We Don't Have to Trade With China

What will it take?:

Across the street from a strip mall lined with restaurants and hair salons, the shield of the Wenzhou Friendship Society hangs above a gated entry.

What has gone on behind those doors is part of a Canadian national security investigation into the aggressive foreign interference tactics of the Chinese government.

The RCMP is probing allegations China has been operating covert centres in Canada that use threats, intimidation and corruption to suppress local opposition and sway policy.

No charges have been laid in relation to the Wenzhou society, a registered charity that benefits from federal tax advantages and says it supports new immigrants and helps them repay Canada.

 

You don't say:

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After a number of charges were withdrawn in a well-publicized York Regional Police gambling-den bust — the aftermath of which reached Canada's highest public office — a solitary individual has been convicted.

In July 2020, police announced the results of an investigation of an alleged gaming and bawdy house operation reportedly being run out of a luxurious mansion at 5 Decourcy Crt. in Markham.

Part of the haul police showed the media was 11 guns, including an AR-15, more than $11 million in cash and alcohol.

Those arrested included Wei Wei, who was charged with keeping a gaming house, unsafe firearm storage and possession of a stolen firearm, as well as his wife, Xiang Yue Chen, and his daughter, Chen Wei, who were both charged with keeping a gaming house and possession of proceeds of crime.

Photographs of Wei Wei meeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a Liberal fundraiser later surfaced in the media.

The charges were dropped on May 13, 2021 and Wei Wei signed a peace bond, meaning he promised to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

His wife and daughter's charges were stayed in April 2021.

Then almost every other person charged as part of the investigation, which saw 28 people charged with keeping a common gaming house or being found in one, had their charges withdrawn.

Now, one man has been convicted of the charges he faced that night when York Regional Police officers stormed the mansion.

Wei Dong was convicted of storing firearms, including an AR-15, in a careless manner and unlawfully possessing over capacity magazines knowing he wasn’t the holder of a licence to do so.

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An unredacted 2020 national security document alleges that Beijing used an extensive network of community groups to conceal the flow of funds between Chinese officials and Canadian members of an election interference network, all in an effort to advance its own political agenda in the 2019 federal contest.

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Japan and India began their first joint fighter jet exercise on Monday near Tokyo as the countries upgrade defence and security ties with an eye on China's increasing military might.

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About 900 million Chinese are estimated to be infected with COVID-19 in China’s latest outbreak, with nearly 80 percent of them facing severe symptoms, according to a study by Peking University. Meanwhile, Chinese health officials are acknowledging that about 60,000 COVID-related deaths have occurred in hospitals across the country in the past month, following international pressure for transparency and data.

As of Jan. 11, 64 percent of China’s 1.4 billion population—about 900 million people— had been infected with COVID-19, mainland Chinese media outlet Economic Observer reported on Jan. 13, citing a recent study from a research group led by professor Ma Jingjing at the National School of Development of Peking University.

The report states that the highest infection rates for the current round of the outbreak are in three provinces in western China. Gansu province was highest ranked with about 91 percent of people being infected, followed by Yunnan province with an 84 percent infection rate and Qinghai province at 80 percent.

The model estimates of infection rates in the study were calculated based on search volumes on online platforms for symptoms related to COVID-19 infection, according to Ma. Given the lack of official data, the authors used the number of online searches for symptoms such as “fever” and “cough” as an indication of local infection rates, she said.

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Amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in China, many overseas Chinese, including those as far afield as Canada and as close as Japan, are rushing to buy up medicines in those countries and send them to family back home.

NTD Television, The Epoch Times’ sister media, talked with courier companies in Vancouver and Toronto who said they’ve seen a dramatic rise in the number of drug packages being shipped to China by the Chinese community recently.

A staff member at a drug counter in a Toronto Chinese supermarket told NTD she’s seen many more Chinese people coming to the store since December to buy fever and cold medicines and send them back to China.

Many Chinese living in Japan and other parts of the world similarly rushed to get their hands on the medicines for their families in China, which is facing widespread drug shortages across cities and towns triggered by the latest surge in COVID infections.

Generic versions of Tylenol and Advil were quickly snapped up at pharmacies in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Australia, and sent to China, according to several media reports.

The bulk purchases have also left Japanese drugstores in short supply of such drugs. One pharmacist in Osaka told The Epoch Times recently that Chinese buyers stockpile fever patches, cough and cold medicines, masks and eye drops, and ship them back to the mainland.