We Don't Have to Trade With China

So, why do we?:

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is governed by a board of up to 18 directors, and Canada’s industry minister has the power to appoint two of those directors, something charity expert Kate Bahen says she has never seen before.

It’s “highly unusual” for the government to have this influence on a charity, even when the government gives an endowment, Bahen told The Epoch Times.

The foundation, which describes itself as “an independent and non-partisan charity,” began operations when it received a $125 million endowment from the federal government in March 2002.

“Normally, the government just gives you money,” said Bahen, managing director of Charity Intelligence Canada, adding that it doesn’t usually require seats on the board or any other oversight powers.

The Trudeau Foundation was formed as a memorial to former prime minister Pierre Trudeau and to provide scholarships and mentorship to “future Engaged Leaders … in the Social Sciences and Humanities.”

With the late Trudeau’s son, Justin Trudeau, becoming prime minister in 2015, the foundation came under new scrutiny for its points of connection with—and potential influence on—the federal government.

Its entire board recently resigned following controversy over a donation made in 2016 by two Chinese businessmen with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The Globe and Mail reported in February that, according to a national security source, the donation was part of the regime’s attempts to influence Canadian politicians.

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Independent MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) in a court filing admits to at least a dozen phone calls with Communist Chinese diplomats including Beijing’s Ambassador to Canada. Dong called it “common practice” for any MP: “They are not close friends.”

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Delays caused by the RCMP’s work-from-home directives in the early days of the pandemic are the reason for the collapse of a criminal case against a former Agriculture Canada scientist who was accused of illegally taking payments from China.

The Saskatchewan RCMP arrested the scientist, Yantai Gan, in November, 2019, and he stopped working for the federal government shortly afterward. He was charged with breach of trust by a public official, as well as fraud.

The Globe and Mail reported last week that a Saskatchewan court had dismissed the case in accordance with a 2016 Supreme Court of Canada ruling known as Jordan, which obliges prosecutors to complete their cases within 30 months, barring “exceptional circumstances.” A court transcript obtained by The Globe details the reasons for the court’s decision.

The transcript covers the January pretrial hearing where the case was thrown out. It says the Crown had attributed delays in the case to “exceptional circumstances,” which prosecutors claimed had taken place as the pandemic erupted in 2020. The Crown said an RCMP officer who had been tasked with gathering around 900 documents for disclosure to the defence was under orders to work from home at the time, and couldn’t access the force’s secure files.

Justice Timothy Keene, of the Saskatchewan Court of King’s Bench, rejected the idea that working from home in 2020, when lockdowns were prevalent across the country, was an exceptional circumstance. He found that the RCMP’s failure to facilitate access to the documents contributed to six weeks of delay. This was fatal to the case, because even though the Crown had won grace periods for other pandemic-related delays, the disclosure issues stretched the prosecution timeline to two weeks past the 30-month limit.

“I appreciate this is close to the line,” Justice Keene said, but he added that he had no choice. “In my view, Jordan sets a hard cap and even if this appears a close call, I must find in favour of the applicant and not the Crown.”

The case’s dismissal is an inconclusive turn in a high-profile investigation into suspected foreign interference, at a time when the federal government is warning universities to curb research partnerships with China. The government is also probing allegations of meddling by Beijing in the past two federal elections.

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People have been supposing this for ages:

The COVID-19 virus originated in a Chinese laboratory and was leaked unintentionally, a new U.S. Senate report concludes.

The virus, SARS-CoV-2, leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which tests bat coronaviruses, twice in 2019, researchers conducting the report say.

“The preponderance of information supports the plausibility of an unintentional research-related incident that likely resulted from failures of biosafety containment during SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-related research,” the 301-page report, released on April 17, states.

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Can't your bosses just wire you the funds?:

Global News’s story about Vincent Ke resulted in “wanton smearing” of the whole Chinese-Canadian community and the lawsuit will counteract that impact, Ke says in messages on the WeChat communications app.

The MPP for Toronto’s Don Valley North riding, who resigned from the governing Progressive Conservative caucus over the allegations but calls them “malicious slander,” provided potential donors with information for transferring money to a trust fund. He said contributions will be returned if he ends up receiving compensation from the suit.

“Due to Canada’s protection of media freedom of speech, this will be a tough battle but I have no way out and I must fight this battle firmly,” says a Google translation of the MPP’s Chinese-language direct messages to potential donors.

 

 

On the Korean Peninsula:

China's Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong has lodged solemn representations with the South Korean ambassador over "erroneous" remarks by the South Korean president about Taiwan, China's foreign ministry said on Sunday.

In an exclusive interview with Reuters, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said increased tensions around Taiwan were due to attempts to change the status quo by force, and he opposed such a change.

"The Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue," Yoon said.

 

Oh, do you mean this North Korea?:

As North Korea looks set to launch a spy satellite, potentially over Okinawa’s far-flung islands, the Defense Ministry has ordered the Self-Defense Forces to be ready to shoot down any object that could threaten Japanese territory.

But as dramatic as a shootdown sounds, such a scenario is highly unlikely, with the order more about reassuring a nervous public.

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada issued the advance order on Saturday after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week called for the launch of the country’s first military spy satellite. Kim did not give a time frame, but ordered officials to speed up preparations for the already-built satellite’s launch — a hint that it could come soon.

 

 Three guesses as to why Japan and South Korea are becoming more friendly.