By: Toh Han Shih -
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- Recently, Canadian intelligence and a Canadian think tank warned of Chinese interference and transnational repression in Canada. Alleging an example of Chinese influence in Canada, in September 2024, a Canadian media, The Bureau , reported a meeting between Tse Chi Lop, a triad boss currently imprisoned in Australia, and William Majcher, a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer. The Bureau report claimed the meeting between Tse, whom it alleged had prior connections to the Chinese Communist Party, and “Majcher, a former RCMP officer now accused of aiding Chinese intelligence, raises intriguing questions about the nexus between Triads and Chinese state operations.”
The supposed scoop turned out to be fictitious, as the story contained a photograph of a scene from a 2015 Hong Kong movie, “From Vegas to Macau II”, where it was not Tse, but Hong Kong movie star Chow Yun-fat who shook hands with Majcher, who acted in that movie.
“This incident really serves as a great metaphor for how catastrophic is the failure of Canadian Intelligence and Law Enforcement. Most national security investigations in Canada are driven by media and internal political considerations, thus making Canada completely defenceless for dealing with genuine national security threats,” Majcher told Asia Sentinel.
This supposed scoop was reported by a journalist whom the RCMP relied upon in their investigation, and the Canadian Intelligence Security Service (CSIS) regularly leaks information to him, Majcher disclosed.
In a statement on September 26, 2024, The Bureau admitted, “The story contained a photograph and information provided by a source, said to show Mr. Majcher, as well as notorious individuals of interest to law enforcement, at a Macau casino. In fact, the photograph was from a fictional movie in which Mr. Majcher appeared, and there is no indication he has met with the people named in the story. The story was taken down as soon as this was discovered,” The Bureau added.
“We were misled by sources that manipulated our trust. Investigations into this matter are progressing…. The Bureau was the target and victim of a deliberate and sustained effort to mislead the public. While we regret that we did not identify this infiltration sooner, we have shared technical evidence with the appropriate government authorities to further the investigation,” The Bureau revealed.
On May 13, Martha Devlin, a British Columbia supreme court judge, acquitted Majcher of a charge under Canada’s Security of Information Act. In 2023, Majcher was charged for the act of allegedly helping Chinese police coerce Kevin Hongwei Sun, a property investor accused of fraud, to return from Canada to China.
“I conclude that the Crown has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Majcher committed any of these acts (in violation of the Security of Information Act)”, Justice Devlin said in her judgment on May 13.
“I believe the hysteria of China as the “Yellow Peril” (a racist metaphor against Oriental people) is alive and well in Canada and that played a significan t part in all this. I am angry about my arrest and all that went with it,” Majcher said.
“I plan to return to Hong Kong where there is rule of law and a transparent legal system, and a medical system that works. From Hong Kong, I plan to hold the Canadian government accountable and spend time with my children and work on rebuilding my business,” he added.
“There needs to be a full public inquiry as Canada did to me exactly what they accuse other countries of doing in violation of human rights and evidentiary standards,” Majcher alleged.
Majcher retired from the RCMP in August 2007 and later that year moved from Canada to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, he worked for various financial institutions, then ran a company, EMIDR, which investigated financial crimes.
“The verdict speaks for itself. This case is an example of police and prosecutorial malpractice stemming from hysteria over foreign interference from China,” Canadian Senator Yuen Pau Woo told Asia Sentinel.
“It is the second recent example of national security overreach that has harmed innocent Canadians,” Woo pointed out.
In 2023, the RCMP alleged that a Chinese Community Services Organization in Montreal was the site of a Chinese police station.
“They provided no evidence and were not even able to describe the nature of illegal activities said to be taking place at the Centre. Two years later, they quietly ended the investigation with no charges laid. In the meantime, the Community Centre suffered reputation and material damage, as did the clients of the Centre, who are typically lower-income immigrants,” Woo said.
Majcher was first arrested on July 18, 2023 when he arrived with his family in Vancouver from Hong Kong. He was released on July 19, 2023, then rearrested and charged the next day.
The Canadian government (the Crown) alleged that between May 1 and June 15, 2017, Majcher prepared to coercively induce Sun, a Chinese citizen who became a Canadian permanent resident in 2001, to accede to the demands of the Chinese government, at the direction of, for the benefit of, or in association with Chinese police.
The Canadian government used the following email as evidence against Majcher, Justice Devlin noted.
In an email to Ross Gaffney, then an EMIDR executive and a former FBI agent, on June 12, 2017, Majcher said, “I have spent the last few weeks going back and forth between the lawyer in Vancouver and Chinese officials to negotiate the terms of the engagement so we can attempt to negotiate and recover part of a RMB 2.9 Billion (US$426 million) fraud committed against ICBC (a large Chinese state-owned bank) in Jilin Province over ten years ago. (Sun) is now a major real estate mogul in Vancouver and we have located over US$100M of assets. The Chinese Police have opened a Task Force and standing by to issue a global arrest warrant. I hope to have a copy of the warrant before it is issued so we can impress upon (Sun) that we hold the keys to his future. I am meeting an associate of the target tomorrow in (Hong Kong) to see if he can help negotiate a settlement, as the Chinese want to use this as a precedent case to settle economic crimes quietly and expeditiously.”
The email did not prove Majcher took actual steps to coerce Sun, Justive Devlin ruled. “The Crown’s case substantially rests on evidence that is circumstantial in nature.”
Sun appears to have political connections in China. In 2001, he was a representative for the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, for Jilin City, public documents in China show.
Although Sun was a target of the Chinese police’s attempt to nab overseas suspects, nicknamed “Fox Hunt”, he has not been convicted of any crime in Canada. He is living in Richmond on the outskirts of Vancouver, said Majcher. Warnings of Chinese influence in Canada In 2025, the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada remained China, India, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan, said a CSIS report released on May 1.
Chinese interference and transnational repression are likely to intensify, given that Beijing views the flow into Hong Kong of overseas activists as a significant risk to China’s national security, said a report of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a Canadian think tank, on April 2.
Common interference tactics used by Chinese agents and their affiliates in Canada include unauthorized activities of police and intelligence officers to conduct surveillance, intimidation, or other forms of coercion of individuals and communities, said a report of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a Canadian think tank, on April 2.
“Most Canadians view FI (foreign interference) as a serious threat to democratic health, and a large segment of Chinese, Hong Kong, Tibetan, Taiwanese, and Uyghur respondents reported experiencing transnational repression (TNR) — frequently through online harassment and threatening phone calls,” said the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada report.
As part of the Canadian government’s attempt to fight foreign influence, on March 13, following approval of both Canadian houses of parliament, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Gary Anandasangaree, announced Anton Boegman as Canada’s first Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner.
Woo, a past president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, admitted foreign interference is real and must be taken seriously, especially transnational repression.
“But Canada’s national intelligence and security agencies are using such a broad definition of foreign interference that anyone “in association with” a foreign entity can be labelled as a foreign agent. National security overreach, combined with old-fashioned prejudice and discrimination against Chinese people, has resulted in what I call “modern exclusion”, Woo argued. Toh Han Shih is a Singaporean writer in Hong Kong and a regular contributor to Asia Sentinel.