[xtypo_dropcap]T[/xtypo_dropcap]he Ministry of Public Safety is looking into the case of a Vancouver man threatened by agents of China’s Ministry of State Security, according to South Surrey Conservative MP Russ Hiebert.
“I have spoken personally to both ministers [Public Safety and Foreign Affairs] and they are very concerned about this situation. The Minister of Public Safety [Vic Toews], who is responsible for national security, has directed his officials to investigate these threats and work to ensure Wang Tao’s personal safety,” wrote Hiebert in an emailed response to the Epoch Times.
Tao Wang had a successful business in China until his work as a television reporter in Vancouver attracted the attention of the Chinese Communist Party.
Wang works for New Tang Dynasty Television, a Chinese-language TV station that is among the few to broadcasts stories within China’s borders about topics the Chinese regime considers sensitive, such as government corruption and human rights abuses.
While most of the stories Wang has covered have been relatively uncontroversial, such as the Vancouver Olympics and the HST, he has also covered the work of Nobel Prize nominee David Matas, a Winnipeg-based lawyer and co-author of a report exposing the regime’s practice of organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China.
Now Wang says Chinese security agents have threatened his family in China and his medical equipment business there has been shut down by agents of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).
Wang asked MSS agents over the telephone why they were targeting him, and was told it was because he was doing things that were harmful to public security.
Wang could not imagine anything he was doing that would be harmful to public security, but given the regime’s penchant for executing dissidents, suppressing benign religious groups, and imprisoning journalists, he thought it was likely his reporting work in Canada.
“The only thing I can think of is my work with NTDTV,” he told the Epoch Times.
But agents went beyond shutting down his business and vague threats against Wang and his family. Wang says they also threatened his life.
“They said, ‘If you ever go public on this, you are—in Chinese words—seeking death.’ I believe it was a very clear message.”
That is when Tao contacted Hiebert, his MP. Hiebert said he is deeply concerned about the threats made to Wang and takes them very seriously.
“It is absolutely unacceptable for agents of a foreign government to be threatening a Canadian citizen.”
While Wang started receiving threats a month ago, the situation escalated on Sept. 14 when an MSS agent sent Wang a message via one of his company managers in China demanding a written guarantee not to participate in any political activity in Canada.
Wang ignored the request and three days later MSS agents visited his company, sealed up the bank accounts and inventory, and threatened his employees with jail time.
The RCMP in Surrey have confirmed they are investigating the case but had no statement beyond that when asked for comment on Wednesday. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada said they would not comment on the issue because it is under police investigation.
But Hiebert said Foreign Affairs is aware of the situation though it is uncertain whether anything can be done to save Wang’s business in China.
“It is unclear at this point whether anything can be done to change the Chinese Government’s actions,” he said.
