A Chinese-born dissident draws chilling parallels between her homeland and Canada’s precarious future.

By Probe International

Yao Zhang, a Chinese-born dissident now living in Quebec, delivers a chilling warning about the creeping influence of communism in the West.

Joining the Brave New Normal podcast earlier this month, Zhang sees alarming similarities between China and Canada. She argues that desperate young Canadians, facing unaffordable lives and mounting frustrations, may reach the same fatal mindset she saw in China: a “my life is bad enough—communism can’t be worse than this” mentality. It is, she stresses, much worse.

By treating citizens as state assets rather than individuals, Zhang maps out how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been able to create a society where loyalty to the party overrides personal bonds to break resistance. By fostering dehumanization, emotional detachment, betrayal, and psychological control through fear, propaganda, and the country’s social credit system, Zhang likens the experience of Chinese people to that of hostages, traumatized by a lifetime of indoctrination and violence, which leaves lasting scars on the collective psyche and hinders the ability to engage with the world as free individuals. This mental illness, she argues, is communism’s most powerful control mechanism—far more effective than overt force—and it persists even among overseas Chinese communities saturated with regime propaganda via apps like WeChat.

As a vocal critic of China’s communist regime, being based in Canada has not spared Zhang from direct CCP harassment, including assaults at protests, doxxing, threats to family, and “spamouflage”—vicious AI-generated deepfake pornography campaigns—yet Canadian authorities only acted forcefully when the material appeared on accounts related to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his administration, highlighting selective protection.

The conversation also presents a critical perspective on the growing alignment of African nations with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), portraying it as a risky shift that could diminish their global relevance amid China’s own economic challenges. Zhang argues that these countries, by siding with China over the United States, risk long-term decline and irrelevance. This trend extends to concerns about Western nations, particularly middle powers like Canada, where Mark Carney is moving to prioritize Chinese interests through financial frameworks supporting the BRI and other initiatives. Such alignments, warns Zhang, could erode national sovereignty and influence, especially as China’s economic downturn limits its ability to deliver sustainable benefits to partners.

Zhang recounts the historical context of her own family’s struggles in China, noting that during the Cultural Revolution, individuals were often scapegoated as part of a broader campaign against perceived enemies of the state. Her grandmother, labeled a “rich farmer” not for wealth but for her ability to sustain her family through her own land, faced the consequences of a system that demanded public humiliation and betrayal. Her aunt’s fear of repercussions from the authorities led to a tragic breakdown in family communication, illustrating how the Communist Party’s tactics effectively pit family members against one another, furthering their control.

Upon arriving in Canada in 2009, Zhang began to notice the growing influence of China. She emphasizes the pride she first felt in Canada’s early recognition of the genocide against the Uyghurs, acknowledging the pressure exerted by the Chinese government on Canadian institutions. This realization serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing struggle against authoritarian influence, as Zhang reflects on the importance of maintaining familial connections and resisting the divisive tactics employed by oppressive regimes—a menace that Canada now faces.

Lacking the resources to secure superpower hegemony in its bid to unseat the United States, Beijing is targeting middle countries like Canada for takeover without tanks, says Zhang.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s deep financial connections to China will intensify the country’s slide towards authoritarianism, she asserts, as well as jeopardize a historic alliance with the U.S. by prioritizing partnerships with Beijing that result in propaganda tactics that frame external enemies (like America) to justify internal power grabs. On a broader note, by eroding sovereignty through data theft, espionage, influence operations (including United Front networks and transnational repression), as well as the exploitation of domestic disunity, the influence and division the CCP sows accelerates self-destruction, says Zhang.

Excellent at exploiting genuine societal concerns, China’s communist regime redirects them towards misguided solutions that ultimately serve its interests. While issues like racism and inequality are real and should be addressed, says Zhang, the answer is not communism, which historically thrives on chaos and discontent. She draws parallels between the rise of communism in China and Russia, where legitimate grievances were manipulated by authoritarian regimes to seize power. Zhang warns that if the West fails to learn from these lessons, it risks repeating the same mistakes, allowing communism to gain a foothold in societies that are already vulnerable and increasingly ripe for ideological capture.

Yao Zhang is a 39-year-old YouTuber with 175,000+ subscribers who covers Chinese current affairs and criticizes the Chinese government.