The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says Beijing routinely uses undercover state security officials and “trusted agents,” or proxies, to target members of Canada’s Chinese community in an effort to silence critics of President Xi Jinping, The Globe and Mail reported.

The federal spy agency says these illegal activities in Canada are part of a global campaign of intimidation that constitutes a threat to this country’s sovereignty and the safety of Canadians. One of the most high-profile efforts is Operation Fox Hunt, directed by Beijing’s Ministry of Public Security, which has been under way since 2014, the Canadian newspaper reported.

Operation Fox Hunt was ostensibly launched as an anti-corruption campaign by Xi that targeted wealthy citizens and corrupt Communist Party members, who had fled overseas with large amounts, the newspaper reported.

However, FBI director Christopher Wray was quoted as saying by the newspaper in July that Operation Fox Hunt’s principal aim now is to suppress dissent among the Chinese diaspora.

He called Fox Hunt nothing more than a sweeping bid by Xi to “target Chinese nationals who he sees as threats and who live outside China, around the world.” 

China is facing tremendous criticisms from countries across the world amid allegations that the deadly COVID-19 virus, which left global health situation under threat and economies in jeopardy, spread from Wuhan region.