The former president of a University of Toronto Chinese students association is now employed at the Chinese Consulate in Toronto. The group and its affiliated student associations in many other Canadian educational institutions have a history of close ties with Chinese envoys, and in some cases openly admit they are led by the Chinese diplomatic mission.
Zhu Yanhe’s LinkedIn profile shows that he has been working as a “Reception Desk Clerk” at the Chinese Consulate in Toronto since November 2021. His Facebook page, under the name “Herman Zhu,” shows that he originates from China’s Guangzhou Province and completed his studies in statistics at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus.
On March 7, 2020, he was elected president of the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Chinese Student and Scholars Association (UTSC CSSA), according to a post on the association’s WeChat account. Mr. Zhu had also taken on other roles at the UTSC CSSA since March 2018, serving as vice-president and event director. While his LinkedIn page indicates he is still the president of the group, the University of Toronto’s student organization portal shows that another individual has taken over that position.
The Epoch Times reached out to Mr. Zhu and the Chinese Consulate for comment but didn’t hear back.
The UTSC CSSA has affiliated associations on the University of Toronto’s St. George (UTCSSA) and Mississauga campuses.
The UTCSSA website’s “about us” page and the group’s introductory text on WeChat say that the group is “led by the Chinese Embassy.” The WeChat post also says it is “the only Chinese student association at the University of Toronto certified by the Chinese Consulate in Toronto.” Similar descriptions are also seen among its “brother” organizations in various other Canadian institutions, with several also adopting the title of “Chinese Students and Scholars Association.”
Warnings
According to China analysts, Beijing uses CSSAs to control Chinese students and academics for the benefit of the regime. Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese diplomat who defected to Australia, said in a previous interview with The Epoch Times that the Chinese student associations in almost all universities in Canada, the United States, and Australia are established by China’s Education Department and are funded by the regime.Related Stories
In a submission to the Australian Parliament, Mr. Chen also named CSSAs as being among four vehicles of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to extend influence in Australia’s universities. The other vehicles are the Confucius Institutes, brain drain programs like the Thousand Talents Plan, and activities that compromise academic freedom.
A 2020 report from the U.S. State Department titled “The Chinese Communist Party on Campus: Opportunities & Risks” said the CSSA was created in the late 1970s, when the regime first allowed its citizens to attend western universities, “to monitor Chinese students and mobilize them against views that dissent from the CCP’s stance.”
The report further noted that CSSAs are “collectively overseen by the CCP’s United Front Work Department.” The United Front is “a primary foreign interference tool” of the CCP, used to “stifle criticism, infiltrate foreign political parties, diaspora communities, universities and multinational corporations,” according to a 2020 study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute cited by Public Safety Canada.
While in office, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned about the CSSA, along with the CCP’s controversial cultural program known as the Confucius Institute. Speaking to an audience at the Georgia Institute of Technology on Dec. 9, 2020, he said the CSSAs are “almost always funded by the Chinese Embassy or a local Chinese Consulate,” and that its purpose is to “keep tabs on students and to press pro-Beijing causes.
Targeting Dissidents
Some CSSAs around the world are known to have targeted Chinese dissidents as well as members of religious and ethnic minority communities being persecuted by the CCP.In September 2019, the student union of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, revoked the student club status of the university’s CSSA. This decision was prompted by a letter issued by McMaster CSSA criticizing a campus event that expressed solidarity with China’s Uyghur minority, a community facing persecution by the CCP. Additionally, the McMaster CSSA disrupted a speech by Uyghur activist Rukiye Turdush during the event and subsequently reported her to the Chinese Consulate.
In a more recent incident, on July 31, members of the CSSA at the University of Queensland in Australia clashed with students who were protesting against Beijing’s mistreatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and its suppression of democracy in Hong Kong. In a video posted on social media, a CSSA member said “So, what?” when asked by protesters if he supports the regime’s human rights actions, and stated “I’m proud of it” when a protester pointed to a piece of paper he was holding and said “This is the badge for the CCP.”
In 2007, The Epoch Times reported on threats directed toward Lingdi Zhang, a University of Ottawa student, by the CSSA at the school. Ms. Zhang was an adherent of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, which has been a target of violent persecution by the CCP for over 24 years, beginning in July 1999.
An email sent in 2005 by the vice-chair of the University of Ottawa CSSA Chris Xu warned Ms. Zhang to “watch out” for herself. “According to reports from some other students and the investigation done by the association’s cadre, you are still a Falun Gong practitioner,” the letter said. It added that the “University of Ottawa Chinese Students’ Association is under the direct leadership of the Education Office at the Chinese Embassy in Canada.”
‘Given a Task’ by Consulate
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a March 25, 2021, article on the UTSC CSSA’s WeChat account said the student association had been “given a task” by the Chinese Consulate in Toronto that involved distributing “health packages” containing personal protective equipment (PPE) to students.Mr. Zhu, who was president of the association at the time, garnered media recognition for his efforts in procuring PPE from China and delivering them to students throughout the course of the pandemic. He was interviewed by Chinese state media CCTV and some Chinese-language media in Canada, such as Singtao Daily, that have reported news presenting the Chinese regime in a favourable light.
In a March 2023 WeChat article, the UTCSSA touted its collaboration with the Chinese Embassy and 32 “brother student associations” in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the organizations listed, some are CSSAs within other educational institutions in Canada, including the University of Alberta, Ontario College of Art and Design University, McMaster University, University of Windsor, Sheridan College, and York University.
The Epoch Times reached out to these institutions, including the University of Ottawa mentioned earlier, regarding the operations of the CSSAs on their campuses, but didn’t hear back from the majority of those schools.
Meagan Kashty, spokesperson for Sheridan College, said in an email statement to The Epoch Times that the CSSA club at her institution has been active for the past eight years and that the amount of its activities “varies significantly depending on the year.” She did not address a question regarding concerns that some CSSAs have been targeting dissidents of the Chinese regime.
Caden Pearson, Kathy Han, and Omid Ghoreishi contributed to this report.
