A closer look at MP Han Dong’s voting record on China – National | 24CA News
Toronto-area MP Han Dong is on the centre of a political firestorm following a Global News report that he allegedly spoke with a Chinese diplomat in 2021, advising Beijing to delay releasing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, in response to two intelligence sources.
While Dong acknowledged he had the dialog with China’s consul-general in Toronto, Han Tao, he strongly denied the allegations that he instructed Beijing to carry off the discharge of the 2 Canadians.
He has subsequently resigned from the Liberal caucus, giving an emotional speech Wednesday evening within the House of Commons.
“What has been reported is false, and I will defend myself against these absolutely untrue claims,” mentioned Dong, who will now sit as an Independent.
“Let me assure members that, as a parliamentarian and as a person, I have never advocated, and I will never and would never advocate or support the violation of the basic human rights of any Canadian or of anyone, anywhere, period.”
Global News beforehand reported final month that Dong is one among at the very least 11 Toronto-area driving candidates who was allegedly supported by Beijing within the 2019 federal election, in response to nationwide safety sources.
The sources spoke to Global News on the situation of anonymity, which they requested as a result of they threat prosecution below the Security of Information Act.
Dong has denied the allegations.
In an effort to glean extra in regards to the Don Valley North MP’s positions on points concerning China, Global News has compiled a overview of his votes and statements inside and outside of the House of Commons:
Statements on the Two Michaels
Kovrig and Spavor spent greater than 1,000 days in jail in China in what was believed to be in retaliation for Canada’s 2018 detention of Meng Wanzhou. The Huawei senior govt was arrested in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition warrant over fraud costs associated to U.S. sanctions violations towards Iran.
While two nationwide safety sources instructed Global News that Dong urged Chinese Consul General Han Tao to delay releasing the Michaels, Dong pushed again strongly towards the allegations in a response to Global News.
“I raised the status of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig and called for their immediate release,” he wrote.
“At every opportunity before they returned home, I adamantly demanded their release to Canada without delay. Any suggestions otherwise are false and are attempts to mislead you and your readers, and slander me.”
Global News reviewed all statements made by Dong in Parliament since he was elected in 2019 and located no remarks associated to the Two Michaels or calls for his or her freedom previous to March 2023.
Dong didn’t reply to questions on the place he’s beforehand made such statements.
Read extra:
Liberals ignored CSIS warning on 2019 candidate accused in Chinese interference probe, sources say
The Globe and Mail reported Thursday that the Trudeau authorities decided there was no “actionable evidence” after it acquired a CSIS transcript of a 2021 dialog between Dong and China’s prime diplomat in Toronto.
According to The Globe, a senior authorities supply indicated that conclusions couldn’t be drawn that Dong requested Beijing to maintain the 2 Canadians in jail for political causes.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was requested Friday by reporters about whether or not he believed Dong advocated for delaying the Michaels’ freedom.
The prime minister didn’t immediately reply that query regardless of his workplace’s overview of the dialog’s transcript.
“Dong gave a strong speech in the House that I recommend people listen to. We fully accept that he is stepping away from the Liberal caucus in order to vigorously contest these allegations,” the prime minister mentioned.
Trudeau added that meddling by China, Russia or Iran “is a very real challenge to our democracy and is absolutely unacceptable.”
Calls for interference inquiry
Shortly after resigning from the Liberal caucus, Dong voted Thursday for an inquiry into international election interference.
The Trudeau authorities has been below intense stress for perceived inaction after reviews of China’s alleged meddling in Canadian elections.
Dong voted with the Conservative Party, Bloc Québécois and New Democrats to assist move the movement with 172 votes in favour and 149 towards, largely comprised of Liberal MPs.
Canada-China relations
Since 2019, there have been three votes on Canada-China relations. One was to overview “the Canada–China relationship,” the second a name to fight rising Chinese international operations in Canada, and third recognizing that authoritarian regimes like China “increasingly pose a threat to the rules-based international order.”
Dong voted with your complete or overwhelming majority of the Liberal caucus towards the three motions.
Uyghur Genocide
On Feb. 1, a Liberal movement was introduced ahead condemning China’s human rights abuses of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang and referred to as on the federal government to deliver 10,000 Uyghurs and different Turkic Muslims to Canada.
Uyghurs in different international locations, the movement mentioned, are pressured to return to China, the place they face “forced sterilization, forced labour, torture and other atrocities.”
Dong voted earlier than and after the Uyghur genocide movement however missed the present of fingers on the Uyghurs, which handed with the unanimous consent of all 322 MPs current. His absence was first reported by the National Post.
The Toronto MP didn’t reply to questions from Global News about his non-attendence and referred Global to his assertion earlier than the House of Commons.
“Members skip their votes, abstain their votes all the time, and I wasn’t the only one that skipped the vote,” he instructed reporters Tuesday.
In February 2021, there was a House vote to declare that China’s therapy of the Uyghurs constituted genocide.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cupboard abstained, however MPs have been free to vote. Dong skipped that movement, which handed unanimously.
Election interference
Amid a flurry of questions from reporters in regards to the beautiful allegations towards him, Dong mentioned that in 2020 he had referred to as for a movement to check “election interference.”
In November 2020, Dong did name for a examine on “ways to further protect Canada’s democratic and electoral institutions from cyber and non-cyber interference.”
The examine, he mentioned on the time, ought to embrace “how new domestic and international stakeholders, as well as other orders of government, can work together to strengthen Canada’s whole-of-society preparedness, resilience and civic engagement in the face of evolving threats to democracy.”
Wuhan Institute
In 2021, a Conservative movement sponsored by MP Michael Chong requested that the Public Health Agency flip over unredacted paperwork associated to the cargo of viruses despatched from Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory to Wuhan, China in 2019, and the following firing of two scientists from the Winnipeg facility.
Dong voted with the practically whole Liberal caucus towards the movement, which nonetheless handed in Parliament.
Taiwan
Speaking to reporters exterior the House of Commons earlier this week, Dong mentioned he had voted in favour of motions thought of hostile to Beijing’s pursuits.
“I voted to condemn China when they sanctioned one of our vice chairs of a standing committee,” he mentioned. “I voted to include Taiwan in the WHO. In 2020, I moved a motion in [an] ethics committee to study election interference, domestic and international.”
Read extra:
Liberal MP Han Dong secretly suggested Chinese diplomat in 2021 to delay releasing Two Michaels: sources
China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and views any overture of assist as meddling in its inside affairs.
In October 2022, Dong certainly joined 323 MPs in voting for the politically delicate nation to grow to be a WHO member. And in June 2021, Dong joined all 327 MPs in favour of unanimously passing a Parliamentary committee movement to sentence Chinese sanctions levied towards Conservative MP Michael Chong.
Hong Kong
In February, Dong publicly supported the Liberal authorities’s transfer to broaden the open-work allow program for Hong Kong residents.
The former British colony, which reverted to Beijing’s management in 1997, has seen a large wave of emigration following anti-government demonstrations 4 years in the past. The protests have been sparked by a invoice that may have allowed folks to be extradited from Hong Kong to mainland China.
“[This] announcement will ensure that Hong Kong residents who share Canada’s values of freedom and democracy will continue to be able to seek opportunities to settle and succeed in Canada,” Dong mentioned in a press launch on the time.
