquiry, the man who is at the centre of serious allegations of foreign interference will now somehow - bizarrely - have more powers in the inquiry than the Conservative Party of Canada. The Conservatives, undoubtedly the main targets of election interference during the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, were meanwhile granted a lower intervenor status in the inquiry, meaning they can only make submissions and access evidence submitted and available to the public.
How many ridings were lost by the Conservatives as a direct result of foreign interference during the last two elections is difficult to pinpoint precisely; at least thirteen were believed to have been targeted by the Chinese Communist Party in the last federal election. There are indications that several ridings were flipped due to foreign influence; that much was boasted about by the former Consul-General in Vancouver, Tong Xiaoling. The two Liberal candidates reportedly benefitting from China’s intervention were identified as Parm Bains and Wilson Miao. The former defeated Conservative Kenny Chiu, who had tabled a bill to introduce foreign agent legislation - something Canada, unlike our allies, lacks. It’s hardly surprising that Chiu found himself in Beijing’s crosshairs. The legislation died with his political career, and Liberal representatives are still inexcusably heel-dragging reintroducing it, despite calls from national security advisors to do so “as soon as possible”.
Did the Chinese government or its proxies also contribute to the rise of Han Dong?
Many are aware at this point that one of Han Dong’s chief 2019 campaign running mates, Wei Chengyi (魏成义), has intimate ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its diplomats - both overseas and at home in Canada. Indeed, Chengyi hasn’t denied his close relationship with the Chinese consulate in Toronto, although he did make a number of false statements and misrepresented his ongoing relations with China’s top diplomats in Canada - particularly with Consul General Han Tao.
In a 2015 interview with the Asian Pacific Post, Chengyi, the honorary chairman of the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO), claimed that his organization was not affiliated with any one political party and “neither am I a supporter of any. However, I’m very happy to see Chinese candidates running for office and working for our country.” Yet the CTCCO - a sort of unofficial third party lobby for the CCP in Canada - has been praised and promoted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and is notorious for throwing its weight and support at the federal level behind largely Liberal Party political candidates.
Earlier meetings demonstrate that claims of the organization’s political neutrality may not be true, and that Han Dong, then a member of the provincial Ontario Liberal Party, was already in the sights of the Beijing-friendly group, and a target for China from the start.
Chengyi is also the permanent honorary chairman of the Canada Toronto Fuqing Business Association (CTFQBA), which has come under intense public scrutiny since being named in a report on transnational repression by the non-governmental organization Safeguard Defenders. The business address of the CTFQBA matches that of a location named in the report as being an “overseas Chinese police station.” While the stations were said to have been closed and under Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigation, and the site appears to be deserted, there is evidence that the association is still very much alive and operating, as demonstrated by recent appearances by its members at a well-coordinated protest against a foreign agent registry this summer.
It’s difficult to pinpoint just when Chengyi entered the Canadian political scene. An article indicates that he was already active in high-level circles as early as 2010.
The contents detail the formation of the Canadian Confederation of Fujian Associations (加拿大福建社团联合总会). Formed in 2010 from the amalgamation of 18 separate Chinese associations according to its website, at a meeting with 40 different representatives, the CFFA was born, and its governance structure would be put into place. Unsurprisingly, many of the attendees would be linked to foreign influence operations down the road over a decade later in leaked national security documents.
Chengyi, the man who would later throw his support behind Liberal nominee Han Dong, was present at that 2010 gathering, and was voted to become the honorary permanent chairman of the organization. Weng Guoning, a second Chinese businessman identified in the news as a potential foreign influence actor, was another overseas leader who attended. Both are involved heavily with the CTCCO and the CTFQBA, and were interviewed by Global News following allegations that they were involved in interference networks that plagued the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Both denied the allegations.
In response to the Global News report by investigative journalist Sam Cooper titled “Toronto businessman allegedly focus of Chinese interference probes,” Chengyi responded that his “relationship with the Chinese Consulate in Toronto is open;” that the accusations were “hogwash;” and that he had had no contact with Consul-General Han Tao “since mid-2018.”
Cooper was sued by Dong for defamation after disclosing the contents of leaked national security documents; he left Global News soon after releasing bombshell reports that helped to initiate the foreign interference inquiry now in motion, and currently continues his work independently at a newly formed outlet dubbed “The Bureau.”
These assertions by Chengyi are untrue. His close relationship with high-ranking Chinese diplomats is not open, and he has obscured the reality surrounding meetings with Tao that occurred well after he claims they ended.
Extensive interactions have occurred between the businessman and the Consul-General since mid-2018, which were listed in detail in a piece written by Found in Translation. The author stated the undeniable fact that “a simple search on the Chinese internet can easily prove this [Chengyi’s claim] is a lie.” Over a dozen more meetings between Chengyi and Tao are logged in the article, making Chengyi’s statements outright false. He was a key player in the rise of Han Dong, which makes his fabrications all the more concerning.
Unsurprisingly, support for Dong’s 2013 nomination to the Liberal Party in the Chinese-Canadian community, backed by political powerhouse and Liberal MPP Michael Chan (陈国治), was broad from the start. Dong had worked on Chan’s own provincial campaign prior to running as a candidate himself, so the two were familiar with each other and together ran a very successful operation. An early fundraiser in 2013 shows Dong with Chan at an event attended by nearly 500 supporters. The community was eager for representation, and Dong - a mainland native from Shanghai - was wildly popular. The riding he was running in, Trinity-Spadina, encompasses Chinatown in Toronto. A tight knit community that was already familiar with Chan, he won over the inhabitants with ease, and was destined for office, it seems.
China News Service (中国新闻社) - the second largest state-controlled media outlet in China which was operated at the time by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO) - oddly reported on Han Dong’s nomination win, stating that many had “lined up in long lines to vote.” CNS was absorbed into the Central Committee’s United Front Work Department (中共中央统一战线工作部) in 2018, and was designated as a foreign mission in the United States in 2020. Rather fascinating to note that some of the CCP’s largest state media entities would follow a mere provincial nomination race so closely.
Something important was also buried within the CNS article. The article reported that scores of people who had lined up to cast their vote for Han Dong during the nomination race that day were turned away - sometimes multiple times - because they lacked the proper identification.
Who has the foreknowledge of a nomination race and takes the time and effort to go and vote, but fails to bring any identification with them?
After securing the Liberal appointment, Dong then - as a rookie - easily crushed the New Democratic Party (NDP) incumbent in the 2014 provincial general election who had held the Toronto riding since it was originally formed in 1999. “A newcomer has defeated a giant,” read one Toronto Star story. It wasn’t even a close race.
By the end of that year, Dong was meeting in an official capacity with high-ranking Chinese diplomats and OCAO representatives.
To be continued….
The current iteration of an “Inquiry” is a cooked and crooked as the first. How in hell do the Liberals get away with their perpetual corrupt dealings? They seem to get worse with time, and they were bad enough before.
Thank you Andy!