Did China target Pierre Trudeau with foreign interference? A new book explores the evidence

This is an edited excerpt from Under Assault: Interference and Espionage in China’s Secret War Against Canada. The author, Dennis Molinaro, is a former national security analyst and policy adviser for the Canadian federal government.

In mid-century British Columbia, student politics were frequently occupied with the issue of Japanese imperialism, particularly as China came under attack by Japan. Among the most vocal of stu­dents was Paul Lin, a child of Chinese immigrants who came to Canada in the late 1880s. He grew up in B.C. and travelled to the U.S. to study engineering, but switched to law as his pro-China advocacy evolved during the 1940s. He changed his name to Paul Ta-Kuang Lin, a more “proper” Chinese name, as Mr. Lin himself put it. By 1948, he was opposed to the Nationalist Party and an avid supporter of the CCP. He eventually moved to the newly formed PRC with his family.