Last week we all heard about a letter signed by 19 “heavyweight” Canadian
foreign policy thinkers asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to cave into
China’s demands for a prisoner swap.
Send Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou back to China from detention in
Vancouver, was their message, where she’s waiting to see if she’ll be
extradited to the US to face fraud charges.
In return, they say, we’d get back Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael
Spavor, who’ve spent more than 500 days in Chinese prison hellholes and are now
facing trumped up espionage charges in clear political retaliation for Canada
holding Meng.
Kudos to the Prime Minister for quickly trashing the letter, which you
can read here and see the list of
signatories.
In doing so, the Prime Minister may have helped some Edmonton -= Strathcona
resident from the University of Alberta from potentially suffering the same
fate as the two Michaels.
The University of Alberta and nine other Canadian universities are part
of a Canada Learning Initiative in China program that allows our
students to travel and study in China.
If kidnapping and imprisoning two businessmen in China helps the Chinese
Communist Party achieve its political agenda, why not do the same with an
Edmonton Strathcona U of A student next time they need leverage?
“A Chorus of Useful Idiots”
Make no mistake about it, the gang running China right now wouldn’t
hesitate to do that. Just ask former Canadian diplomat Chris Alexander if you
have any doubts.
Chris is a friend and former career diplomat who was Canada’s first
resident ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003-2005 and served as a Conservative
MP for Ajax-Pickering from 2011-2015. I got to know him very well in 2017 while
we were both candidates in the Conservative leadership race that year.
I spoke to Chris on Sunday by phone. He’s promised that he’ll accept my
invitation to come out to Edmonton Strathcona soon and speak to Conservatives
about China and why we need to take a hard-line stance and hit back where it
huts them most.
Until then, here’s a quick summary of Chris’ thoughts on China as per his
recent Twitter posts:
Not long ago there was still hope that China, even under the CCP, would embrace
the rule of law with the same zest it had shown for the market economy.
False hope. Communist Party leader Xi Jinping jettisoned this experiment by
backsliding on commercial law and property rights; atrocities committed against
Tibet and Uighurs; undermining democracy in Hong Kong, and taking a highly
corrupt and repressive media machine and render it as a global weapon.
How to fight back against China
So, is there anything we can do to stand up to China?
Absolutely. Chris says that China’s massive trade surplus with Canada
represents huge leverage for us. We need to apply it. Here are the ten things he thinks Canada should do:
- Apply Magnitsky sanctions for hostage takers
- Ban Huawei
- Ban Chinese propaganda outlets
- Limit Chinese investment
- Curb United Front activities in Canada
- Strengthen cooperation with all CPTPP partners and allies
- Support democracy activists in Taiwan
- Support democracy activists in Hong Kong
- Answer every lie told by Chinese officials comprehensively
- Review Australia’s playbook – strong and principled stance vs. China
By having China’s hostage diplomacy endorsed by a well funded chorus of useful
idiots right here in Canada, XI and his misguided minions seek to undo our
sovereignty, our justice institutions and our national interest. To such
truculence there can only be one right answer.
The Bottom Line here is simple; stand up to China, and hit them where it hurts.
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