“I hope my Conservative colleagues will not worry about Asian Canadians,” Trudeau told the House of Commons.

Three women appeared before the committee as representatives of Tibetan, Uyghur and Hong Kong democratic groups. Two of the three said that they had personally experienced hostility and abuse in the past year. Well-documented wave Anti-Asian racist violence Pass through North America.

The trio also warned not to criticize the Chinese government lightly and not to restrict efforts to stop China’s state espionage for fear of racism.

“Those who claim to stand up against anti-Asian hatred and racism, please listen to your voters and the voices of Asians,” said Chemi Lhamo, a Tibetan activist whose bid for the University of Toronto student chair has aroused hostility from Chinese nationalists. And threats. .

“As an Asian woman, I have a bigger goal behind me, to confuse anti-CCP ideas. [Communist Party of China] Anti-Asian is actually greater disrespect. “

“I think our prime minister is really confused,” said Rukiye Turdush, a witness from the Uyghur Institute. “If we are against the CCP, it does not mean that we are against the Chinese people. This has nothing to do with anti-Asian racism. I really don’t understand why he said that.”

Biosecurity, not diversity

government Refused Explain in detail why Qiu Xiangguo and her husband Cheng Keding were fired and why Qiu was fired in 2019 Send samples Ebola virus and Henipah virus were submitted to Wuhan Institute of Virology.

When members of the opposition pressed Trudeau on the case last week, Trudeau responded by praising diversity.

“We have long known that diversity is our strength as a country, especially in terms of scientific research,” he told parliament. “We will always strive to do more to protect the integrity of our research institutions and their data.

“However, we will never show intolerance to people from other countries just because they look different. We will always support diversity.”

Conservatives responded that the case was about national security and biosecurity, not diversity.

Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong and diversity critic Kenny Chiu said in a statement: “When Prime Minister Trudeau conflated criticism of the Chinese government with anti-Asian racism, he participated in the propaganda work of the Chinese Communist Party leadership. “Beijing’s goal is to confuse legitimate criticism of the Chinese government with intolerance of any Chinese descent.”

They requested to withdraw, but received no response.

Good intentions

“Goodwill does not necessarily lead to good results,” said Cherie Wong, a Hong Kong dissident of the Canadian Hong Kong Alliance, who was the last of three women to testify before the committee.

“I saw (Trudeau) working hard to publish anti-Asian racism,” she told CBC News. “Although I respect the Prime Minister’s efforts to ensure that our community will not face greater harm from these geopolitical discussions, I also hope that he can answer these questions and the national security and foreign impacts that have taken place in our country are very real. Worry.”

Huang said that she has experienced radical racism in the past year. She said: “The fact that racism exists in Western society is being used by the CCP in different ways.

“Soon after Atlanta homicide, We have seen that many Chinese community organizations connected with the country will actually hijack some grassroots organizations that organize anti-Asian racism rallies.

“These Chinese community organizations are often not active in the fair circle of anti-racism work. They only come out when they realize that there is a rally to be held and the opportunity to speak to the media.

“We do see from the official media that the Chinese media is trying to portray a very violent society for ethnic communities in the West. They will use this information in combination,’Look at the motherland. Look at how China has racial harmony.’

Huang said that the CCP “in Tibet, Mongolia, and East Turkistan carried out violent oppression, suppression, and murder of non-Han people. The CCP itself is guilty. So they are using this Asian racism to formulate this patriotic, nationalist View”. China. But if you look closely, you will find that what China promotes is actually racial purity. “

Don’t call back

Some in the U.S. Already suggested Reduce differences with the ruling party in China to reduce anti-Asian racism.

“These suggestions reinforce the concept of the Chinese government and the Chinese people-not to mention other Asians-Chinese leaders and racists and xenophobes outside China preach that all Chinese people should first be loyal to us in China, regardless of our nationality. Or the place of birth,” wrote Hong Haofeng, Johns Hopkins University.

Hong told CBC News, “The influence movement of the Chinese government is a real issue that every democratic government needs to deal with.

“At the same time, many anti-Asian racists are using this situation to incite hatred of Asians and Chinese and bring it into daily life. Sometimes, if (Asian) are in government, we will Investigate them unreasonably and so on.”

Although unprovoked street attacks have always been a major problem in North America, some Chinese-Australians complained that they have recently been living in McCarthy’s Cloud of Doubt After the sudden deterioration of relations with China.

Diversity among spies

Hong said that what is often overlooked is that the Chinese government is increasingly recruiting people with no Chinese background-as evidenced by recent outstanding cases in these two countries. Europe with North America.

“Focusing on a group is not only bad because it is racism. It is also not good because it is counterproductive to national security,” Hong said.

“The Chinese government is not static. They learn quickly and develop quickly,” Hong said. He believes that for some time, Beijing has been “using inclusive and diverse language to protest American institutions that violate China’s interests. China. government.”

One example is China’s pressure on American universities to cancel the invitation to the Dalai Lama, on the grounds that it shows “cultural disrespect” to Chinese students.

In 2019, Lu Shaye, the then Chinese ambassador to Canada, wrote about Canada’s personal experience of this treatment. Column The Hill Times accused Canada of protesting the imprisonment of Michael Cumming Kay and Michael Spavor as “white supremacy.”

Hung cited Donald Trump’s comments on the “kung fu flu” and other disparaging remarks as examples of politicians deliberately provoking prejudice. But even well-meaning politicians “must be very careful to separate the Chinese government from the Chinese and the Chinese diaspora.”

Cherie Wong said that China is a one-party country without meaningful elections, which is also very important.

“I think many people have misunderstood that the Chinese government represents the Chinese people. This is definitely an argument that the Chinese government has been actively pursuing,” Huang said.

“But for those of us here, we need to be very clear that this is not true. The CCP does not represent its people, and we need to separate the conversation. To hold the Chinese government accountable is to hold the country, leaders and political actors accountable.” That country is responsible. “