Politics
China Denies Links to “Malicious WeChat Campaign” Against Chrystia Freeland
On Friday, a Canadian task force focusing on election security reported that misleading articles on China’s social media WeChat App targeted former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Freeland is a candidate to succeed Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party.
The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force (SITE) revealed it had identified “coordinated and malicious activity” aimed at Freeland. These efforts were traced to a widely-followed and anonymous news account on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.
According to SITE’s statement, California-based China Digital Times experts had previously linked the anonymous WeChat account to China.
“I won’t be intimidated by foreign interference from China,” Freeland stated on the social media platform X. “As someone who has spent years standing up to authoritarian regimes, I understand the importance of protecting our freedoms.”
The Chinese Embassy in Canada denied any knowledge of the alleged campaign. Beijing has consistently rejected accusations of interference in Canadian affairs.
“It is unreasonable and baseless to accuse and defame China based on fabricated claims from so-called experts,” a spokesperson from the embassy said. “China is deeply dissatisfied and strongly opposes such actions.”
The campaign against Freeland, flagged by SITE, builds on existing accusations from Ottawa concerning Chinese attempts to meddle in Canadian elections.
A recent official investigation found that China attempted to interfere in earlier Canadian elections, though it concluded that such efforts did not affect the outcomes. The report stated that China views Canada as a key target and is the most active foreign actor attempting to influence all levels of the Canadian government.
SITE reported that over 30 WeChat news accounts were involved in the campaign against Freeland. The articles received significant engagement and views. Between January 29 and February 3, these articles were interacted with over 140,000 times.
SITE estimates that the campaign reached 2 to 3 million WeChat users worldwide.
Freeland joined the race to lead the Liberal Party after Trudeau announced his resignation last month. A close ally of Trudeau for over a decade, she stepped down in December, releasing a letter criticizing his leadership style.
China Calls WeChat Claims Illogical and Unacceptable
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa reiterated on Friday that they were unaware of any campaign targeting Freeland. ” I must stress that accusing and smearing China based on unverified statements from so-called experts is illogical and unacceptable,” the spokesperson said.
The embassy emphasized that the leadership race within the Liberal Party is an internal Canadian matter. They stated that China follows a non-interference policy and is not interested in influencing Canada’s domestic politics. The spokesperson also criticized attempts to link China to Canada’s internal affairs, calling it unhelpful for fostering stable and positive relations between the two nations.
In October 2023, the Government of Canada banned the WeChat and Kaspersky Suite apps from all government-issued mobile devices. Users of these devices will also be prevented from downloading these applications.
Canada’s Chief Information Officer concluded that WeChat and the Kaspersky Suite pose significant risks to privacy and security. These apps collect data in ways that grant them extensive access to a mobile device’s contents.
The decision to block and remove these apps was made to protect the Government of Canada’s networks and information. This step aligns with similar measures international partners took to safeguard sensitive data.
