UMontreal still considering whether or not to return donation linked to Chinese influence campaign

The University of Montreal is reportedly still considering whether or not it will return a donation that is allegedly linked to a Chinese influence campaign targeted at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The National Post reports that UMontreal received $550K in 2016 on behalf of Canadian businessmen Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng, who were allegedly backed by the Chinese government. The university expected to receive another $250K from Bin and Gensheng, but never received this money. Post reports that UMontreal was also offered $50K to create a statue of Pierre Trudeau, which the donors wanted to have positioned alongside Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. University of Toronto professor emeritus Nelson Wiseman said that there seems to be little reason for UMontreal to return the money because it is not likely to still have any influence.