Chinese Canadian leader who supports China taking Taiwan by force has donated C$400,000 to China's military

The “complete re-unification with Taiwan” was also a key issue at the meeting

40+ Chinese Canadian community leaders in B.C. vowed to ‘tell China’s stories well in Canada to help create a better international environment for China when they met with China’s top diplomat in western Canada back on Nov. 13, according to a recent report by China News Service (CNS，中新社).

An event for Canadians to study the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s thoughts and promise to advance China’s development agenda

Yang Shu 杨舒, China’s Consul-General in Vancouver sat in the centre of the podium. At the left hand Yang sat Wang Dianqi 王典奇. At the right side of Yang sat Helen Qian 钱华, the new board director of the Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver (CBA).

The report was headlined “Canada's overseas Chinese community in Vancouver held a symposium to talk about the positive results of the CCP's 20th Congress.” 

The slogan of the meeting, ‘Navigating a New Era, Advancing a New Journey 领航新时代，奋进新征程’, was borrowed from China’s TV feature “Navigator 领航”, a program in praise of the CCP and its leader Xi Jinping, which was released in October 2022 shortly before the start of the CCP’s 20th National Congress. 

At the Vancouver meeting, there were more than 40 attendees including China’s Consul-General in Vancouver Yang Shu 杨舒, representatives from dozens of Chinese Canadian community groups, staffers at the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office  (HKETO) in western Canada, people from the Taiwanese community, and international students from China. 

Chinese Community organizations at the meeting included but were not limited to:

• Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver (CBA) 中华会馆

• Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations(CACA) 加拿大华人社团联席会 

• Canadian Community Service Association (CCSA) 加拿大华人联合总会

• Canada International Trade Promotion Society (CIPTS)加拿大国际贸易促进会 

• Chinese Hong Men Freemasons Dart Coon Club Vancouver chapter 温哥华洪门民治党   

• Canada Chinese Peaceful and Unification Association 加拿大中国（友好）和平统一促进会 

According to a group photo taken by the China News Service, China’s Consul-General in Vancouver Yang Shu 杨舒, sat in the very centre of the group. 

At his left sat Wang Dianqi 王典奇 (president of the Canada Chinese Peaceful and Unification Association); Catherine Yuen 袁黄洁玲 (principal consultant of the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in western Canada) and Harris Niu 牛华 (president of CCSA). At Yang’s right hand sat Helen Qian 钱华 (board director of CBA), Xue Xiaomei 薛晓梅 (executive vice chair of CACA).

Helen Qian, is the woman who organized a grand event in Vancouver in 2013 to celebrate the 129th birthday of Mao Zedong 毛泽东, a former CCP leader and one of the cruelest mass murderers in human history.  

China’s Consul-General, Yang, gave a speech to the Canadian audience. Yang lectured them about the main contents and spirit of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s 20th National Congress. He said the 20th Congress Report puts the quality of development in a more prominent position, and all aspects of economic, social, and cultural ecology should reflect the requirements of high-quality development. Yang urged the overseas Chinese community to keep supporting the construction of their motherland and hometown, actively promote the development of China-Canada relations, and make their respective contributions to the building of a community of shared future for mankind.

Participants at the meeting said the CCP’s 20th National Congress has set a course for China's future development and has also conveyed confidence and strength to overseas compatriots. 

The participants also said, as the friendly messengers between China and Canada, they are willing to tell China's story well and deliver China's voice to build a more peaceful and friendly external environment for China's development. These participants also expressed that the CCP’s 20th National Congress report further boosted their confidence in the complete reunification 完全统一 across the Taiwan Strait and the realization of national rejuvenation.

The “complete reunification 完全统一 (of the Chinese mainland and Taiwan)” is a term frequently used in recent years, and was further solidified by Xi Jinping’s report at the CCP’s 20th congress. 

“To tell China's story well 讲好中国故事” is an important slogan and key strategy in China’s global influence operations, including but not limited to, its Grand External Propaganda 大外宣 campaign and public diplomacy. Introduced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping in 2013, the command “Tell China’s stories well” requires relevant organizations to coordinate to enhance China’s “global discourse power,” boost China’s soft power and reshape international narratives about China. 

Wang Dianqi 王典奇: the Canadian who arranged the meeting, has a long list of siding with Beijing.

The meeting was organized by the Canada Chinese Peaceful and Unification Association 加拿大中国（友好）和平统一促进会. The president of the Association, Wang Dianqi 王典奇, acted as the host of the symposium. 

In his speech, Wang said that the CCP’s 20th National Congress is a very important conference held at a critical moment when the Party and the Chinese people are moving towards a new journey of building a comprehensive socialist modernized country and the second hundred-year goal (of the CCP) coming.

Wang Dianqi is a prominent community leader in the Greater Vancouver Area. His other titles include:

• honourary chairman of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations(CACA) 加拿大华人社团联席会 

• founding president of the Canada China  Harmony Cultural Institute 加拿大中国和合文化研究会

• president of the North America Zhejiang (Taizhou) Chamber of Commerce 北美浙江台州总商会

Wang has been seen repeatedly siding with the Chinese government and against Canada. Here is only a small portion of Wang’s record. 

In July 2016, a United Nations tribunal released a ruling regarding the China-Philippines dispute over the South China Sea. The ruling, made based on the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), was not in China’s favor and denied China’s “historic rights” claims over maritime areas within the "nine-dash line". Immediately after the ruling, Wang and some other community leaders organized a huge symposium in Vancouver to protest the ruling and defend China’s ‘sovereignty in the South China Sea’. 

People at the South China Sea rally supporting Chinese government included Wang Dianqi, Wei Renmin 魏仁民, Helen Qian, etc. 

In their joint statement, they repeated the Chinese government’s talking points, clearly declaring that they support the Chinese government and the peaceful rise of China.
 
Canada, along with other democratic countries, supports the UN ruling and calls on all parties to compile with it.

During the P.R.China’s national day in 2016, Wang arranged a ceremony to raise China’s flag in front of Vancouver city hall while Kerry Jang, the then-city councilor for Vancouver and then-MP Joe Peschisolido wore red scarves 红领巾, a Chinese Communist Party insignia that drew much criticism among the Canadian public.

Almost at the same time, a similar flag-raising ceremony was held in Ontario in front of the Ontario provincial parliament building.  Attendees were Ontario MPP Michael Chan 陈国治, businessman Wei Chengyi 魏成义, Ontario MPP Han Dong 董晗鹏， etc..  

The Ontario event also sparked criticism, including angry comments on social media, “Are we celebrating China's human rights record?” “How about flying the swastika on Hitler's birthday?”

On Sept. 24, 2021, when Meng Wanzhou left Canada for China after she reached a deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. authorities on fraud charges, Wang Dianqi was one of the excited Chinese Canadians that sent Meng off to the airplane outside the B. C. Supreme Court, holding signs that read, “Meng Wanzhou is not guilty! ” “We support Meng Wanzhou!”  When being interviewed by CCTV, one of China’s top propaganda machines, Wang said that a powerful motherland is the strongest backing for overseas Chinese. 

In mid-2022, Wang attended an event at the Chinese Consulate to celebrate the 25th anniversary of mainland China’s cruel takeover of Hong Kong. Helen Qian, the woman who sang high praise of Chinese mass murderer Mao Zedong, was also at the celebration.  

In September 2019, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC, 中华全国归国华侨联合会 or 中国侨联) released a list of its 543 overseas members who were invited to attend the ACFROC’s national congress. Wang Dianqi is on that list.

Wang Dianqi supports Beijing’s annexing Taiwan by force, and has donated C$400,000 to China’s military 

Wang is a fervent supporter of China’s military forces. According to numerous reports in Chinese-language media, Wang has been sending presents to the PLA for 34 years in a row since 1989. Over the years, Wang has donated about 2 million Yuan (about 400,000 Canadian dollars) to China’s army. 

Wang believes supporting China’s army to be his career. He said, ‘Supporting the military is a very meaningful and great cause, a strong army can strengthen the country and a powerful motherland is the strongest backing for every overseas Chinese. I will always go on this path of supporting the military!’

In order to elevate Chinese Canadians’ historical significance, Wang spearheaded a project in 2016 and raised C$100,000 to renovate the Chinese Canadians’  Cemetery in Barkerville, B.C., the earliest settler town for Chinese labourers in Canada.

When a fleet of three Chinese navy warships visited Victoria, B.C. in December 2016, Wang was invited by the Chinese Consulate to board the warships for a tour. In his speech at the subsequent dinner party, Wang delivered his wishes for China’s army to grow stronger and stronger, because “the prosperity of China's economy is the locomotive that drives the world's economic development, and the power of China's military is the strong guarantee of world peace and stability”.

Wang’s organization, Canada Chinese Peaceful and Unification Association, is one of the groups that promote mainland China’s reunification/annexation with Taiwan, a de facto island nation that was never ruled by P.R.China.

During Xi Jinping’s rule, Beijing has ramped up its voice and military preparation about Taiwan, and has repeatedly claimed that China will never renounce the right to take over Taiwan by force. In August 2021, shortly after U.S. House Speaker Pelosi visited Taiwan, Beijing published a white paper, reiterating its resolution to take over Taiwan by military force when necessary. 

Wang Dianqi, as the president of Canada Chinese Peaceful and Unification Association, completely agrees with Beijing’s Taiwan policy. He not only signed his name on a joint letter by 87 Chinese community organizations but also received interviews by Chinese state media to speak out his support.  

The U.S. government has warned the world that Beijing might invade Taiwan in the next few years, as early as in 2023.