Claws of the Panda: Beijing’s Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada

Canada’s long relationship with the People’s Republic of China — first based on missionary zeal, followed by diplomacy and trade — has been complicated in the last few decades as a result of covert efforts by Beijing to exert undue influence on Canadian government, educational institutions, and business. Canada has continued to misjudge the reality and potential of the relationship while the Chinese Communist Party has benefited from Canadian naiveté. As Beijing continues to exert its economic power throughout the world, and in Canada, the Canadian government needs to look closely at its ability to engage with this fully emerged superpower, one whose approach to human rights and the rules of law is incompatible with our own. Claws of the Panda details our history with China, chronicling the ways in which a foreign government has succeeded in infiltrating Canadian politics, academia, and media, in an attempt to use public policy and perception to their advantage, and this same foreign government’s continued monitoring and intimidation of Canadians of Chinese heritage to this day.