A China analyst says Beijing primarily uses three types of media outlets to exert influence overseas and extend control over the Chinese diaspora. He also raised concerns about repeated meetings between Chinese diplomats in Canada and some media outlets that consistently portray the communist regime in a favourable light in their news reporting.
Victor Ho, former chief editor of Sing Tao Daily, delineated the three categories of media: overseas branches of Chinese state media, outlets originally from Hong Kong that have succumbed to Beijing’s influence, and overseas media created by Beijing-aligned Chinese groups.
“Bringing media leaders and representatives to the consulate signifies that [the meeting is taking place in] an area under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) control,” Mr. Ho said in an interview.
“When the CCP invites [media representatives] to ‘exchange views’ or ’have discussions’ within its consulate, since the location is considered China’s and CCP territory, this indicates intention to influence these outlets, using them to disseminate information that the CCP desires. Consequently, this contributes to the CCP’s infiltration and intervention in Canadian media.”
Mr. Ho cited a Dec. 15, 2022, event as an example, where Yang Shu, the Chinese consul general in Vancouver, invited representatives from various Chinese-language media to his official residence. Photos show the words “press conference” in Chinese displayed on a screen behind Mr. Yang.
During the event, Mr. Yang denied allegations of Beijing’s interference in Canada, saying they were “completely fabricated and nonsense” and calling on “the Canadian side to stop chasing rumours, slandering and smearing China, and stop deceiving and misleading the public,” reported Dawa News.
At the time, news reports of covert Chinese police stations operating on Canadian soil were dominating headlines. This was among other allegations such as CCP interference in Canadian federal elections.
Mr. Yang also addressed Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, unveiled in November 2022, which labelled China as an “increasingly disruptive global power.“ He said Canada was unfairly tarnishing China’s image by exaggerating the so-called ”China threat.“ He further criticized Canada for trying to ”sow discord between the Chinese leadership and its populace” by raising issues about Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and human rights, Dawa News reported.
Several of the media outlets subsequently reported on the event by mainly conveying the consul general’s remarks without providing other voices and viewpoints on the issues.
An article by Ming Sheng Bao, a subsidiary of Ming Pao in Canada, used a headline that roughly translated as “the Chinese consul general in Vancouver says Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy stems from a misunderstanding of China’s direction in modernization.”
Just as that article presented Mr. Yang’s statements without including any remarks from the Canadian government, Sing Tao Daily similarly echoed the consul general’s criticism of Canada without giving a counterbalancing perspective from the Canadian side.
In addition to Dawa News, media outlets invited to the December 2022 press conference included Chinese state media Phoenix TV as well as Ming Pao and Sing Tao Daily, according to a post-event press release issued by the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver.
Mr. Ho said a commonality among these media outlets is their non-oppositional stance toward Beijing. In contrast, he said outlets like The Epoch Times and its affiliate NTD Television, which have consistently reported on Beijing’s human rights violations and other misconduct, weren’t invited to the event.
Meetings With the Press
Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu, along with consuls general from Chinese consulates, have held multiple “exchange meetings” with media personnel largely from overseas branches of Chinese state media and from local Beijing-aligned media outlets.
On Nov. 2, 2022, following the CCP’s 20th National Congress that took place Oct. 16 to 22, Mr. Cong met with representatives from nine well-known Chinese-language media outlets in Canada at a media symposium. The ambassador “introduced the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in his opening speech,” according to a Chinese Embassy press release.
The CCP’s National Congress is a key event that gathers top Party officials once every five years. Mr. Cong highlighted that the CCP “has an important message to convey internationally,” which emphasized Beijing’s official stance regarding its aspirations to play significant roles in global governance.
Mr. Cong held a similar press gathering via teleconference in January 2021. During this briefing, he praised the CCP’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and called on Canada to release Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who had been arrested in Canada due to a U.S. extradition request on fraud charges.
On Dec. 19, 2017, Tong Xiaoling, then the Chinese consul general in Vancouver, held a gathering for representatives from 17 media outlets, including Chinese state media outlets Xinhua News and Phoenix TV, as well as Ming Pao and Sing Tao Daily. At the meeting, she praised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to China earlier that month and briefed on the “profound impact and important significance” of the CCP National Congress on China and the world.
On July 14, 2016, days after an international arbitration tribunal rejected China’s extensive claims in the South China Sea, Liu Fei, then the Chinese consul general in Vancouver, met with 13 media outlets, including Xinhua News, Phoenix TV, Ming Pao, and Sing Tao Daily. Ms. Liu reiterated Beijing’s protest against the tribunal’s ruling and urged “the Chinese people to take action to express their views reasonably, advantageously, and judiciously.”
The U.S Justice Department in 2021 compelled Sing Tao’s U.S. subsidiary to register as a foreign agent. Two other Chinese state media, Xinhua News Agency and China Global Television Network, were ordered to register their U.S. operations as agents of a foreign authority in 2018.
Journalist Victor Ho in Richmond, B.C., on Aug. 24, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)
Mr. Ho said media outlets invited to such events by Chinese diplomatic missions often face pressure to convey Beijing’s narrative, or to “tell China’s story well.” This phrase is in reference to a CCP overseas propaganda slogan aimed at enhancing the regime’s global image and advocating its political objectives on an international scale.
“Instead of offering a balanced alternative to the CCP’s propaganda content, [these media outlets] tend to amplify promotion of this content,” Mr. Ho said. “Therefore, these so-called exchanges and discussions only serve the purpose of advancing the CCP’s agenda.”
Conversely, if an invited media outlet fails to meet the CCP’s expectations, it won’t be invited to future events, and the outlet will also become a target of the CCP, he said.
Extending CCP ‘Brainwashing’ Overseas
Mr. Ho said those three types of Chinese-language media influenced by the CCP have played a notable role in facilitating the spread of the regime’s “propaganda of indoctrination.”
This influence is particularly pronounced among individuals who lack strong proficiency in languages other than Mandarin, he said. Their reliance on Chinese-developed social media platforms overseen by the CCP, like WeChat and Weibo, further amplifies this influence.
“Many overseas Chinese, including older generations and even immigrants from mainland China, subscribe to the same content from media sources that closely adhere to the CCP’s external propaganda framework,” Mr. Ho said. “Consequently, successive generations are influenced by the narrative.”
In this way, the CCP has successfully ensured that Chinese living overseas “receive the same news and undergo the same political brainwashing as individuals within mainland China.” This longtime practice has contributed to dampening criticism against the CCP, he said.
Mr. Ho urges Canada to adopt measures similar to those in the United States, which require subsidiaries of pro-Beijing media organizations to register as foreign agents. He emphasized that such a registry would help ensure such media outlets are clearly identified.
Canada has in recent months been engaged in discussions about the potential establishment of a foreign influence transparency registry, while certain Canadian-based Chinese groups historically aligned with Beijing have opposed this proposal. Some have cited racial discrimination, while others have connected this legislation with Canada’s defunct 1923 Chinese Immigration Act, which banned virtually all Chinese immigrants for 24 years.
Mr. Ho dismissed these arguments as “absurd and nonsensical.”
“With a foreign agent registry, exposing [the true intentions of] certain media outlets would become much easier. While these outlets may appear to be providing Chinese-language news coverage, in reality they are serving the CCP’s interests,” he said.
“A foreign agent registry would expose both their claims and their underlying motivations, thus informing the public, especially the Chinese community. It would be possible to know whether an outlet is actually independent media or one promoting CCP propaganda.”
Five Target Groups
Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese diplomat in Australia who defected in 2005, during a prior visit to Canada disclosed the CCP’s strategies for exerting influence over Chinese-language media abroad. He said their primary objective was to discredit and intimidate members of five specific groups: Tibetan exiles, Taiwanese, Uyghur Muslims, democracy activists, and most of all, adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual practice.
The CCP has pursued a relentless persecution against Falun Gong adherents since July 1999. Mr. Chen, as first secretary of the Chinese Consulate in Sydney before his defection, was a member of the consulate’s Special Anti-Falun Gong Working Group. This group comprised the heads of various departments at the consulate, including the consul general.
Citing minutes of a meeting of the group, Mr. Chen described the specifics of its “anti-Falun Gong activities.” One involved a local Chinese-language newspaper that was reprimanded for publishing a Falun Gong advertisement. According to the minutes provided to The Epoch Times at the time, the editor-in-chief and general manager of the Australian Chinese Daily promised not to print any Falun Gong articles or ads again and instead print anti-Falun Gong articles “recommended” by the consulate.
Collaborations
The Epoch Times also previously reported on cases in which some Chinese-language newspapers in Canada were alleged to have been pressured to take actions in line with Beijing’s interests.
In 2015, Toronto-based Chinese Canadian Post, known at the time for distributing an insert from CCP official mouthpiece the People’s Daily, fired its chief editor, Helen Wang.
This occurred after Ms. Wang published an article that criticized Michael Chan, an Ontario cabinet minister from 2007 to 2018, who had been the subject of a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warning to the Ontario government in 2010 for his close connections with the Chinese Consulate in Toronto, according to the Globe and Mail. Mr. Chan, who has not responded to requests for comment by The Epoch Times, has launched a lawsuit against the Globe for their reporting.
At the time, Ms. Wang said her boss told her the article drew complaints, including from the Chinese Consulate and the paper’s proprietor, Wei Chengyi.Mr. Wei was then president of the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO), a group that often takes positions aligned with Beijing. Mr. Wei has not responded to Epoch Times requests for comment.
While Ms. Wang said the newspaper fired her due to pressure from the Chinese Consulate after she ran the article critical of Mr. Chan, the Chinese Canadian Post published a statement saying it denied her allegations that it was under the consulate’s political influence.
Mr. Wei was later the subject of two separate CSIS investigations involving foreign interference, Global News reported in November 2022.
Similar to the Chinese Canadian Post, which contained an insert from Chinese state media, the Toronto edition of Ming Pao also at one time printed content from Guangzhou Daily, the official newspaper of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee (GMC) of the CCP. According to an April 2005 news article posted on Chinese social media platform Sina.com, the two papers had made an agreement to establish a North American special edition. The Epoch Times has not independently confirmed if these collaborations remain ongoing.
The Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based defence policy think tank, had years ago warned about China’s attempts to control Chinese media in the United States. In a China Brief published in November 2001, the organization specifically mentioned four major Chinese newspapers of concern: Sing Tao Daily, Ming Pao Daily News, the U.S. World Journal, and The China Press.
Kathy Han and Madalina Hubert contributed to this report.
