History is full of cases of interference by one country in another, of covert or subversive operations. Between influence and interference, however, there is a “significant gray area”, wrote the special rapporteur David Johnston recently. But how do we draw the line by observing our own action abroad?
“It is both legal and normal for states to have an opinion on the policies of other states, to express that opinion publicly and to try to convince,” said Mr. Johnston in his report released in May.
“Diplomacy is essentially meddling in matters that do not concern us. The profession of diplomat is often one of interference,” says Ferry de Kerckhove, former Canadian ambassador. Diplomats are “true influencers,” he argues, who are active in trying to change the policies of their host country, whether commercial, international or high-political.
Assigned to Pakistan as high commissioner from 1998 to 2001, he remembers having started tough negotiations himself. A shutdown thermal plant “cost SNC-Lavalin tens of thousands of dollars,” and he had directly offered a price for each kilowatt of electricity to resume operations.
The day after the agreement, the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had sent him a long document to indicate to him all his breaches of the diplomatic conventions in place: “I had clearly exceeded the limit drawn. »
From his time as ambassador to Indonesia, he also remembers that he organized a demonstration in support of the Canadian company Manulife, declared bankrupt by the local authorities.
“Can you imagine a head of mission leading a demonstration with employees when strikes were banned in Indonesia? » he says today, smiling. He goes so far as to qualify this episode as “diplomatic harassment”, and concedes “that we have sometimes forced the hand of other countries in history”.
He believes that as long as diplomats find common interests with the country where they are posted, it remains possible to persuade with respect, without resorting to subversive activities or threatening the families of high-ranking people.
Mr. de Kerckhove is therefore categorical: “The Chinese offices in Toronto and Montreal carried out almost police actions that go far beyond what is permitted by the standards of the legality of diplomatic relations. »
This is what Mr. Johnston also clearly called: “Foreign states move from diplomacy to foreign interference when their influence activities become hidden, deceptive or threatening. »
“It is indeed the maneuvers that are more hidden that are debatable. It is not so much the content of the interference, but the manner, ”explains Stéphane Roussel, professor at the National School of Public Administration. An expert in international relations, he remarks, for example, that “Canada has never been shy about giving lessons in human rights”.
Not the United States
It is necessary to distinguish, of course, what is done in diplomacy, in intelligence and secret operations (covert operations). In this last area, the country is not “really equipped”, says the professor.
Canada has already been denounced for having spied on behalf of the United States, notably in the documents revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013. Mr. Roussel would however be “surprised” to learn that the country has a large secret device at the abroad, unlike our neighbor to the south.
The United States, for example, has used its propaganda power in countries like Iran and Chile. Declassified documents show that their diplomats as well as the CIA “planted” false stories in the local press before orchestrating coups.
“Yes, there were Canadian spies who were able to act under another flag, British or American,” but the Canadian intelligence service remains mainly focused on what is happening in the country itself, according to Mr. Roussel.
In the case of China, recalls the specialist, it was its own citizens who “became agents of intelligence or agents of subversion” in Canada.
“Canadian ambassadors are not going to advocate regime change. But I have, for example, taken steps to modify certain bills, ”also underlines Guy Saint-Jacques, Canadian ambassador to China until 2016.
The representatives abroad are thus never pure spectators, they jump on the ground to intervene in the part in play, he illustrates.
Is the interference in the eye of the beholder? Mr. de Kerckhove admits that if an ambassador demonstrated in front of a company on Canadian soil as he did in Indonesia, “we would probably take it worse”: “We consider ourselves to be civilized, not being able to be subject to attacks equally virulent from other countries. »
“Some countries have a more touchy definition than others,” notes Mr. Saint-Jacques. He remembers being criticized for posting a selfie of himself and his wife in Tian’anmen Square on social media in China. “The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa had complained to Global Affairs saying it was interference. I think we don’t have the same definition as China,” he concludes.