MARK COLLINS – ETHNIC CHINESE ABROAD: ONCE A DRAGON, ALWAYS A DRAGON SAYS BEIJING

MAY 9, 2016 

The ever-growing grasp of the Chicoms’ claws–further to these,

Australian-Chinese leaders urge support for ‘motherland’ in South China Sea dispute

The Unpleasant Truth About Chinese Espionage

we read more at the Globe and Mail:

The long reach of Beijing

Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based journalist [he tweets @FrankChing1]
…
Much has been said about China’s growing nationalism but little attention has been paid to its increasing assertion of something akin to sovereignty over ethnic-Chinese who are citizens of other countries. While this is particularly noteworthy in Hong Kong, it is also true in the United States, Australia and other countries.

What China wants is for foreign citizens of ethnic-Chinese background to be loyal to the “motherland” – meaning China – regardless of their citizenship and to work to further the interests of China. This was disclosed in the People’s Daily a couple of years ago when it encouraged “more and more overseas Chinese to participate in the local political life.”

It referred specifically to Congresswoman Judy Chu of California, who was born in the United States of immigrant parents, as someone “participating in politics in foreign countries.” The Chinese government wants to make use of foreign politicians who happen to be of Chinese extraction to support its causes, such as in its territorial dispute with Japan…

In Australia, there have been charges that official Chinese propaganda was being used to influence the opinion and behaviour of Australians of Chinese background. “Beijing’s clandestine intrusion into our local Chinese press will have an impact on national security if it is not rooted out,” the Age reported in 2014 [see also first link at first quote above].

The Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda bureau, the newspaper reported, was “buying up radio stations and newspapers across the country and channelling the voice of Beijing into them from editorial offices in China.” Of course, this would primarily influence immigrants rather than native-born Australians, but such an influence should not be discounted. China clearly considers this to be important.

What all of this means is that China is trying very hard to extend its influence abroad by using ethnic-Chinese overseas, appealing to their sense of being Chinese, even though they are foreign citizens and have left the country of their birth.

Plus from June 2015 (Dick Fadden, erstwhile CSIS Director and National Security Advisor to the PM, is noted in connection with China’s actions in Canada):

Spookery in Canada: China, CSIS and…the Ontario Government