"There is a level of admiration I actually have for China ..."
**
Trudeau was still a child when his prime minister father Pierre Trudeau was introducing him to intimates of Mao Zedong. Within months of the 1989
Tiananmen Square massacre, a teenaged Justin was with his family on a
VIP trip to China during which his father made great pains to avoid
criticizing the actions of Beijing’s leadership.
**
1970: Canada recognizes communist China
Canada establishes ties with Beijing and ends diplomatic relations
with Taiwan. The switch takes place more than a year before U.S.
President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China, which eventually leads to
American recognition of the communist government in 1979, when the two
nations established relations.
1973: Trudeau meets Mao
Pierre Trudeau, who championed establishing diplomatic relations with
the People’s Republic of China, meets Mao Zedong, the founder of the
communist state. It is the first trip by a Canadian leader to the
country since the Communist Party took power in 1949.
1984: China’s premier visits Canada
Zhao Ziyang holds talks with Trudeau in the first visit by a Chinese
premier to Canada since the establishment of diplomatic relations. The
two governments sign an investment agreement. Zhao meets U.S. President
Ronald Reagan in Washington on the same trip.
1994: Boosting trade
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien brings business leaders to China to
expand trade, despite criticism of the government’s bloody crackdown on
the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. A backer of improved ties,
Chrétien was in Beijing earlier this month to meet Chinese officials
ahead of Carney’s trip.
2006: Criticizing human rights
New Canadian leader Stephen Harper initially takes a tough line on
China over its human rights records. He angers the Beijing government in
2007 by meeting the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who has
fled China. Harper later shifts to a more moderate approach, visiting
China several times to promote trade.
2016: A second Trudeau visits
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Pierre’s son, declares a new era in
relations with China on a visit to Beijing. He says ties have been
somewhat lacking in stability and regularity. Trudeau meets Chinese
leader Xi Jinping on a return visit in 2017.
2018: Relations crash
Canada detains Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive of China’s Huawei
Technologies Co., at the request of the United States. The move sparks a
downward spiral in relations that lasts for the rest of Trudeau’s term.
China retaliates by detaining two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael
Spavor, on spy charges. All three are released in 2021 under a
three-way deal with the U.S.
2022: Huawei banned
Canada bans Huawei equipment from Canada’s 5G networks. Canada also
bars Chinese tech company ZTE Corp. from the country’s telecommunication
systems. The U.S. had lobbied allies to exclude Huawei over
cyberespionage concerns. China says Canada’s move was carried out with
the U.S. to suppress Chinese companies in violation of free-market
principles.
2023: Diplomats expelled
Canada expels a Chinese diplomat in Toronto whom it accuses of
involvement in a plot to intimidate Canadian lawmaker Michael Chong and
his relatives in Hong Kong after Chong criticized Beijing’s human rights
record. China responds by expelling a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai.
Canada also launches an inquiry into whether China interfered in
Canadian elections in 2019 and 2021.
Now here we are:
How about instead of becoming the 51st American state,Canada becomes the 23rd Chinese province?
Listening to Prime Minister Mark Carney and his ministers
fawn over the Chinese government in Beijing this week, it almost seemed like
they would be willing to follow President Xi Jinping down any path he led — and
in the end, they did.
The visit culminated with a deal on Friday, whereby 49,000
Chinese-manufactured electric vehicles would enter Canada every year at a
tariff rate of six per cent, down from 100 per cent. In exchange, China says it
will drop tariffs on some canola products — though not canola oil — and seafood
from between 25 per cent and 85 per cent down to either zero or 15 per cent.
While this deal may relieve some pressure on Canadian
farmers and, presumably, assist the government in achieving its net-zero goals,
the prime minister has potentially just greenlit nearly 50,000 pieces of malign
software coming into the country every year, as there are genuine national
security concerns with Chinese electric vehicles.
The deal is also certain to annoy U.S. President Donald
Trump at a time when the Canada-U.S. trading relationship is under review. The
100 per cent tariffs on Chinese EVs were imposed to align with American tariffs
set by Democratic president Joe Biden, less than two years ago.
But lowering the tariffs may prove to be the least
troublesome part of this deal, as Carney said the ultimate goal is to “drive
considerable Chinese investment into Canada’s auto-sector.” One of the
justifications Trump gave for imposing tariffs on North American trading
partners, despite existing agreements, was that China had invested in Mexico as
a way to gain tariff-free access to the American market.
How does Carney think the Americans will react to China
attempting to use Canada as a way into the U.S. market? And is Carney not aware
that China’s motivations have less to do with Canada’s suitability as a trading
partner and more to do with Xi Jinping’s goal of destabilizing America?
This, and don't think that Carney was hoodwinked.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
This was never about expanding trade or unworkable cars. It was about moving Canada away from the sphere of American influence and forcing these unworkable cars onto a population that will see no use in them.
At least we bucked that dreadful Trump, right?
Does anyone think that Trump will let China sit on the US' northern border?
Further:
**
Ottawa may be walking into a trap by seeking a “strategic partnership” with China, which is losing energy suppliers like Venezuela under
U.S. control and could pull Canada into its orbit for resources and away from
its allies, longtime China analyst Sheng Xue warns.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his government is
pursuing a “strategic partnership” with Beijing, as he and several of his
cabinet ministers have been meeting with Chinese officials throughout his visit
in Beijing in an effort to build closer relations between the two countries.
Sheng, a Toronto-based journalist and pro-democracy
activist, told The Epoch Times that Canada “may be falling into a clearly
visible strategic trap” by entering into key agreements with the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP).
“Currently, the CCP is losing multiple key energy and
political pillars simultaneously,” Sheng said.
Sheng added that with the instability of the Venezuelan
regime after the recent events involving the United States, as well as the
“severe internal turmoil” of the Iranian regime, Beijing “urgently needs to
find new sources of energy and raw materials that are politically low-cost,
resource-stable, and can be packaged as ‘normal cooperation.’”
Canada’s vast reserves of energy, food, and critical
minerals offer exactly these conditions, she said, adding that Canada is also
“politically constrained by a legacy of moral self-restraint and globalist
narratives,” making it easy to label Canada as a “rational cooperative
partner.”
Sheng says that Canada risks undermining cooperation with
its allies by developing deeper relations with the CCP, particularly at a time
when the United States is seeking to drive out the influence of CCP from the
Western hemisphere, as it did in Venezuela.
Venezuela remained “economically viable largely because the
Chinese Communist regime purchases the majority of its oil exports and provides
critical financial and political support,” Sheng said. Meanwhile, U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the U.S. administration had concerns
about turning Venezuela into an “operating hub” for countries like Iran,
Russia, or China.
Sheng said that if Canada becomes an alternative supplier
for the CCP in energy and resources it will be “passively dragged” into the
CCP’s resource allocation network and damage its strategic trust with allies.
This could undermine Canada’s credibility within the Five Eyes and the North
American defence system, she added.
Sheng also said that the issue with Carney’s visit to China
is not his engagement with Beijing in general, but how the relationship has
been framed and his choice of words “at a critical historical juncture.”
“This is not pragmatism; it is a dangerous strategic
regression,” she said.
No, it's an outright fire sale.
**
Over the past decade, Ottawa has grappled with the detention
in China of Canadian citizens for political leverage, repeated attempts at
foreign interference, pressure directed at diaspora communities, exploitation
of regulatory and financial gaps, and the deliberate use of economic
retaliation. These were not concerns raised in hindsight. They were not
identified after the fact. They emerged through public inquiries, intelligence
reporting, law enforcement investigations, and allied assessments, including parliamentary
reviews and Five Eyes cooperation.
Against that record, declaring a strategic alliance without
clear terms or parliamentary scrutiny prioritizes momentum over resolving known
risks.
The risks are irrelevant, just like citizens are.
**
Canada wants to look at joint ventures and investments with Chinese companies within the next three years to build a Canadian electric vehicle with Chinese knowledge, according to a senior Canadian official.
Yes, now, about that:
Canadian intelligence officials have warned federal departments about
an individual they believe is trying to obtain sensitive information
for China’s spy services, Global News has learned.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service
confirmed on Friday that it had issued an “espionage advisory” to
government departments and universities, notifying them about the
person.
“We can confirm that an espionage advisory
was shared with certain federal departments and universities regarding a
person who is attempting to obtain sensitive and privileged Canadian
information on behalf of the People’s Republic of China intelligence
services,” a CSIS spokesperson said.
Now one will be able to say a word:
Liberal appointee Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) yesterday said the Prime
Minister has to “watch his back” in promoting friendship with the
Chinese Communist Party. The Senator said unnamed “China haters” sought
to sabotage close relations with Beijing: “Fifty-first state thinking is
deeply embedded in Canada as is Sinophobia.”
Shut up, Grima Worm-tongue.
