Two Toronto businessmen attended meetings with Chinese local police advancing China’s ‘overseas police stations’
Two Toronto businessmen met with Chinese local police in 2022 to discuss the operation of China’s ‘overseas police stations’, according to reports on multiple Chinese government websites.
Both businessmen hold top positions at the Canada Toronto Fuqing Business Association (CTFQBA, 加拿大多伦多福清商会), an organization in the focus of the RCMP’s investigations into China’s political interference and ‘overseas police stations’ in Canada.
Weng Guoning 翁国宁 and Yu Lin 余燐 attended two separate symposiums with China local police chiefs during the 2022 Chinese New Year season. One symposium was hosted by the Fuqing Public Security Bureau 福清市公安局, the Fuqing City branch of China’s Ministry of Public Security 公安部. And the symposium was hosted by a branch office of the Fuqing Public Security Bureau.
Weng Guoning 翁国宁, permanent honorary chairman of CTFQBA, met with a Chinese local police chief to discuss China’s ‘overseas police stations
Weng Guoning, permanent honorary chairman of CTFQBA, attended an ‘Overseas Police Lunar Year Tea Party' on February 11, 2022, hosted by the Fuqing police station, according to a report posted on the Fuqing News Network 福清新闻网 on Feb.15, 2022.
The event was hosted by Wang Xiangchun 王祥春, the director of the Fuqing Public Security Bureau and the deputy mayor of Fuqing City. Besides Weng, there were four other overseas Chinese community leaders, including Yan Yunxiang 严云祥 from Argentina, Shen Muhui 沈木辉 from Russia, Wang Xiaojin 王孝金 from Mozambique and He Xing 何兴 from the UK.
A group photo shows Weng (6th from left) standing right beside Wang Xiangchun 王祥春 (5th from left), the police chief in Fuqing City, after the meeting about ‘overseas police’. The photo also shows that five police officers attended the meeting.
As the Fuqing News Network reports,
“Representatives of overseas Chinese leaders at the tea party fully acknowledged that the Fuqing Public Security Bureau has done a great job in protecting and benefiting overseas Chinese. Meanwhile, overseas Chinese leaders put forward their suggestions on strengthening the protection of the legal rights and interests of overseas Chinese born in Fuqing City. In addition, they discussed and exchanged views on combating illegal activites involving overseas Chinese and strengthening police services for overseas Chinese.”
The report continues,
“Police director Wang expressed his gratitude to overseas Chinese compatriots for their long-term care and support to the public security work in Fuqing City, and requested them to continue to do a good job in facilitating the work of overseas Chinese and benefiting overseas Chinese, to provide accurate services to Chinese overseas Chinese, and to strengthen the initiatives to help solve the practical problems of overseas Chinese from Fuqing. When faced with the inconvenient impact brought by the current epidemic, the police would provide more services with warmth. In order to safeguard the legal rights and interests of overseas Chinese compatriots, the police would closely monitor illegal crimes that harm the rights and interests of overseas Chinese, take extraordinary measures to crack down on them according to the law, so that more overseas Chinese would feel at ease and comfortable in conducting their overseas business.”
Fuqing News Network is a website operated by the Propaganda Department under the Fuqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Community Party (CCP).
A few other websites and WeChannels also reposted the news about this ‘overseas police tea party’, but many of them were deleted in recent months.
For example, Chinese Headlines 华人头条, a WeChat channel invested by Weng Guoning posted the news in Feb 2022 but deleted the post later. However, Google image search still keeps the event photo with a brief headline of the meeting.
Weng Guoning is a high-profile figure in the Chinese Canadian community. In addition to CTFQBA, he is also the chairman of The Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO), an umbrella organization that frequently parrots Beijing’s talking points.
This is not the only record of Weng regarding China’s ‘overseas police stations’. In fact, Weng publicly praised China’s ‘overseas police stations in March 2022 saying it makes him “ feel the warmth from the mother’s family”, according to a report on the official website of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC) 中国侨联, a peak organization in the CCP’s UFWD network that aims to influence the overseas Chinese.
When Wei Chengyi 魏成义, another leader at the CTCCO, was reported to be the focus of RCMP’s investigations related to China’s ‘overseas police stations’ and election interference, Weng defended Wei fiercely.
In July 2021, Weng released a video to congratulate the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), headlined ‘An overseas Chinese’s heart is always towards the Party.’
Weng is familiar with many Canadian politicians. He not only rubs shoulders with them at various gatherings but is also actively participating in election campaigns.
In 2020, when overseas Chinese launched a massive movement to purchase large amounts of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to send to China and then back to other countries, Weng was among the busy coordinators.
When Weng traveled to China by himself in April 2020 to purchase PPEs for Canada, Liberal MP Han Dong 董晗鹏 worked closely with him in logistics and photo-shooting.
A photo widely circulated on Chinese language media shows Dong and Weng talking to each other via Facetime at one of the PPE donation events. Dong had a big smile on his face when talking to Weng, and the sign attached to the PPE boxes reads “人类命运共同体 Community with a shared future for mankind,” a political slogan created by the CCP’s top leader Xi Jinping when describing China’s goals in its Major Country Diplomacy 大国外交.
(Found in Translation will elaborate on the significance and backgrounds of these catchphrases in the near future, as part of our new project “CCP Lexicon”. )
Yu Lin 余燐, vice president of CTFQBA, attended a similar meeting in the office of a Chinese local police station
Yu Lin 余燐, vice president of CTFQBA, attended a similar Lunar Year Tea Party hosted by local police in Fuqing City, in the office of Honglu Street branch of the police station.
According to Safety Fuqing 平安福清, the official WeChat Channel of Fuqing county, the event was held on Feb.18, 2022. Dozens of overseas Chinese from 10 countries joined the event including the UK, Argentina, Canada, Portugal, Myanmar, USA, Italy, Japan, Lesotho, and Australia.
Local government officials and CCP committee members addressed the meeting, including Zhang Zhenyun 张振云 (3rd from left), deputy secretary of the CCP Committee at Honglu Street, and Zhang Xiaoyong 张小勇 (2nd from left), director of the Honglu Street Police Station.
The report reads,
“In 2021, the first ‘Overseas Chinese police station’ in Fuqing was established in its Honglu Street Public Secuirty Bureau, with the combined effort of the Honglu Street Police Station and the Honglu Street branch of the ACFROC. The Honglu Street Overseas Chinese police station integrates the functions of a mediation center, a convenience center and a contact center in one. It plays the role of a bridge between Honglu Street Overseas Chinese Association and the city, and timely solves the practical problems of overseas Chinese compatriots.
In order to improve the service system and working mechanism for overseas Chinese, protect the legal rights and interests of overseas Chinese, and give full play to the special function of ‘Police Overseas Chinese Station’, Honglu Street Overseas Chinese Association specially held a symposium to communicate among one another, improve the service for overseas Chinese and and advance the collaboration between the police and overseas Chinese.”
Zhang Xiaoyong, the police chief at the Honglu Street Police Station, especially talked about the problem of telecommunication fraud and the police’s effort in fighting against the transnational telecommunication fraud network and educating the public on how not to fall prey to those fraud crimes.
The meeting discussed the overseas police station’s function of “persuading 劝返” Chinese suspects to return to China to face justice trials.
It said,
“The overseas Chinese compatriots praised the work of Honglu Street Overseas Chinese Association and police station in facilitating overseas Chinese, benefiting overseas Chinese and combating transnational telecommunication fraud. Overseas Chinese at the meeting also provided suggestions in further strengthening the protection of the legal rights and interests of overseas Chinese, persuading people who are suspected of having committed crimes but hiding in northern Myanmar to return China to face justice and strengthening the communication between police and overseas Chinese.”
Yu Lin, as well as Weng Guoning, are all founding members of the CTFQBA. Yu doesn’t have a lot publicity as Weng, but he did attend a number of events in the Chinese Canadian community in Toronto. According to the report on the website of CTCCO, Yu is nicknamed “Big Uncle” in the community and responds promptly to almost all event invitations.
On September 15, 2019, the CTFQBA invited Qianliang Yang 杨乾良, a Canadian police officer from Toronto Police Service 42 Division to give a speech to the Chinese community about how to deal with police in Canada.
Yu Lin (2nd from right) was one of the important attendees who stood in front of the crow with Officer Yang (4th from left in the front row) for a group photo.
Yu (1st from right) also sat very close to the podium when officer Yang was delivering the speech.
At the 2020 new year gala hosted by the CTFQBA, Yu and his son Yu Jian 余坚, were both granted the ‘Outstanding Contribution Awards of the Year 2019’.
Great work! Would be interesting to know if Officer Yang was there on official duty or just showed up after shift.