Peter Menzies: Ottawa’s Quiet Embrace of the Chinese Regime Is Alarming

Commentary

The most alarming aspect of Canada’s strategic partnership with China is how sneaky it has become.

It was considered a great coup in January when, as part of his circumnavigation of the globe culminating in his now-famous Davos speech, Prime Minister Mark Carney travelled to Beijing to announce a “new strategic partnership” with Chinese leader Xi’s regime.

The agreement was wide-ranging and was trumpeted for eliminating—at least for the time being—China’s tariffs on Canadian canola, increasing Chinese EV imports by lowering our own tariffs, and creating the opportunity for Canada to diversify its markets. The latter was particularly important in light of the difficulty obtaining a trade pact with the United States. A number of other aspects were involved, including security aimed at drug smuggling, tourism, and vague references to media.

It seemed quite remarkable given the fact that only nine months previously, Carney had identified China as the biggest security threat facing Canada, something Canadians no longer believe.

Since then, the CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, has announced it will be reopening a bureau in Beijing, having closed it in 2022 following repeated visa denials. More recently, Carney appointed former ambassador to China Dominic Barton as chair of the board of Invest in Canada, with a mandate to attract offshore money. While the announcement was made on Aug. 31, as Politico reported, Barton had actually filled the role some weeks earlier.

Most significantly, Canadian defence officials recently sat down with representatives of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for, according to a news release issued by the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, “the resumption of military talks between the two countries after eight years.”

“The two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of mutual interest, expressed willingness to strengthen practical exchanges and co-operation between the two militaries and enhanced mutual understanding and trust,” stated the Chinese release.

Carney had nothing to say. Nor did any branch of the Canadian government until prodded. In fact, had it not been for the story having been broken by the South China Morning Post in advance of the meeting, Canadians may never have known it was about to take place. Were it not for the news release from the Chinese Embassy, they might never have known the dialogue occurred.

Seems odd, doesn’t it? It is beyond strange that 17 months after its prime minister identified China as the number one threat to the nation’s security, Canada’s military is having a nice chinwag with the PLA while the latter continues to militarize the South China Sea and threaten Taiwan. Canadians and, for that matter, their allies might very well wonder why their government was working so hard not to let anyone know about the meeting.

One supposes it could be that Canada remains red-faced over the arrest by Belgian authorities on espionage charges of Biwei Zhang, a Canadian intern of Chinese origin working at NATO  headquarters. She is suspected of spying on behalf of a third country—identified by Reuters as China—and had previously held a number of positions within the federal government.

Or it could be that, for the second summer in succession, Canada’s military has been keeping an eye on a pair of Chinese icebreaker “research” vessels—Xue Long and Xue Long 2—nosing around in the Arctic where China does not recognize Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage. This, too, had been met with political silence while the true purpose of China’s research is suspected to be seafloor mapping, tracking submarine activity, and identifying submarine cable pathways.

China also has an interest in exploring Arctic shipping lanes to Europe, having recently announced it would be launching a container ship  service from China to Rotterdam by way of the Russian Arctic, a voyage that can be completed in half the time—20 days—compared to the Suez route.

And then there was the CBC’s recent decision to post an Agence-France-Press story celebrating Chairman Mao, a man considered responsible for the deaths of more than 50 million people.

Stranger still is that polling shows Canadians are in such a state of emotional disarray these days that they are much more likely to view the USA as a threat to their sovereignty and security than they are the Chinese communist regime.

Much of this is due to the extent to which U.S. President Donald Trump’s talk of annexing Canada has panicked the Canadian public. This angry, emotional state has been further heightened by the collapse of trade talks and Carney’s statements alleging threats to Canadian sovereignty.

The wave of anti-American phobia that has overwhelmed Canada has now emasculated its Conservative opposition party and caused its people to place more trust in Xi than Trump. Little wonder Canada is trying not to attract too much attention to its cuddling up to Beijing.

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