Is Canada Finally Taking the China Technology Threat Seriously?

Commentary

Remember when “Made in China” was a joke? I do, growing up in the 1960s. Everything was cheap, plastic, and didn’t last long. Not the kind of product you would want to buy.

Those days are gone. Many things “Made in China” are among the top in the world, such as electric vehicles, high-speed trains, phone apps, and 5G cell networks. Heck, even their space program is rapidly leaping ahead of the rest of the world. Quite a change over a short span of time.

As a consequence, many in the West are flocking to these technologies not only because they are cutting edge but also because they are usually cheaper to buy (which makes one wonder how much the People’s Republic of China is subsidizing these industries in an effort to undermine analogous companies in the free world).

What these consumers seem to forget—or choose to do so—is that the regime behind all this is a communist dictatorship where freedom is a chimera (ask Hong Kong, Tibet, residents of Xinjiang Province, Falun Gong practitioners, etc.), whose ultimate goal is world domination by 2049 (the centenary of the Mao takeover). In other words, China is an autocracy with its own interests, and certainly not ours, at its core.

Despite Canada’s woeful record on pushing back against PRC interference in our elections (anyone want to raise the David Johnston report whitewash?), its repressive methods against those in our country (illicit police stations), and its theft of our sensitive biological research (Winnipeg Level 4 lab), dare we hope that someone is finally understanding the need to tell China to get lost? Well, a recent move by the Carney government at the very least is a step in the right direction.

On June 27 the federal government ordered the Chinese surveillance camera manufacturer Hikvision to cease operations in Canada over national security concerns.  In an announcement by newly minted Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, the decision was taken after a multi-step review of information provided by Canada’s security and intelligence community.

Did I read that right? The feds actually took action based on something our spies recommended? Unlike the 30 years of warnings of foreign influence in our electoral process which were not just ignored but called “racist” by our former PM Justin Trudeau.

If so, this is indeed very good news. It may have taken the feds more than three years to ban Huawei from our 5G network—again a recommendation from our security agencies—but they finally got there. Maybe this is a new trend. Maybe the Carney-led Grits finally get national security.

Then again, Mr. Carney seemed happy to renew “talks” with China on trade issues a month ago, despite a lack of any evidence that China has altered, or will ever alter, its actions in Canada that are to our national security detriment. Yes, China is too big to ignore, and with our relationship with the United States in the twilight zone due to Trump’s unpredictability, it makes perfect sense to diversify our trade ties (and eliminate interprovincial trade barriers at the same time).

But working out tariffs on canola is one thing; giving Beijing access to sensitive technology sectors and the ability to amass data on Canadians is quite another. The government needs to continue to carefully watch what China is doing here, and, more importantly, listen to CSIS, CSE, the RCMP, and others in the law enforcement and intelligence communities when they provide solid information on the PRC’s underhandedness.

We all know the aphorism “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Neither will a robust security intelligence culture in Canada happen overnight. Nevertheless, maybe there is hope that the government is finally waking up to the challenges we face from the communist regime in China.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.