Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun
China has never interfered in Canada's internal affairs, nor do we have any interest in doing so, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson once again emphasized on Tuesday, following a Canadian intelligence official's claim that countries such as China and India are likely to try to interfere in the upcoming Canadian election on April 28 and China is "highly likely" to use tools enabled by AI to interfere.
Chinese observers told the Global Times the recurring narrative of "foreign interference in election" has been created to serve Canada's domestic agendas, and they described the ploy as "self-entertaining."
"China is highly likely to use AI enabled tools to attempt to interfere with Canada's democratic process in this current election," Vanessa Lloyd, deputy director of operations at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, claimed during a press conference on Monday, according to Reuters.
Accusing others but using phrase such as "highly likely" with no certainty reveals the apparent guilty conscience of the Canadian official when making the allegation, Liu Dan, a researcher at the Center for Regional Country Studies at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, told the Global Times.
This is not the first time that Canada has deliberately created a narrative of "Chinese interference" in its elections. The approach is primarily a Conservative Party tactic to sow doubt over the legitimacy of Liberal Party victories, Liu said.
With the so-called allegation, Liberal Party would be under pressure of domestic public opinion to continue the investigation over "interference in election" claim, the expert said, noting that although the so-called evidence has always been elusive or didn't exist, the hype can easily attract the attention and support of voters.
On Tuesday's press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun reemphasized that "China stays committed to the principle of non-interference in other countries' domestic affairs. China has never interfered in Canada's internal affairs, nor do we have any interest in doing so."
New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Conservative opponent kicked off their election campaigns on Sunday against the backdrop of a trade war and annexation threats from the Trump administration, according to AP.
Carney announced there will be a five-week election campaign before the vote on 28 April, the report said.
Liu said hyping foreign interference helps divert public attention from US-Canada tensions, mitigating the impact of strong nationalist sentiments on Canada's relations with the US, and it also allows the Canadian government to exploit the topic of foreign interference to justify its hardline policies towards China and garner support from voters.
Carney on Sunday called a snap election for April 28, saying he needed a strong mandate to deal with the threat posed by US President Donald Trump, who "wants to break us so America can own us," according to Reuters.
"The comments showed the extent to which relations between the US and Canada, two long-time allies and major trading partners, have deteriorated since Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and threatened to annex it as the 51st state," Reuters report said.
The objective reality, which even the current Prime Minister of Canada acknowledges, is that the primary threat facing Canada comes from the US, which aims to turn Canada into its 51st state, against this backdrop, hyping "Chinese interference" and smearing China demonstrate the amateurishness and unprofessionalism of this Canadian intelligence official, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.
