Hotznplotzn

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46996072

Opinion piece by Bonnie Girard, President of China Channel Ltd., who has lived and worked in China for half of her adult life.

Archived

[...]

For decades, modern China watchers, and certainly some large number of Chinese citizens themselves, hoped against hope that the economic transformation created by China’s industrial, manufacturing, and technological development would create the conditions for significant, representative political reform.

By the early 2000s, many Chinese, even CCP members, were optimistic. “We can’t go back” is a phrase that was often heard in those days when referring to the political and economic changes and advances underway in China. As [Dr. Minxin Pei, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California] wrote, “Given the transformative socioeconomic changes China had experienced in the post-Mao era, such a scenario [going back] was simply unthinkable.”

But now it seems clear that the only thing needed to drag China back to the dark age of totalitarian rule was the will. And Xi provided that.

“Motives alone, however, could not explain the ease with which he [Xi] dismantled the post-Tiananmen order and reestablished a form of neo-Stalinist rule,” Pei noted. “He needed enablers – not just shrewd and ruthless henchmen, but also institutional tools – to bring back totalitarian rule.”

[...]

Opinion piece by Bonnie Girard, President of China Channel Ltd., who has lived and worked in China for half of her adult life.

Archived

[...]

For decades, modern China watchers, and certainly some large number of Chinese citizens themselves, hoped against hope that the economic transformation created by China’s industrial, manufacturing, and technological development would create the conditions for significant, representative political reform.

By the early 2000s, many Chinese, even CCP members, were optimistic. “We can’t go back” is a phrase that was often heard in those days when referring to the political and economic changes and advances underway in China. As [Dr. Minxin Pei, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California] wrote, “Given the transformative socioeconomic changes China had experienced in the post-Mao era, such a scenario [going back] was simply unthinkable.”

But now it seems clear that the only thing needed to drag China back to the dark age of totalitarian rule was the will. And Xi provided that.

“Motives alone, however, could not explain the ease with which he [Xi] dismantled the post-Tiananmen order and reestablished a form of neo-Stalinist rule,” Pei noted. “He needed enablers – not just shrewd and ruthless henchmen, but also institutional tools – to bring back totalitarian rule.”

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46973777

Archived

Chinese government circulated sexually explicit deepfakes of dissident Yao Zhang.

Yao Zhang says she doesn’t have any friends, yet every week, thousands of her 175,000 YouTube subscribers tune in to her channel to listen to her live takes on Chinese current affairs.

“China isn’t a democratic country. Everyone suffers in that regime,” Zhang told Radio-Canada during an interview held somewhere between Montreal and Quebec City.

Concerned for her safety, the 39-year-old guards any information that could give away her location.

And for good reason: the Quebec YouTuber, who refuses to be silenced, has been the target of an intimidation campaign by the Chinese government for over a year.

“I have to be very, very careful,” she said. “I stopped all communications with the Chinese community because I don’t know who I can trust.”

[...]

Trained in accounting at McGill University, Zhang did a 180 during the pandemic and began offering news commentary on YouTube, which she continues to do today. The Communist Party of China and president Xi Jinping are often the subjects of her criticisms.

“I’m with Taiwan, I’m with the Uyghurs, I’m with Hong Kong. I’m against the Chinese government,” said the pro-democracy activist.

It was in September 2024 that Zhang first noticed sexually explicit AI-generated images of herself circulating online.

“It wasn’t just one photo. There were many, many of them,” she remembered with disgust.

Shared by anonymous accounts, the images were published on social media under posts of official accounts belonging to the Canadian government and then prime minister Justin Trudeau.

[...]

For the YouTuber, there was no doubt the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was behind what she was seeing. And she was right.

In March, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) released a statement blaming the PRC for a new "spamouflage" campaign using sexually explicit AI-generated images to target individuals in Canada. Zhang says the government told her she is the first documented case of the campaign.

“This new campaign employs various tactics to intimidate, belittle and harass individuals based in Canada who are critical of the PRC,” reads the statement.

Notably, Zhang and members of her family have been doxed. Her date of birth, phone and passport numbers all appear on a doxing website that labels her as a “traitor.” The site, which is still accessible to this day, also uses degrading language to spread defamatory sexually explicit statements about her.

[...]

Though the YouTuber benefits from a certain degree of protection in Canada, she can’t say the same for her family in China.

In 2024, after a trip to Taiwan to support the island’s independence, Zhang said China's national police put pressure on her aunt and grandmother living there in an attempt to silence her.

The strategy is a well known one, detailed in a report published earlier this year by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.

“[The PRC] employs a wide range of tradecraft to carry out its activities, one of which is to use a person’s family and friends living in the PRC as leverage against them,” it reads.

[...]

Zhang says she’s received death threats against her and her family and is worried about retribution if she were to ever return to China.

“I’ll go to prison,” she said. “I’ll be like all those who have wanted to change China.”

[...]

Transnational repression is a “genuine scourge” in the country, concluded Marie-Josée Hogue, who presided over the public inquiry into foreign interference. The threat it poses “is real and growing,” adds the report.

The former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, who occupied the function from 2012 to 2016, says budgets allocated to cracking down on dissent “increased substantially” after Xi came to power in 2012.

[...]

Notably, an Enquête investigation revealed that a Chinese dissident found dead in British Columbia in 2022, Hua Yong, was the target of an espionnage operation led by the Chinese secret police.

[...]

Zhang says she is at peace and hopes that more Chinese people in Canada and elsewhere in the world will speak out.

“I am using my life for something very important,” she says.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46973777

Archived

Chinese government circulated sexually explicit deepfakes of dissident Yao Zhang.

Yao Zhang says she doesn’t have any friends, yet every week, thousands of her 175,000 YouTube subscribers tune in to her channel to listen to her live takes on Chinese current affairs.

“China isn’t a democratic country. Everyone suffers in that regime,” Zhang told Radio-Canada during an interview held somewhere between Montreal and Quebec City.

Concerned for her safety, the 39-year-old guards any information that could give away her location.

And for good reason: the Quebec YouTuber, who refuses to be silenced, has been the target of an intimidation campaign by the Chinese government for over a year.

“I have to be very, very careful,” she said. “I stopped all communications with the Chinese community because I don’t know who I can trust.”

[...]

Trained in accounting at McGill University, Zhang did a 180 during the pandemic and began offering news commentary on YouTube, which she continues to do today. The Communist Party of China and president Xi Jinping are often the subjects of her criticisms.

“I’m with Taiwan, I’m with the Uyghurs, I’m with Hong Kong. I’m against the Chinese government,” said the pro-democracy activist.

It was in September 2024 that Zhang first noticed sexually explicit AI-generated images of herself circulating online.

“It wasn’t just one photo. There were many, many of them,” she remembered with disgust.

Shared by anonymous accounts, the images were published on social media under posts of official accounts belonging to the Canadian government and then prime minister Justin Trudeau.

[...]

For the YouTuber, there was no doubt the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was behind what she was seeing. And she was right.

In March, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) released a statement blaming the PRC for a new "spamouflage" campaign using sexually explicit AI-generated images to target individuals in Canada. Zhang says the government told her she is the first documented case of the campaign.

“This new campaign employs various tactics to intimidate, belittle and harass individuals based in Canada who are critical of the PRC,” reads the statement.

Notably, Zhang and members of her family have been doxed. Her date of birth, phone and passport numbers all appear on a doxing website that labels her as a “traitor.” The site, which is still accessible to this day, also uses degrading language to spread defamatory sexually explicit statements about her.

[...]

Though the YouTuber benefits from a certain degree of protection in Canada, she can’t say the same for her family in China.

In 2024, after a trip to Taiwan to support the island’s independence, Zhang said China's national police put pressure on her aunt and grandmother living there in an attempt to silence her.

The strategy is a well known one, detailed in a report published earlier this year by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.

“[The PRC] employs a wide range of tradecraft to carry out its activities, one of which is to use a person’s family and friends living in the PRC as leverage against them,” it reads.

[...]

Zhang says she’s received death threats against her and her family and is worried about retribution if she were to ever return to China.

“I’ll go to prison,” she said. “I’ll be like all those who have wanted to change China.”

[...]

Transnational repression is a “genuine scourge” in the country, concluded Marie-Josée Hogue, who presided over the public inquiry into foreign interference. The threat it poses “is real and growing,” adds the report.

The former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, who occupied the function from 2012 to 2016, says budgets allocated to cracking down on dissent “increased substantially” after Xi came to power in 2012.

[...]

Notably, an Enquête investigation revealed that a Chinese dissident found dead in British Columbia in 2022, Hua Yong, was the target of an espionnage operation led by the Chinese secret police.

[...]

Zhang says she is at peace and hopes that more Chinese people in Canada and elsewhere in the world will speak out.

“I am using my life for something very important,” she says.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46973777

Archived

Chinese government circulated sexually explicit deepfakes of dissident Yao Zhang.

Yao Zhang says she doesn’t have any friends, yet every week, thousands of her 175,000 YouTube subscribers tune in to her channel to listen to her live takes on Chinese current affairs.

“China isn’t a democratic country. Everyone suffers in that regime,” Zhang told Radio-Canada during an interview held somewhere between Montreal and Quebec City.

Concerned for her safety, the 39-year-old guards any information that could give away her location.

And for good reason: the Quebec YouTuber, who refuses to be silenced, has been the target of an intimidation campaign by the Chinese government for over a year.

“I have to be very, very careful,” she said. “I stopped all communications with the Chinese community because I don’t know who I can trust.”

[...]

Trained in accounting at McGill University, Zhang did a 180 during the pandemic and began offering news commentary on YouTube, which she continues to do today. The Communist Party of China and president Xi Jinping are often the subjects of her criticisms.

“I’m with Taiwan, I’m with the Uyghurs, I’m with Hong Kong. I’m against the Chinese government,” said the pro-democracy activist.

It was in September 2024 that Zhang first noticed sexually explicit AI-generated images of herself circulating online.

“It wasn’t just one photo. There were many, many of them,” she remembered with disgust.

Shared by anonymous accounts, the images were published on social media under posts of official accounts belonging to the Canadian government and then prime minister Justin Trudeau.

[...]

For the YouTuber, there was no doubt the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was behind what she was seeing. And she was right.

In March, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) released a statement blaming the PRC for a new "spamouflage" campaign using sexually explicit AI-generated images to target individuals in Canada. Zhang says the government told her she is the first documented case of the campaign.

“This new campaign employs various tactics to intimidate, belittle and harass individuals based in Canada who are critical of the PRC,” reads the statement.

Notably, Zhang and members of her family have been doxed. Her date of birth, phone and passport numbers all appear on a doxing website that labels her as a “traitor.” The site, which is still accessible to this day, also uses degrading language to spread defamatory sexually explicit statements about her.

[...]

Though the YouTuber benefits from a certain degree of protection in Canada, she can’t say the same for her family in China.

In 2024, after a trip to Taiwan to support the island’s independence, Zhang said China's national police put pressure on her aunt and grandmother living there in an attempt to silence her.

The strategy is a well known one, detailed in a report published earlier this year by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.

“[The PRC] employs a wide range of tradecraft to carry out its activities, one of which is to use a person’s family and friends living in the PRC as leverage against them,” it reads.

[...]

Zhang says she’s received death threats against her and her family and is worried about retribution if she were to ever return to China.

“I’ll go to prison,” she said. “I’ll be like all those who have wanted to change China.”

[...]

Transnational repression is a “genuine scourge” in the country, concluded Marie-Josée Hogue, who presided over the public inquiry into foreign interference. The threat it poses “is real and growing,” adds the report.

The former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, who occupied the function from 2012 to 2016, says budgets allocated to cracking down on dissent “increased substantially” after Xi came to power in 2012.

[...]

Notably, an Enquête investigation revealed that a Chinese dissident found dead in British Columbia in 2022, Hua Yong, was the target of an espionnage operation led by the Chinese secret police.

[...]

Zhang says she is at peace and hopes that more Chinese people in Canada and elsewhere in the world will speak out.

“I am using my life for something very important,” she says.

[...]

Archived

Chinese government circulated sexually explicit deepfakes of dissident Yao Zhang.

Yao Zhang says she doesn’t have any friends, yet every week, thousands of her 175,000 YouTube subscribers tune in to her channel to listen to her live takes on Chinese current affairs.

“China isn’t a democratic country. Everyone suffers in that regime,” Zhang told Radio-Canada during an interview held somewhere between Montreal and Quebec City.

Concerned for her safety, the 39-year-old guards any information that could give away her location.

And for good reason: the Quebec YouTuber, who refuses to be silenced, has been the target of an intimidation campaign by the Chinese government for over a year.

“I have to be very, very careful,” she said. “I stopped all communications with the Chinese community because I don’t know who I can trust.”

[...]

Trained in accounting at McGill University, Zhang did a 180 during the pandemic and began offering news commentary on YouTube, which she continues to do today. The Communist Party of China and president Xi Jinping are often the subjects of her criticisms.

“I’m with Taiwan, I’m with the Uyghurs, I’m with Hong Kong. I’m against the Chinese government,” said the pro-democracy activist.

It was in September 2024 that Zhang first noticed sexually explicit AI-generated images of herself circulating online.

“It wasn’t just one photo. There were many, many of them,” she remembered with disgust.

Shared by anonymous accounts, the images were published on social media under posts of official accounts belonging to the Canadian government and then prime minister Justin Trudeau.

[...]

For the YouTuber, there was no doubt the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was behind what she was seeing. And she was right.

In March, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) released a statement blaming the PRC for a new "spamouflage" campaign using sexually explicit AI-generated images to target individuals in Canada. Zhang says the government told her she is the first documented case of the campaign.

“This new campaign employs various tactics to intimidate, belittle and harass individuals based in Canada who are critical of the PRC,” reads the statement.

Notably, Zhang and members of her family have been doxed. Her date of birth, phone and passport numbers all appear on a doxing website that labels her as a “traitor.” The site, which is still accessible to this day, also uses degrading language to spread defamatory sexually explicit statements about her.

[...]

Though the YouTuber benefits from a certain degree of protection in Canada, she can’t say the same for her family in China.

In 2024, after a trip to Taiwan to support the island’s independence, Zhang said China's national police put pressure on her aunt and grandmother living there in an attempt to silence her.

The strategy is a well known one, detailed in a report published earlier this year by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.

“[The PRC] employs a wide range of tradecraft to carry out its activities, one of which is to use a person’s family and friends living in the PRC as leverage against them,” it reads.

[...]

Zhang says she’s received death threats against her and her family and is worried about retribution if she were to ever return to China.

“I’ll go to prison,” she said. “I’ll be like all those who have wanted to change China.”

[...]

Transnational repression is a “genuine scourge” in the country, concluded Marie-Josée Hogue, who presided over the public inquiry into foreign interference. The threat it poses “is real and growing,” adds the report.

The former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, who occupied the function from 2012 to 2016, says budgets allocated to cracking down on dissent “increased substantially” after Xi came to power in 2012.

[...]

Notably, an Enquête investigation revealed that a Chinese dissident found dead in British Columbia in 2022, Hua Yong, was the target of an espionnage operation led by the Chinese secret police.

[...]

Zhang says she is at peace and hopes that more Chinese people in Canada and elsewhere in the world will speak out.

“I am using my life for something very important,” she says.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46973111

Archived

One of Russia’s largest “systemically important” banks has disclosed severe financial strains as overdue loans mount across the corporate sector.

Credit Bank of Moscow (MKB), closely linked to state oil major Rosneft, reported an eightfold surge in overdue debt since the start of the year, the Kommersant business daily reported, citing the bank’s financial records.

Clients failed to repay 585 billion rubles ($7.66 billion) in loans on time between January and September, pushing total non-performing loans to 668 billion rubles ($8.75 billion), or about 28% of the bank’s loan book.

A source told Kommersant that the problems were uncovered during a Central Bank inspection that began in summer 2024.

[...]

MKB was the only major bank to post a net interest loss in the third quarter, with the loss amounting to 157.6 billion rubles ($2.06 billion).

Founded by billionaire Roman Avdeev, MKB was drawn into Rosneft’s orbit in 2017 after nearly collapsing alongside other lenders in the so-called “Moscow ring” — Otkritie FC Bank, Binbank and Promsvyazbank.

[...]

Rosneft effectively rescued MKB by injecting capital, placing long-term deposits maturing in 2066 and shifting into the bank hundreds of billions of rubles in reverse-repo deals used to finance its operations.

It remains unclear which borrowers defaulted in 2025, as the bank’s disclosures do not specify.

The Central Bank noted in November that several mining and metals companies required debt restructuring amid falling demand and prices, while the oil and gas sector has been hit by sanctions and a sharp decline in crude prices.

[...]

[Edit typo.]

Archived

One of Russia’s largest “systemically important” banks has disclosed severe financial strains as overdue loans mount across the corporate sector.

Credit Bank of Moscow (MKB), closely linked to state oil major Rosneft, reported an eightfold surge in overdue debt since the start of the year, the Kommersant business daily reported, citing the bank’s financial records.

Clients failed to repay 585 billion rubles ($7.66 billion) in loans on time between January and September, pushing total non-performing loans to 668 billion rubles ($8.75 billion), or about 28% of the bank’s loan book.

A source told Kommersant that the problems were uncovered during a Central Bank inspection that began in summer 2024.

[...]

MKB was the only major bank to post a net interest loss in the third quarter, with the loss amounting to 157.6 billion rubles ($2.06 billion).

Founded by billionaire Roman Avdeev, MKB was drawn into Rosneft’s orbit in 2017 after nearly collapsing alongside other lenders in the so-called “Moscow ring” — Otkritie FC Bank, Binbank and Promsvyazbank.

[...]

Rosneft effectively rescued MKB by injecting capital, placing long-term deposits maturing in 2066 and shifting into the bank hundreds of billions of rubles in reverse-repo deals used to finance its operations.

It remains unclear which borrowers defaulted in 2025, as the bank’s disclosures do not specify.

The Central Bank noted in November that several mining and metals companies required debt restructuring amid falling demand and prices, while the oil and gas sector has been hit by sanctions and a sharp decline in crude prices.

[...]

[Edit typo.]

Archived

Russia’s top privatization official has overseen a system that funneled major state assets to businessmen close to the Kremlin, including billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, the exiled investigative outlet The Insider reported [links to Russian article].

Vadim Yakovenko, head of the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo), has seen his role expand since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with the agency gaining control over assets abandoned by departing foreign companies and property seized by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

According to The Insider, one of the most notable sales occurred in 2024, when Rosimushchestvo sold Rosspirtprom, Russia’s largest alcohol producer, for 8 billion rubles ($104.8 million).

Industry analysts and market participants at the time described the price as significantly undervalued.

The buyer, a little-known firm called Biznes-Alyans, is 51% controlled by the Batman closed-end mutual fund managed by Fin-Partner.

While the Batman fund’s beneficiaries are not publicly disclosed, Rotenberg was the ultimate beneficiary of the deal, The Insider reported, citing internal financial documents that it obtained.

Rotenberg also acquired several chemical companies confiscated by the state, including Volzhsky Orgsintez, Metafrax Chemicals and the Dalnegorsky Mining and Processing Plant, earlier reporting by the exiled outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe said.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46972708

[...]

A man who spent a decade and a half working as a Chinese spy has shared details of some of his missions with Radio-Canada, including what he knows about a Chinese dissident who died in B.C., Canada, in 2022.

"From 2008 to 2023, my real job was to work for China's secret police. It's a means for political repression," said "Eric," who was interviewed in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. "Its main targets are dissidents who criticize the Chinese Communist Party."

Eric shared a variety of documents — including financial records, secret money transfers and the names of spies — with journalists from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, of which CBC/Radio-Canada is a partner.

The records give an unprecedented glimpse at the inner workings of China's overseas spy operations.

[...]

For 15 years, Eric worked for the 1st Bureau at China's Ministry of Public Security, a unit that specializes in surveillance of dissidents abroad. He previously told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he spied on a Japanese-based cartoonist and a YouTuber exiled in Australia. Often, he said, his cover was working for real companies in the countries where he was deployed — companies that collaborated with China's secret police.

[...]

In 2020, Eric said he was tasked with snooping on a dissident named Hua Yong, an artist and hardcore opponent of China's Communist Party who eventually ended up on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast.

[...]

After several failed attempts to flee China, Eric finally succeeded in 2023. The former spy wanted to go to Canada to claim asylum but ended up in Australia because he was able to get a tourist visa there.

The world has a right to know what China's secret police are up to, Eric said, adding that revealing it publicly actually buys him a measure of protection.

Meanwhile, the police investigation into Hua's death isn't officially closed because three years later, the B.C. Coroners Service still hasn't completed its report, which normally takes about 16 months.

Eric said he's had no contact with Canadian police but that he did confidentially send some documents to the Hogue commission, Canada's public inquiry into foreign interference.

"There are some strange aspects to this case that demand further investigation," he said.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46972708

[...]

A man who spent a decade and a half working as a Chinese spy has shared details of some of his missions with Radio-Canada, including what he knows about a Chinese dissident who died in B.C., Canada, in 2022.

"From 2008 to 2023, my real job was to work for China's secret police. It's a means for political repression," said "Eric," who was interviewed in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. "Its main targets are dissidents who criticize the Chinese Communist Party."

Eric shared a variety of documents — including financial records, secret money transfers and the names of spies — with journalists from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, of which CBC/Radio-Canada is a partner.

The records give an unprecedented glimpse at the inner workings of China's overseas spy operations.

[...]

For 15 years, Eric worked for the 1st Bureau at China's Ministry of Public Security, a unit that specializes in surveillance of dissidents abroad. He previously told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he spied on a Japanese-based cartoonist and a YouTuber exiled in Australia. Often, he said, his cover was working for real companies in the countries where he was deployed — companies that collaborated with China's secret police.

[...]

In 2020, Eric said he was tasked with snooping on a dissident named Hua Yong, an artist and hardcore opponent of China's Communist Party who eventually ended up on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast.

[...]

After several failed attempts to flee China, Eric finally succeeded in 2023. The former spy wanted to go to Canada to claim asylum but ended up in Australia because he was able to get a tourist visa there.

The world has a right to know what China's secret police are up to, Eric said, adding that revealing it publicly actually buys him a measure of protection.

Meanwhile, the police investigation into Hua's death isn't officially closed because three years later, the B.C. Coroners Service still hasn't completed its report, which normally takes about 16 months.

Eric said he's had no contact with Canadian police but that he did confidentially send some documents to the Hogue commission, Canada's public inquiry into foreign interference.

"There are some strange aspects to this case that demand further investigation," he said.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46972708

[...]

A man who spent a decade and a half working as a Chinese spy has shared details of some of his missions with Radio-Canada, including what he knows about a Chinese dissident who died in B.C., Canada, in 2022.

"From 2008 to 2023, my real job was to work for China's secret police. It's a means for political repression," said "Eric," who was interviewed in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. "Its main targets are dissidents who criticize the Chinese Communist Party."

Eric shared a variety of documents — including financial records, secret money transfers and the names of spies — with journalists from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, of which CBC/Radio-Canada is a partner.

The records give an unprecedented glimpse at the inner workings of China's overseas spy operations.

[...]

For 15 years, Eric worked for the 1st Bureau at China's Ministry of Public Security, a unit that specializes in surveillance of dissidents abroad. He previously told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he spied on a Japanese-based cartoonist and a YouTuber exiled in Australia. Often, he said, his cover was working for real companies in the countries where he was deployed — companies that collaborated with China's secret police.

[...]

In 2020, Eric said he was tasked with snooping on a dissident named Hua Yong, an artist and hardcore opponent of China's Communist Party who eventually ended up on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast.

[...]

After several failed attempts to flee China, Eric finally succeeded in 2023. The former spy wanted to go to Canada to claim asylum but ended up in Australia because he was able to get a tourist visa there.

The world has a right to know what China's secret police are up to, Eric said, adding that revealing it publicly actually buys him a measure of protection.

Meanwhile, the police investigation into Hua's death isn't officially closed because three years later, the B.C. Coroners Service still hasn't completed its report, which normally takes about 16 months.

Eric said he's had no contact with Canadian police but that he did confidentially send some documents to the Hogue commission, Canada's public inquiry into foreign interference.

"There are some strange aspects to this case that demand further investigation," he said.