NDP MP Kwan Says Chinese Consulate Issued ‘Edict’ for Business Community to Cut Ties With Her

The reported directive from the Chinese consulate was brought to Kwan’s attention after a recent community event.
“This individual had a lengthy conversation with my staff, and it was communicated to him that in the business community, they’ve been advised that they should stop the engagement with me,” Kwan testified on Sept. 18. Kwan said her office tried to clarify when the Chinese consulate gave the directive, but no specific date was provided.
Kwan, the MP for Vancouver East since 2015, told the commission she noticed a “seismic shift” in attitudes toward her within the Chinese diaspora community in 2019, with a significant drop in invitations to community events.
The change came shortly after she attended a rally outside the Chinese consulate, where she criticized the regime’s passage in June of that year of a national security law which was condemned by Canada and other democracies for its draconian measures against democratic rights.
Kwan said that while some organizations do valuable community work and attending their events offers outreach opportunities, she worries that participating in United Front-affiliated ones might “validate them,” allowing her to be seen as a “semi-witting participant” in foreign interference.
Kwan testified on Sept. 18 that she had asked her party leader, Jagmeet Singh, to request top-secret security clearance from the federal government to review the classified version of the NSICOP report. She was turned down and told that even with top-secret clearance she would be denied access without a “need to know,” Kwan told the commission.
Asked at the inquiry why she wanted to see the report, Kwan said the reported security issue “breaches our privilege as parliamentarians” who “have the right to protection and to be warned of foreign interference activities if we are unaware of them,” she said.