Chinese officials in Canada have denied involvement in recent incidents at two Ontario university campuses where activists critical of the Communist regime were allegedly bullied by mainland Chinese students.

Over the last two weeks, online trolls attacked a newly-elected student union president of Tibetan descent in Toronto and a Uyghur activist invited to speak on a Hamilton campus. The latter was also filmed and interrupted during her speech.

“What happened recently at the University of Toronto and McMaster University has nothing to do with the Chinese Embassy and Chinese Consulate General in Canada. We strongly support the just and patriotic actions of Chinese students,” the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa said in a statement issued over the weekend.

Article Continued Below

The statement followed accusations of political influence and interference by Chinese officials in oppressing dissident views on the issues of Tibet and Xinjiang in Canadian public discourse through protests and attacks by mainland Chinese students studying in Canada.

Chemi Lhamo, a Tibetan youth leader and Canadian citizen, said she became the target of hateful comments on her Instagram account — many incorrectly accusing her of being a Tibetan separatist — even before she was elected president of the U of T Scarborough campus student’s union on Feb. 9. More than 11,000 also signed an online petition demanding her to step down.

“With my experience working with different organizations and with the Tibetan community, I’m well aware of how the Chinese government operates,” said the 22-year-old neuroscience and psychology major, who added she is a human rights advocate for all and believes it is up to Tibetans in China to decide if they want independence or not.

“When I read more into those comments, there’s a pattern,” added Lhamo, who was born in India as a refugee and moved to Canada with her family in 2007.

Article Continued Below

“They always make Tibet part of it. It’s certainly not a spontaneous effort.”

Click to expand

Rukiye Turdush, a former president of the Uyghur Canadian Society, was invited to give a presentation on the ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims at McMaster on Feb. 11. She said her presentation was interrupted by several Chinese students in the audience, one of them filming her, with another yelling at her before storming out of the room.

Some students also wrote on WeChat, a messaging and social media app popular among Chinese, that they reported to Chinese officials on Turdush’s talk, according to a statement undersigned by several McMaster campus groups, including the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.

“They should not be allowed to preach their ideology and intimidate us in Canada. If they don’t respect Canada’s political culture, they can go home,” said Turdush, 48, who moved to Canada with her family from Xinjian two decades again.

She is now a Canadian citizen and works as a domestic violence counsellor.

In its statement, the Chinese embassy said it strongly supports the action of the Chinese students for the sake of “safeguarding sovereignty and opposing separatism.”

“Canada is a multicultural country advocating freedom of speech. Since the ‘Tibet-independence’ and Xinjiang separatists forces are allowed to have freedom of speech, people who oppose them should also be entitled to enjoy freedom of speech,” the embassy said.

“We resolutely oppose the use of these issues by some people to blame the Chinese government out of groundless accusations and stir up anti-China sentiment. We hope that the Canadian people could correctly view the relevant issues and will not be misled by the wrong information.”

China protects the religious freedom and minority rights of all ethnic groups in Tibet and Xinjiang in accordance with the law, the embassy maintained.

Both Tibetans and Uyghurs have very distinct cultures, languages, religions and traditions from the majority Han Chinese, which has caused a lot of tension within the regime, said Charles Burton, a Chinese politics expert and senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a non-partisan think tank based in Ottawa.

“These are politically sensitive issues,” Burton said. “The Chinese government identifies Tibetans and Uyghurs as Chinese as their national identity, but I’ve never heard of a Tibetan or Uyghur who identifies themselves as Chinese.”

Burton, who was a counsellor at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing in the late 1990s, said the use of “coercion, harassment and intimidation” against dissenting views is a characteristic of the Chinese regime, though he feels nationalism is becoming more ingrained in young Chinese students through socialization and education back home.

“The nationalistic feeling can be genuine for some. Others feel obligated to engage in that kind of behaviour and support China’s official perspectives if they want to return home,” said Burton, adding that Canada must protect citizens like Turdush and Lhamo from hostile foreign forces.

Lhamo said she campaigned in the student union race on a platform to unite the campus and felt disheartened that there are students who don’t believe in her as their elected leader.

“People are telling me if I step down, they will leave me alone. But this is not about me. China feels it can use bullying tactic to shut people up. Why would I step down?” asked Lhamo.