FBI Raises 'Alarming' Find of Chinese Interference in 2020 Election

 

FBI Raises 'Alarming' Find of Chinese Interference in 2020 Election
June 17 2025

FBI Director Kash Patel has declassified and shared documents with senators that he says "detail alarming allegations" about potential Chinese interference in the 2020 election.

Why It Matters

China has denied any nefarious involvement in swaying the election results in 2020, and again in 2024. Trump allies have alleged that China rigged the 2020 results in Joe Biden's favor, invigorating hardcore supporters to march on the Capitol, leading to the riot on January 6, 2021.

Flags hang outside the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building on June 1, 2025, in Washington.

What To Know

Patel shared the update on alleged election fraud in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and potentially others are alleged to have been involved in interfering with the 2020 election outcome

He also said he has turned over documents to Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican and chair of the Judiciary Committee, for further review.

"Specifically, these include allegations of plans from the CCP to manufacture fake driver's licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots—allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public," Patel told Just the News.

Newsweek reached out to the FBI for comment.

On Tuesday, Grassley sent a letter to Patel seeking additional records and information related to the document, an Intelligence Information Report (IIR) that originated in the FBI's Albany Field Office in September 2020, a Grassley spokesperson told Newsweek.

"Chairman Grassley is in receipt of an FBI document responsive to a request he made based on legally protected whistleblower disclosures," the spokesperson said. "The document alleges serious national security concerns that need to be fully investigated by the FBI.

"Grassley is requesting additional documentation from the FBI to verify the production and is urging the FBI to do its due diligence to investigate why the document was recalled, who recalled it and inform the American people of its findings."

Grassley's letter, also shared with Newsweek, requests all communications between and among agents and intelligence analysts. Also, he asks Patel "to describe all investigative steps the FBI has taken, or will take, to determine the veracity of the allegations in the IIR as well as who recalled the IIR and the basis for the recall, if that basis extends beyond the request for the source to be re-interviewed."

The declassification of these reports now come years after they were allegedly not fully investigated and recalled from intelligence agencies by former FBI Director Chris Wray in the lead-up to Biden's 2020 victory over Trump.

An FBI spokesperson told the New York Post that federal authorities became aware of an alleged plot to impact the 2020 election around August of that year, though the intelligence reports were recalled for unknown reasons.

What People Are Saying

Kash Patel during his Senate confirmation hearing in January: "Senator, as I've said before that President Biden was certified and sworn in, that he was the president. I don't know how else to say it."

What Happens Next

Grassley requests the FBI to send all unclassified material directly to him, including segregating all unclassified material within classified documents. He's asked for a response to his newest letter no later than July 1.

 

Mayor Gregor Robertson, his Chinese girlfriend and a corruption trial

The Vancouver mayor’s relationship with Wanting Qu has largely escaped media scrutiny. Until now.

Aug 3, 2016 

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, left, and singer-songwriter Wanting Qu leave the field after Robertson presented the man of the match award after Canada and Japan played a rugby test match in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday June 11, 2016. 

Until recently, Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson has managed to mostly evade media focus on his relationship with Wanting Qu, a Chinese pop star two decades his junior. Robertson’s separation from his wife of 30 years was announced just before the 2014 election. Three months after election day, Robertson and Qu, whom he’d reportedly met when she was Tourism Vancouver’s “Ambassador to China” in 2013, issued matching Valentine’s messages on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter), proclaiming their love.

“Happy Valentines Day sweetheart! I’m so lucky you fill my life with love and happiness. Thanks for making my family happy too!,” the mayor, 51, wrote, confirming speculation about the relationship. Qu, 32, responded: “Thank you for loving me Gregor. Ps. U r a lucky man! Happy Valentines to all!”

Apart from the occasional photo-heavy online story featuring selfies and Instagram videos of the mayor and Qu, a minor celebrity in her native China, their romance was largely ignored. That changed with news last week that Qu’s mother, Qu Zhang Mingjie, 60, a former official in the northern Heilongjiang province, may face execution for graft. Zhang’s two-day trial, on charges of embezzling $69 million, and bribery and abuse of power for her role in a 2009 transfer of state land, ended July 20. She pleaded not guilty and her lawyer argued the case was built on an illegally obtained confession.

Qu Zhang Mingjie. (CTV News/W5)

A guilty verdict, however, is almost assured; China’s criminal conviction rate tops 99 per cent. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, which is undertaken when the accused refuses to show remorse or contrition, says Yves Tiberghien, director of the Institute for Asian Studies at UBC.

Zhang, once described by her daughter as a workaholic, raised Qu, her only child, in the northern rustbelt province bordering Russia. When she was 16, Qu was sent to boarding school in Canada, first in Ontario, then British Columbia. Zhang, the former deputy director of the Harbin Municipal Development and Reform Commission, wanted her daughter to learn English, then earn a master’s degree in business, before returning to Harbin. But Qu rebelled. After withdrawing from Simon Fraser University in 2005, she used tuition money to fund the purchase of an electric piano, straining an already difficult relationship with her mother. Four years later, she became the first Chinese artist signed to Nettwerk, a Vancouver-based record label.

Qu has said she and her mom had managed to patch things up. On Zhang’s birthday last spring, shortly after charges against her were made public, Qu took to Instagram: “No one can replace her in my heart. I must admit I feel regretful for not being in her life for the past 15 years. I also feel somewhat resentful towards her for not being in mine since I was a teen. But over the years, she’s forgiven me because she’s found pride and joy in my success in life. And I’ve forgiven her because I’ve grown to understand fully that no one is perfect.”

Zhang was arrested as part of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s campaign against corruption; in the last year 300,000 officials have been punished, according to the Communist Party’s official graft watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Xi claims he’s taking on both “tigers and flies”—top officials and low-level bureaucrats. Some have managed to skirt prosecution by leaving China. Last year, Beijing announced that 26 of China’s 100 most wanted fugitives for economic crimes were in Canada, reportedly the world’s second-largest haven for corrupt Chinese officials, after the U.S. But whether they are being targeted primarily for graft or in an effort to shore up support for the Communist Party is far from clear.

Last month, Qu released the single Your Girl, and alluded to her mother in a statement released by Nettwerk: “Though I haven’t been able to talk to her, feel her or reach her in any way in the last two years, I know deep down in my heart, there’s a place that’s warm like the sun and bright like the moon . . . I hope she can hear the song and it gives her love and strength.”

In China, comments Qu made last year calling her mother her childhood hero, have incensed many who have taken her words to mean that the singer is overlooking the fact that her mother may have been involved in corruption, says Tiberghien. “There is a lot of anger over corruption right now in China, where young people are having a much harder time getting access to property,” he notes.

Robertson is not commenting on the case, nor is Qu, except on social media. “Woke up sobbing,” she wrote recently on Facebook. “She died in my dream. So real… My reality in the last 653 days has been a never-ending nightmare.”

In rare letters about real estate, Vancouver’s mayor ignores the elephants in the room

During a two-and-a-half-year span, Mayor Gregor Robertson sent only two letters to senior federal and B.C. politicians seeking action on property flipping and tax evasion in the Vancouver real estate market. 

None of the letters or replies mentioned money laundering, nor did they cite Chinese foreign investment as the biggest market influencer.

theBreaker asked, under freedom of information, for copies of correspondence from Jan. 1, 2015 to July 24, 2017 between the Office of the Mayor and senior officials in Ottawa and Victoria, about real estate regulation and taxation, foreign demand, market manipulation and real estate-related crime, including money laundering. City hall finally released the documents Oct. 18. 

Robertson’s May 22, 2015 letter to then-Premier Christy Clark said the “world’s wealthiest citizens” were affecting the market. 

“Housing should not be a speculative commodity that can be left empty in the expectation of automatic gains,” Robertson wrote.

In her June 4, 2015 response, Clark downplayed foreign investment (she, too, didn’t mention China) and claimed using taxes to control prices would hurt homeowners’ equity. Clark suggested the city do more on its own, such as cutting fees and levies on condo projects.

“Finally beyond any new taxes to curb demand, there is also the option of increasing supply through better land use planning,” read Clark’s letter. 

A year later, with her BC Liberal party suffering in opinion polls, Clark imposed a 15% tax on residential purchases by foreigners (condominium pre-sales were exempted) and agreed to Robertson’s proposed 1% tax on houses left empty in the City of Vancouver. At the time, Clark and Robertson’s parties shared the same bagman, real estate marketer Bob “The Condo King” Rennie. 

Robertson wrote June 1 of this year to federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau about high housing prices, and combatting tax evasion and speculation in Vancouver real estate. 

“While your recent actions to provide greater oversight on issues of capital gains are greatly valued, I often hear from residents who are concerned about fraudulent practices connected to home purchases in Vancouver,” Robertson wrote. 

In a July 24 reply, Morneau mentioned that Canada Revenue Agency increased its compliance and enforcement efforts, but he misspelled the province twice.  

“With regards to housing vulnerabilities and affordability challenges in the GVA [Greater Vancouver Area], I encourage continued engagement of the City of Vancouver with the new provincial government in British Colombia (sic) in the federal-provincial-municipal working group on housing,” Morneau wrote. 

Saving face amid housing furor

The Mayor’s office released the June 1 letter to at least two media outlets, the Globe and Mail and Vancouver Sun, which reported on it June 16 without mentioning how they obtained the letter. 

Chief of staff Quinlan (Twitter)

Email shows that Robertson’s chief of staff intended all along to release the letter to the media. Just two minutes after Robertson aide Connie Pavone emailed the letter to Morneau on June 2, Kevin Quinlan wrote to Amanda Campbell in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office. 

“We don’t plan to make it public for a while and will check in with you before we do,” Quinlan wrote. 

On June 14, Quinlan told Campbell that “we’re planning to give this letter to some media… to highlight the Mayor’s efforts focusing on housing affordability and the concerns around money laundering/tax evasion in Vancouver. I sent it over a week ago to Ally Chalke and Ian Foucher in [Morneau’s] office so they know it’s been sent. Any concerns let me know.” 

In 2017, Robertson’s pet cause, the environment, has taken a back seat to the housing crisis. Critics blame Vision Vancouver for failing to fulfil a 2008 promise to solve homelessness. Instead, the Vision-led city council has rubber-stamped luxury towers built by party donors who regularly pre-sell condos to buyers in China. Voters are showing signs of impatience. The Vision candidate in an Oct. 14 by-election to replace Geoff Meggs finished fifth. Quinlan, in his first full year after succeeding Mike Magee as chief of staff, took a night school course at Simon Fraser University in real estate development in 2015.

Robertson’s latest gimmick was to ask city staff to study ways and means of encouraging developers to market new condos to local residents and workers before offering them to buyers elsewhere. 

Housing is expected to remain the hot topic on the way to the Oct. 20, 2018 municipal election. Housing affordability played a role in the NDP ascending to power after the May 9 provincial election. New Premier John Horgan’s party won six of nine Surrey seats and knocked-off Liberal incumbents in Burnaby, North Vancouver and South Vancouver. 

Robertson is also feeling pressure about relations with China. 

In July, Robertson’s staff admitted he broke-up with Chinese singer girlfriend Wanting Qu. Her mother, former Harbin government official Qu Zhang Mingjie, is facing real estate corruption charges in China. In September, Robertson made an unannounced trade mission to Beijing and Shanghai. His staff finally admitted he was in China, meeting government officials and business executives, the day before his final day there. 

City hall did not hold a flag-raising ceremony to mark China’s Oct. 1 national day. The ceremonial flagpole was allegedly removed for maintenance, after a 2016 event drew protests from citizens concerned about China’s history of human rights violations. 

Pop singer's mom gets life sentence for embezzlement

 2021-11-18    

Xinhua

Zhang Mingjie (right) and Wang Shaoyu stand trial for embezzlement and abuse of power in the Intermediate People's Court in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, on November 16.

Zhang Mingjie, a former government official in northeast China and mother of Vancouver-based Chinese pop singer Qu Wanting, was sentenced yesterday to life imprisonment for embezzlement and abuse of power in Harbin.

Zhang was found guilty of exploiting her positions for personal gain, causing land requisition compensation to be illegally obtained by the acquirer and part of settlement employees to be used against the law, Harbin Intermediate People's Court ruled yesterday.

The charges resulted in a total public property loss of more than 232.59 million yuan (US$36.47 million) from 2009 to 2011, the ruling said.

Vancouver-based Chinese pop singer Qu Wanting (right) with her mother Zhang Mingjie

Zhang committed the crimes while she was the leader of a taskforce entrusted with the reform and restructuring of state-owned enterprises in Daoli District in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province.

She conspired with another two persons to sell a seed-breeding farm worth 2.3 billion yuan as negative equity in July 2009. The land use right of the farm was eventually transferred to a real estate company.

After the acquisition, Zhang authorized the transfer of 61.6 million yuan in employee settlements to the acquirer, Dongjiang Technology.

The scheme was later adapted into the hit anti-corruption TV drama "In the Name of the People."

Zhang demanded 5-million-yuan kickback from Wei Qi, the actual owner of Dongjiang Technology, and 50 percent of the shares, valued at 93.17 million yuan, of the company after the M&A, along with Wang Shaoyu, her accomplice.

Wang was sentenced to 14 years behind bars for embezzlement and fined 3 million yuan in the same trial.

The prosecutors established a case against Wei in March 2015 after he fled China in September 2014. In March 2016, Interpol issued a Red Notice for him.

Wei returned to China on October 7 to surrender himself. He is currently under quarantine in Harbin and his case will be heard later.

Wei Qi, a key suspect in the corruption case, returns to China on October 7, 2021.

Zhang first stood trial in July 2016 and denied the charges. Since Wei, one of the key accomplices in the case, was still at large overseas at the time, the court didn't make a ruling.

The case garnered nationwide attention after Zhang's daughter, Qu, started advocating on China's social media for her mother.

Qu, who has been living in Canada, was named as Vancouver's first-ever tourism ambassador for China in 2013.

A Buddhist group on P.E.I. with ties to China has become a flashpoint in a battle over religion and land.

Trouble on the island

A Buddhist group on P.E.I. with ties to China has become a flashpoint in a battle over religion and land.

Jun. 14, 2025

Located deep in the countryside near Montague, P.E.I., Heatherdale Road is bordered by wooded areas, vast fields and a few tractors left idle as the day fades away.

Amid this rustic setting, one entrance stands out with its iron gate, intercom and surveillance cameras. It’s the home of Teacher Zhen-Ru, the controversial spiritual leader of the Bliss and Wisdom movement. Originally from China, Zhen-Ru (whose real name is Mengrong Jin) lives here with monks from her inner circle.

Close by on the same road, an imposing Asian-style building with a high-pitched roof and curved tips emerges above the treetops. It's one of two sites belonging to the approximately 700 monks of the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS); the other is located at Little Sands. Around 600 nuns of the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute (GWBI) live separately from the men elsewhere in eastern P.E.I., mostly in Brudenell but also in Vernon Bridge.

Automatic lift gates occasionally let in white school buses. On the island, people have come to recognize them. They transport Buddhists from one site to another, including close to 150 pupils aged 12 to 17 enrolled in the private schools run by the monasteries.

The children, like the monks and nuns, come largely from Taiwan, but also from countries such as China, Singapore and the United States. They are all under the spiritual direction of Teacher Zhen-Ru, a laywoman who has never been ordained. She leads a movement that claims to be in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition — but she isn't recognized by the Dalai Lama, an official spokesperson for Tibet's top spiritual leader told Radio-Canada.

Zhen-Ru spends six months a year on P.E.I. The rest of the time, she travels around the world teaching her followers, according to the nuns interviewed by Radio-Canada.

Monasteries, associations or businesses linked to Bliss and Wisdom can be found elsewhere in Canada, including Montreal, the Greater Toronto Area, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, as well as in the United States and several Asian countries.

Bliss and Wisdom has ties to the Chinese government, according to information obtained by Radio-Canada, and these ties warrant an RCMP investigation, say two former federal investigators. On the island, the monasteries are already under a provincial investigation to determine whether they have acquired more territory than is legally permitted.

Part 1: Links with China

“Canada! That's where Teacher Zhen-Ru lives!” exclaimed a volunteer at Bliss and Wisdom's Fengshan Temple in Hukou, Taiwan, where Radio-Canada went earlier this year. The elderly woman was proud to say she had made a pilgrimage to P.E.I. in honour of the spiritual leader. 

Praying before an altar decorated with flowers, candles and multiple golden statues of Buddha, a young woman who had travelled to Taiwan from Singapore said she, too, had made the journey to P.E.I., where her brother is a monk. She says she lived there for four years as a volunteer for Bliss and Wisdom.

This religious movement, which has some 100,000 followers worldwide, comes from Taiwan,
a small island separated from China by a strait only 180 kilometres wide. China has long threatened to invade independent,
democratic Taiwan to achieve what it calls "national reunification." 

Chien Tuan-liang, an assistant professor of Buddhist studies at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan, says this pressure is felt within the Buddhist community.

“Many Buddhist organizations in Taiwan have already been infiltrated by what we can call pro-PRC [People’s Republic of China] force,” said Chien, who is a staunch defender of Taiwan's sovereignty.

He says these associations believe that by supporting China, they will be allowed to continue practising their religion under a possible
 future communist  government. Chien says you can see this when Buddhist organizations repeat mottoes from the Chinese government,
such as the notion that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are "one family."

This also holds true for Bliss and Wisdom, says Chien.

Through research conducted in Mandarin on websites based in Taiwan and China, Radio-Canada found many examples of Bliss and Wisdom participating in religious meetings organized by Chinese government agencies.

Controlled religious meetings

In 2023, a high-ranking Bliss and Wisdom monk in Taiwan travelled between his home country,
 Prince Edward Island and China, according to the group’s Taiwanese website. The article goes on to say the monk
was invited by the Buddhist Association of China to give a lecture at a forum under the theme
"One Chinese Family Hand in Hand to the Future."

The Buddhist Association of China reports directly to the United Front Work Department, considered by numerous national security experts to be the Chinese Communist Party's main interference tool both at home and abroad.

“Bliss and Wisdom, by participating in that event, especially with that kind of slogan, demonstrates that it's totally in agreement with the Communist Party,” said André Laliberté. A specialist in religions in Taiwan and China, Laliberté is a professor at the University of Ottawa’s school of political studies, where his office is lined with books on religions and Asia, some of which he has authored.

"The Buddhist Association of China is trying to convince Buddhists, particularly in Taiwan but also in Canada, that the Communist Party has the well-being of their community at heart," said Laliberté.

As early as 2014, Bliss and Wisdom took part in a religious gathering in China organized by the Chinese government.

At this meeting, the director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs of China, an agency that has since been absorbed by the United Front Work Department, said: “Before the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are connected, religions are connected first; before religions are connected, Buddhism is connected.” Bliss and Wisdom published the director's remarks on its Taiwanese website.

"It’s a profession of faith by Bliss and Wisdom of its allegiance to the Chinese government," said Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former chief of the Asia-Pacific unit of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). He said China expects this kind of public support from the people it controls.

The organization vehemently denies this.

While Teacher Zhen-Ru refused Radio-Canada's request for an interview, three GEBIS monks were
 delegated to speak on her behalf. We reached them by video conference in Singapore, where they
were accompanying their leader on her Asian tour.

One of them was Venerable Xing-En, known in P.E.I. as Walter Tsai, an English translation of his name. The monk is part of the leader's close circle and lives in the same house. He first denied all links to the Buddhist Association of China.

"Bliss and Wisdom, I believe, has no connection with the Buddhist Association in China," he said. "No connection."

When asked about the meetings that Radio-Canada dug up, Xing-En said they were simply religious exchanges, like many others the organization regularly participates in around the world.

“Using the exchanges as evidence to support or to claim that GEBIS, well, Bliss and Wisdom, is controlled or under the influence of the Chinese government or Chinese Communist Party, it's baseless,” he said. “It's completely false."

Xing-En, who is originally from Taiwan, would not say whether he recognizes his homeland's independence from China.

“Bliss and Wisdom is not involved in any political issues. We're purely a religious organization. So I cannot give you an answer to that,” said the monk.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya isn’t buying it. 

He says “the arrival of an organization like Bliss and Wisdom is a Trojan horse coming to Canada manipulated by the Chinese government.”

Juneau-Katsuya and Garry Clement, a former national director of the RCMP's proceeds of crime program, recently co-wrote Canada Under Siege, which deals with what the authors describe as Chinese interference in P.E.I. In the book, which is due out in July, they devote entire chapters to Bliss and Wisdom. 

He and Clement are calling on the RCMP to conduct a national security investigation into the religious group. The RCMP told Radio-Canada it does not comment on potential or ongoing investigations.

China versus the Dalai Lama

Four nuns in Brudenell, P.E.I., agreed to meet with Radio-Canada. They had coffee waiting in the visitor centre where the interview took place.

Just behind them stood their vast monastery, a place of residence and study for the nuns. Radio-Canada was not allowed in, even without a camera.

The nuns also reject having any links with the Chinese government.

“We’re preserving Tibetan Buddhism and we are students of His Holiness
 the Dalai Lama,” insisted Venerable Jingli Wang.

The Chinese government regards the Dalai Lama as an enemy, accusing him of promoting Tibetan independence and undermining Chinese unity. The exiled Dalai Lama, who currently lives in India, instead calls for Tibetan autonomy within Chinese territory.

During the interview, the nuns suggested the political tensions with China contributed to Teacher Zhen-Ru’s decision to settle on P.E.I. The GWBI spokespeople described this quiet corner of the Maritimes as the perfect environment for learning and practising Buddhist values.

The nuns stressed that in order to propagate Tibetan scriptures, an important part of their work involves translating them into Mandarin.

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The Chinese Communist Party allows these organizations to exist on the condition they support the party’s directives.

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Prof. Laliberté said it’s "a bad-faith argument, pardon the pun.”

He pointed out that China has a plan for the "Sinicization" of religions, which includes the translation of Tibetan scriptures into Mandarin, as a means of gradually erasing the language of Tibet. He explained that Buddhism — even Tibetan Buddhism — is permitted in China, where the government has realized it is easier to control major religions than to eradicate them.

“The Chinese Communist Party allows these organizations to exist on the condition they support the party’s directives,” he said.

Back in 2017, a number of monks left Bliss and Wisdom and publicly denounced Teacher Zhen-Ru’s leadership. One of them was Venerable Fan-Yin, who long held the second-highest rank in the group.

He accused Bliss and Wisdom of being infiltrated by the Chinese Communist Party — comments the monk repeated when Radio-Canada met him at the modest apartment he shares with his mother on the outskirts of Taipei.

“[Zhen-Ru's] most important mission was to undermine Tibetan Buddhism and the faith in the Dalai Lama,” Fan-Yin said, noting she was very close to Buddhist leaders associated with the Chinese government.

Prof. Chien Tuan-liang says he personally attended courses offered by Bliss and Wisdom for several months but quit because they didn't reflect Tibetan Buddhism.

“What’s taught inside the Bliss and Wisdom system is very similar to what is being taught in a Confucius Institute,” Chien said, referring to the Chinese cultural body suspected by several governments of being a propaganda tool.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not respond to Radio-Canada's request for comment.

“Those who become monks in Bliss and Wisdom are mostly kind-hearted individuals. But even such good people can’t always tell whether the system they serve is driven by an authoritarian power," Chien said.

"The Canadian government should be concerned that their leader is building that same system in Canada."

Vast business network

Bliss and Wisdom is more than a religious group. From the peaceful capital of P.E.I.
 to the hectic streets of Taipei, one can find natural products sold by the Leezen chain.

In downtown Taipei, Radio-Canada stopped in at one of these shops, located right next to a Bliss and Wisdom urban temple. Cranberry juice and blueberry powder from P.E.I. were displayed on shelves stacked with healthy foods. Also on view: Teacher Zhen-Ru's books.

Bliss and Wisdom's foray into business dates back to its founder, the late Master Jih-Chang. A vegetarian, he believed in the need for a healthy diet aligned with Buddhist values ​​of harmony with nature. In the late '90s, close disciples of the leader launched the Tse-Xin Organic Agriculture Foundation in Taiwan, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of the benefits of organic farming. Shortly after, they set up Leezen to bridge the gap between producers and consumers. 

Upon the founder's death in 2004, Teacher Zhen-Ru took over the reins of Bliss and Wisdom, claiming the responsibility had been entrusted to her by the founder himself. Zhen-Ru has never hidden her international ambitions.

She proposed in 2013 to spread their Buddhist courses, because where they are “deployed in the world, the corporate business will follow and so will the educational philosophy."

In 2016, the Leezen banner expanded to Prince Edward Island. That same year, a first store opened in China, later replaced by the Yes Natural China chain.

Zhen-Ru was one of the directors of the Chinese subsidiary in 2018 and a major shareholder for several years.

“Many Chinese people, and even Westerners, operate private companies in China. That doesn't mean they are funded or controlled by the Chinese government,” said spokesperson Venerable Xing-En. But he did not explain why the leader continued to do business in China if she felt she had to leave the country, as the nuns suggested. In fact, from at least 2008 — the year she arrived in the Maritimes — until 2023, Teacher Zhen-Ru was part of the management of at least four other Chinese companies.

The network of businesses associated with Bliss and Wisdom now extends well beyond natural products. On Prince Edward Island, leaders and supporters of the group are also involved in hotels, construction and travel agencies.

Part 2: The battle over landPause

Bliss and Wisdom's expanding interests have many locals in P.E.I. worried. Douglas Campbell, the outgoing district director of the National Farmers' Union, is one of them.

Standing on a red dirt road typical of P.E.I., he shared his concerns about the future of the province.

“As an island, you only have so much land. Land is a very, very sensitive issue,” he said. “As a farmer, owning your own land is basically your security."

On this beautiful day, tractors were zipping up and down large fields.

But some farmers now struggle to purchase land, because the influx of wealthy buyers has contributed to a rise in prices, he says. He accuses the provincial government of having turned a blind eye for too long to the land being accumulated by Bliss and Wisdom followers.

“Who's buying the land, where is the money coming from, and is there direct and indirect control of what the Buddhist groups already own?” Campbell asked.

While many island residents appreciate the Buddhists' presence, others have become disillusioned.

“In the early years, the Buddhists were welcomed by the community. They were seen as compassionate and a good fit into smalltown P.E.I.,” said a neighbour of one of the monasteries. Radio-Canada agreed to withhold his name because he says he fears for his safety.

“I still believe that the regular monks and nuns are sincere in their beliefs, but it has become apparent to me that, for their leaders, it's a big business. Bliss and Wisdom is a powerful group, with business links to China, that seeks to acquire more and more land through its followers,” he said.

In the face of mounting discontent, the province ordered an investigation by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) on Feb. 4, 2025, to determine whether the two organizations that own the monasteries have acquired more land than permitted. IRAC, a provincial quasi-judicial tribunal, is charged with administering the Lands Protection Act.In Canada's smallest province, the total amount of land a company can hold, directly or indirectly, is limited by law to 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares). “They are well over 6,000 acres,” Campbell insisted. He arrived at this number by adding up the lots belonging to certain groups, leaders, monks and nuns associated with Bliss and Wisdom. Radio-Canada was able to confirm Campbell's math by using GeoLinc, the P.E.I. land registry. But the two Buddhist organizations claim to only control the land owned in their names, which is well below the authorized limit: 578 acres (234 hectares) for GEBIS and 670 acres (271 hectares) for GWBI.

“We have always said they are not over their land limits when it comes to the individual groups,” said Campbell. “However, it's when you do the connecting of the dots that shows where they are all connected to the one group, Bliss and Wisdom. That is what puts them over their limits."

The investigation hinges on this key question of indirect control. 

WATCH | A look at one of the companies with links to Bliss and Wisdom

The law states that “two or more corporations that are directly or indirectly controlled by the same person, corporation, group or other organization are deemed to be one corporation."

A corporation that contravenes the act can be forced to divest the excess land and its directors may be fined. But untangling the ramifications between different leaders and groups associated with the island's Buddhists, and the land they purchase, can be mind-boggling.

The monks and nuns argue that Bliss and Wisdom is a “community” that shares the same values, with no control over affiliated groups, which are independent from one another.

Bliss and Wisdom “is a loose term," said Venerable Xing-En. “GEBIS has no director overlap nor is it funded by any organization that's associated with Bliss and Wisdom Taiwan. So we are an independent organization that operates from Bliss and Wisdom.”

Official documents contradict this statement. GEBIS’s certificate of registration in 2016, obtained from the province of P.E.I., describes the organization as "an overseas operation of Bliss and Wisdom Monastery Corporation in Taiwan." 

Bliss and Wisdom in Taiwan has also been closely involved in the construction of the nuns' monastery in P.E.I. Announcing the completion of the first phase in 2017 on its website, Bliss and Wisdom in Taiwan wrote, “Expenditures totaling roughly CAD11.3 million covered the first set of dormitories for monastics, sewage plants, fire ponds, roads, electricity and other infrastructure needs.”

The exchange of funds and directors is also common practice between the different components of Bliss and Wisdom. For example, Venerable Joanna Ho, one of the nuns Radio-Canada interviewed, is the former president of GWBI California. During her tenure, she approved nearly $200,000 in donations to GWBI P.E.I. before moving to Canada.

Minister wants to 'close the doors'

The man who ordered the investigation into the two Buddhist organizations’ properties is Steven Myers, the provincial minister of Housing, Lands and Communities.

In an office in Charlottetown’s historic district, he spoke to Radio-Canada about the pressure he feels not to get this file wrong.

“I don't think we've ever questioned that [the groups and their followers] are all linked to one another. We question whether or not the law governs it the way we want it to,” he said.

Under the law, the decision to issue an order requiring a corporation to divest excess land rests with him.

“Obviously there’s people with lots of money, because they bought lots of land. They can afford lots of lawyers, go to court, have my ruling struck down. Then the doors are wide open and Islanders have absolutely no protection," he said. 

"That's what I'm up against," he stated candidly.

“Do I want to be the guy that opened the doors wide open [to greater land purchases],
 or do I want to be the guy who closed them?" he said. "I want to be the guy who closed them.” 

The minister promises to make IRAC’s report public once the investigation is completed. 

An initial investigation into five Buddhist groups, including the two targeted by the current investigation, ended in 2018 without the results being made public. 

Myers wrote to IRAC in November 2024, shortly after taking office, to request a copy of their report. Seven months later, he's still waiting.

Meanwhile, IRAC refuses to comment on the scope of the ongoing investigation. It won’t say, for instance, if the individual properties of Buddhists are included.

The three venerable monks we interviewed all own land in P.E.I. None of them sees this as a contradiction of their Buddhist vow to renounce material possessions.

Xing-En said he acquired a property for his parents in Taiwan, who plan to retire in P.E.I. Xing-Chang (Dan Huang) said he bought farmland to convert it to organic farming. And Xing-Shu (Eli Kingston) said he already owned a house on P.E.I. before becoming a monk and sees no reason to give it up. 

"I find that a bit astounding," said Prof. André Laliberté. "What I've encountered over the years is that when you're a monk, nothing belongs to you. Everything belongs to the community."

The monks and nuns insist that the monasteries have no control over their land. However, Radio-Canada has obtained numerous emails indicating the monasteries have often taken charge of purchasing and maintaining properties on behalf of members and their relatives.

“There are lots of rumours just because we look so foreign and it's a completely different religion,” said Venerable Xing-Chang. “A lot of people do have their concerns, and we hear that."

The allusion to xenophobia doesn’t sit well with Douglas Campbell.

“We have always been shot down with the word racism. This has never been about race. It's always been about the land. It doesn't matter who owns it,” he said. “The law states a corporation can have 3,000 acres. Whether it's the Irving Group or whether it's the nuns and the monks, we're just asking that the law be followed.”

“If a charge is not laid, the floodgates are going to open here,” Campbell warned.

The Buddhists are thinking big. The GWBI nuns want to turn their monastery into an international site for religious tourism.

“Religious centres such as Jerusalem, Rome, Tibet and Mecca continue to attract millions of visitors each annually,” the group wrote in a plan it submitted to the province in 2018, which is still in effect. The plan highlights the billions of dollars generated annually by this type of tourism.

“The proposed GWBI monastery has the potential to significantly increase PEI tourism from Asia and from other Buddhist locations,” it says.

The plan calls for the construction of dormitories with a capacity of 1,400 people, as well as parking lots to accommodate 300 vehicles, all in quiet Brudenell.

Dalai Lama does not recognize Zhen-Ru

Teacher Zhen-Ru has already attracted many international followers to P.E.I.,
 where they dream of catching a glimpse of their leader.

Yet she does not have the approval of the Dalai Lama.

The head of Tibetan Buddhism does not recognize her as the spiritual leader of the Bliss and Wisdom group, says Kelsang Gyaltsen, the official representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Taiwan. “Zhen-Ru is a layperson who has not undergone monastic ordination. Someone without formal ordination and precept training cannot be recognized as the leader of the monastic community.”

Gyaltsen worked closely with the Dalai Lama in India, before becoming his special envoy to various countries. The interview in Taiwan unfolded under the gaze of a large photo of the Tibetan spiritual leader in a room decorated with lanterns, woven tapestries and depictions of Buddha.

Zhen-Ru can still run the administrative side of Bliss and Wisdom and even teach
 if she has a solid base in Buddhism, he said.

In the past, Zhen-Ru's supporters have accused her detractors of sexism.

“It's not that we don't recognize her because she's a woman,” said Gyaltsen. “As a layperson, she cannot be the spiritual leader. This would be a violation of Buddhist religion.”

Gyaltsen added that the Dalai Lama recognizes the nuns and monks of Bliss and Wisdom.

Regarding religious exchanges with China, Gyaltsen treaded carefully. He said the Dalai Lama has always encouraged the spread of Buddhism in China, but condemns China's tight control over religious institutions.

“By controlling these organizations, they regulate not only religious activities, but also voices advocating for freedom and democracy," Gyaltsen said.

One of the voices the Chinese government wants to silence is that of the Dalai Lama himself. The country has already announced that upon the death of the current spiritual leader, who is 89, it will appoint his successor. 

The nuns and monks Radio-Canada spoke to in P.E.I. expressed surprise at the
 disavowal of Zhen-Ru by the Dalai Lama's official representative. They also reiterated
their commitment to the Tibetan spiritual leader.

When asked whether the island's Buddhists will support or reject China's future replacement of the Dalai Lama, Venerable Xing-En again refused to comment. 

“We will not be involved in any political issues. We are a pure religious institute that only focuses on Buddhist education," he said.

The Dalai Lama has publicly said he has made detailed plans for the process of identifying his replacement. His official representative stressed that the head of Tibetan Buddhism has consistently urged the world to reject China’s choice for his succession.