#233 - China, Espionage and Canadian Immigration Law: How Far Is Too Far?, with Joanna Chiu

How should Canada respond to concerns about Chinese espionage and foreign interference without treating every connection to China as a national security threat?

Joanna Chiu, journalist, author of China Unbound: A New World Disorder and founder of Nüora Global Advisors, joins the Borderlines Podcast to discuss how the Chinese Communist Party operates at home and abroad, and what that means for Canadian immigration law.

We discuss the United Front Work Department, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, Article 7 of China’s National Intelligence Law, foreign interference, overseas “police stations,” Chinese Communist Party membership, and the increasingly difficult security screening faced by Chinese visa and immigration applicants.

Joanna also explains why understanding the Chinese-language sources, the structure of Chinese organizations and the realities of how Chinese laws operate in practice is essential when assessing allegations of espionage or foreign interference.

We also discuss whether Canadian immigration authorities risk going too far when the possibility that someone could someday be compelled to cooperate with Chinese authorities becomes a basis for finding them inadmissible to Canada.

Timestamps

06:02 – What is China’s United Front and what does it actually do?

19:40 – Article 7 of China’s National Intelligence Law: Does every Chinese citizen have to spy?

27:58 – Foreign interference, protests and the risks of profiling Chinese Canadians

32:54 – Is Canada going too far in immigration security screening?

43:10 – Elections, influence campaigns and China’s alleged overseas “police stations”

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