What Is It That We Need China For?

We know why the corrupt oligarchy that is running this country into the ground likes China but what is everyone else's reason?:

China is threatening retaliation against Canada after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned a new security law giving Beijing more control over Hong Kong.

(Sidebar: this security law.)

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That was a departure from what might be called the Desmarais consensus on China. André Desmarais and his late father, Paul, were influential for nearly 50 years in advocating for doing business with China and soft-pedalling criticism of its human rights abuses. The approach coincided with the business interests of the Desmarais family’s company.

Paul Desmarais launched the Canada China Business Council in 1978, a forum for business and political heavyweights to advance for the Desmarais consensus. The current chair of the council is Olivier Desmarais of Power Corporation.

The apex (or nadir) of the Desmarais consensus was the Team Canada trade mission to China that was led by Chrétien in 1994, a sort of international absolution after the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. The entire Canadian political and business class arrived in Beijing on the premise that blood-stained tyrants could be converted by enhanced international trade.

Former prime ministers Mulroney, Chrétien and Paul Martin all have deep ties to the Desmarais family and ensured that the Desmarais consensus was a thoroughly bipartisan affair.

As Mulroney noted in his memoirs, one of his last acts before leaving office in June 1993 was to host a dinner at 24 Sussex Drive for Chinese Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji, along with Paul and André Desmarais. The dinner was to signal that despite post-Tiananmen sanctions, Canada was eager to get back to business as usual. A few months later, Mulroney himself was in China getting on with business. A year later, Chrétien and Team Canada arrived.

With all that history, the fact that Mulroney would now publicly break with the Desmarais consensus is a major development. It confirms the subtext of the letter signed by the 19 grandees and goes further, arguing against the text itself. Mulroney is now the most senior member of the Canadian establishment to argue, in effect, that the Chinese Communists constitute an evil regime and should be regarded not as a friend, or even a rival, but as a threat.

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No one knows who managed to hack Nortel or where that data went in China. But Shields, and many others who’ve looked into the case, have a strong suspicion it was the Chinese government, which weakened a key Western rival as it promoted its own technology champions, including Huawei Technologies Co., the big telecom equipment manufacturer. Huawei says it wasn’t aware of the Nortel hack at the time, nor involved in it. It also says it never received any information from Nortel. “Any allegations of Huawei’s awareness of or involvement in espionage are entirely false,” the company says in a statement. “None of Huawei’s products or technologies have been developed through improper or nefarious means.”

What isn’t in dispute is that the Nortel hack coincided with a separate offensive by Huawei. This one was totally legal and arguably even more damaging. While Nortel struggled, Huawei thrived thanks to its unique structure—it was privately held, enjoyed generous credit lines from state-owned banks, and had an ability to absorb losses for years before making money on its products. It poached Nortel’s biggest customers and, eventually, hired away the researchers who would give it the lead in 5G networks. “This is plain and simple: Economic espionage did in Nortel,” Shields says. “And all you have to do is look at what entity in the world took over No. 1 and how quickly they did it.”

(Merci)

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A stunning new report from the Washington Free Beacon has confirmed facts put forth by US House Representative Michael McCaul:

It turns out that China never warned the WHO about the Coronavirus, and the WHO instead learned about it from data posted to a US website.

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Trudeau government researchers have stated in a report that the World Health Organization (WHO) praised the Chinese regime's handling of the pandemic too quickly. 

This "created confusion" over the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Blacklock's Reporter. The Canadian government also followed WHO advice meticulously—often resulting in botched health tactics.

"It is difficult to distinguish World Health Organization recommendations based on science and expertise versus political recommendations," detailed a jaw-dropping line in the report. 

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Chinese authorities are taking extra precautions after a case of bubonic plague was reported in a city in Western Inner Mongolia, according to BBC News.

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China warned its citizens on Monday to exercise caution in travelling to Canada, citing “frequent violent actions” by law enforcement, amid ongoing tensions between Beijing and Ottawa.

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Champagne said Ottawa is considering additional measures around immigration, in conjunction with the U.K. and Australia, which have already talked about a “pathway to citizenship” for Hongkongers who want to leave the territory. (Three million Hongkongers born before the 1997 handover hold British National (overseas) passports, which will allow them to settle in the U.K. for five years before applying for citizenship.)

Champagne said freedom and liberty are the “pillars” on which Hong Kong was built. “I went there for the first time in 1986 and anyone who has ever been in Hong Kong realizes that there is something special there. This is a significant step back,” he said in an interview.

(Sidebar: this Champagne.)


What does China have to do before we decide that we have had enough?