Olivia Chow accused of meeting with group allegedly linked to Chinese police stations

A Chinese-Canadian political activist is accusing Toronto mayoral candidate Olivia Chow of meeting with a business group allegedly connected to a Chinese police station operating in Canada.

According to Karen Woods, co-founder of the Canadian Chinese Political Affairs Committee (CCPAC), Chow met with representatives of the Fu Qing Business Association as part of her mayoral campaign.

Last October, Global News reported that the Canada Toronto Fu Qing Business Association was operating an illegal “police station” in the Greater Toronto Area connected with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). 

As part of China’s operation Fox Hunt, the PRC have been targeting Chinese nationals across the globe who the regime have identified as political rivals, dissidents or critics and forcibly repatriating them back to China, according to the human rights group SafeGuard Defenders.

The Fu Qing Business Association is said to have been operating one of these Chinese police stations in a Markham industrial plaza. 

The Fu Qing Business Association is also connected with the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO), an umbrella group of dozens of associations promoting ties with Beijing and consular officials. Wei Chengyi, a member of CTCCO who has been investigated by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), is the permanent honorary chairman of the Fu Qing Business Association. 

A photo tweeted by Woods, dated May 4, shows a woman identified as Chow at a boardroom table with several other people.

Chow did not respond to True North’s request for comment or context on the photo and the meeting. 

According to Woods, Chow has a history of collaborating with PRC-backed individuals. 

During Chow’s original campaign for the Toronto mayoralty in 2014, prominent member of China’s overseas designated community leaders program Simon Zhong endorsed and campaigned for Chow. 

Zhong is the executive director of the Toronto Community and Culture Centre, also known as the Toronto Mainland Chinese Community Centre and is also member of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee of China’s National People’s Congress – the PRC’s legislature.