2023-07-12 04:00:00
China made an unusual donation of books to the city of Brossard, before facing a refusal during a second attempt during which it had contacted the mayor directly. An example of Beijing’s influence tactics on Quebec soil, according to national security experts.
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Brossard Mayor Doreen Assaad was “very surprised” when the consul of the People’s Republic of China offered to donate books to the small municipal library during a meeting in 2019.
“I received the request that Brossard was a beautiful multicultural municipality and that [le consulat] had excess books available […] It was the first time I received this kind of request. I did not know what to answer,” the mayor told us.
She never knew why the representative of this great world power wished to make such a donation or the exact nature of the books offered, since the library refused the consulate’s offer.
“It was when the problem with Huawei started with the arrest of director Meng Wanzhou and [l’emprisonnement en Chine] of the two Michaels. We said to ourselves: “well, we’ll wait”. Also [les livres en caractères chinois] are not a development priority for our collections”, also told us the director of the library, Suzanne Payette.
A second donation
However, it was not the first time that Brossard, which has a large community of Chinese origin, had received such an offer. In 2017, under the previous mayor Paul Leduc, the library was imposed, in a way, a donation of 300 books from the consulate.
The donation took place during a party organized by the Chinese School of Brossard. “We had no choice. It was in front of everyone. So you say thank you very much, and you take it, ”says Ms. Payette.
No precise cataloging of the contents of these books has been carried out since, for lack of staff. THE Journal was able to examine some during a recent visit.
From patriotic historical accounts to a book honoring the Communist Party to language textbooks or novels: Chinese character books are varied in the small section assigned to them.
“Propaganda”
The library has received no other donations from representatives of foreign countries.
“There’s a lot of talk regarding foreign interference now, but it wasn’t in the air when we acquired the books. Today, we would be more careful, ”explains Ms. Payette.
For national security experts, the situation, if it seems anecdotal in appearance, testifies well to the interest of the Chinese government to remain close to its overseas citizens.
“It’s part of a well-organized plan to be as influential as possible. Of course, there is a difference between influence and interference. But you have to see it as a propaganda exercise […] The Chinese community is a top priority for President Xi Jinping,” said former Canadian ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques.
“Several countries are looking to promote them. It is not limited to the People’s Republic of China”, nuance for his part Arthur Wilczynski, former senior official.
The latter, however, believes that the books should be identified so that readers know that they were offered by a “state actor who has interests that rarely align with those of Canadians”.
“Could this be a selfless donation? Absolutely. […] But we also know that China is trying to exercise control over the Chinese diaspora in Canada. Giving away pro-China or pro-government books can be interpreted as an attempt to influence the population,” said Dennis Molinaro, a former national security analyst who now teaches at Ontario Tech University.
“It is also surprising that we tried to go through the mayor. If you want to donate books to the library, you usually contact the library”.
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