<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">In a rare testimony before US lawmakers, a Canadian politician has urged for co-operation between the two countries to combat foreign interference by Beijing.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Michael Chong was himself allegedly targeted by China for criticising its human rights record.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He was invited to speak about his experience before a US Congressional committee tasked with monitoring China.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said Beijing's actions pose a "serious, national threat" to Canada.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"My experience is but one case of Beijing's interference in Canada," Mr Chong told the bipartisan committee on Monday. "Many, many other cases go unnoticed and unreported, and the victims suffer in silence."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Earlier this year, Canada accused China of targeting Mr Chong with a misinformation campaign on the popular messaging app WeChat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Chong said he also learned through Canadian intelligence that Beijing had been gathering information on him, as well as his relatives in Hong Kong, for the last three years. In 2021, Mr Chong put forward a motion in parliament that declared China's treatment of its Uyghur minority population a genocide.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China has repeatedly denied any attempts to intimidate Mr Chong or interfere in Canadian affairs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In his testimony, the Conservative politician detailed other ways in which he said China has been observed interfering in his country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This includes recruiting Chinese international students at Canadian universities, he said, who are then coerced by Beijing to spy on other students and activists seen as unfriendly to the Communist Party of China (CPC).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also raised the issue of Beijing-run "police stations" in Canada that have allegedly been used to coerce some Chinese nationals back to China.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China has denied running overseas police stations, calling them "service centres" for its nationals overseas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As a target of alleged intimidation himself, Mr Chong said that he had cut off contact with his family in Hong Kong "out of an abundance of caution" to preserve their safety.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Many, many other people have done the same thing," he said. "This is one of the consequences of (China's) transnational repression."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Chong called on the US and Canada to work together on this issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said this could be done through the sharing of intelligence and publicising China's interference attempts, "to preserve our fundamental freedoms, democratic institutions and the rules-based international order".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Democratic and Republican US lawmakers on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China applauded Mr Chong's testimony.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We have seen relentless targeting of young activists who have spoken against the increasingly repressive conditions in Hong Kong and we have seen unrelenting pressure that continues to be directed at Uyghurs around the world," said Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The commission, which was established in 2000, keeps tabs on China's alleged intimidation tactics, and monitors a list of people who have vanished in China or taken as political prisoners.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Canada-China relations have been fractured as of late, after the alleged intimidation attempts against Mr Chong were made public.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The issue led Canada to expel a Chinese diplomat in May. China then retaliated and ordered the removal of a Canadian diplomat in its Shanghai Consulate.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Intelligence agencies have also claimed Beijing tried to interfere in federal elections in 2019 and 2021.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last week, Canada launched a public inquiry into foreign interference by China and other countries. BCC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>