On September the 8th, the same day as Chinese president Hu Jintao arrived in Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Canada confirmed that a Chinese official stationed in Canada defected.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Pamela Greenwell told The Epoch Times: “In mid-August, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China formally advised Foreign Affairs Canada of the unannounced departure of one of their officials.”
On August 1st, 2005, The Epoch Times reported on August the 1st, 2005, that according to sources, a staff member in the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa named Yang Jianhua fled the Embassy along with his wife and son. Yang is 33 years of age. He came to the Chinese Embassy in Canada to work as a hairdresser in the spring of year 2004. In June 2005, Yang’s wife and son came to Canada for a visit. He promptly seized this opportunity and drove out of the embassy with his family on July the 15th.
According to another source, after Yang and his family’s defection, another Chinese official stationed in Canada with a rank at or higher than vice consul general had defected. Foreign Affairs Canada could not confirm whether the official referred by the Chinese Embassy was Yan Jianhua or another official.
Prior to both defections, several other former Chinese officials, including former first secretary of the Chinese Consulate in Sydney Chen Yonglin, former 610 office security officer of Tianjin City Hao Fengjun, and former Judicial Bureau Chief of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province Han Guansheng.
Besides the Embassy in Ottawa, China has three consulates in Canada: Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
Calls made to the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa to confirm the defections were cut off several times.
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