My Interview on Sun TV about BC NDP Candidate Frank Huang

I was interviewed by Ezra Levant for the Sun News program "The Source" on May 8, 2013 about the NDP candidacy in BC of Frank Huang who has been alleged to have ongoing connections with the Chinese Communist Party.

My response to Paul Evans on Canada's China policy published in May issue of Literary Review of Canada

In the April issue of In April Issue of the Literary Review of Canada, Paul Evans published an article on Canada's China policy: http://reviewcanada.ca/essays/2013/04/01/dancing-with-the-dragon/

The editor of this publication, Bronwyn Drainie, asked me to write a response which was published in an edited version in the May issue. Here is that text (it is not otherwise available on-line insofar as I am aware).

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Re: "Dancing with the Dragon" by Paul Evans (April 2013)

Evans suggests that in Canada "debate has been obsessed with a distinction between pursuing commercial and diplomatic opportunities with China versus promoting human rights . . . our domestic debate still rotates around whether we should be having economic relations with a country run by a Communist Party." Evans further hypothesizes that Canada has adopted a policy stance of "cool politics, warm economics" toward the PRC. 

But his assertions do not stand up to scrutiny. Over the years Canada has adopted a highly consistent approach to relations with China. It is the same one articulated by our 1995 foreign policy statement "Canada and the World" based on "three pillars of diplomacy": the promotion of prosperity and employment; the protection of our security, within a stable global framework; and the projection of Canadian values and culture. 

As to the first pillar, Canada wants fair and reciprocal trading agreements with China. We welcome Chinese investment, but as the Prime Minister made clear in his 2012 press conference announcing Government approval of CNOOC's acquisition of Nexen, Canada will not allow the Chinese state to gain control of Canadian economic resources through full acquisition of Canadian resource companies by Chinese state firms. But we do welcome Chinese state firms to invest in them as minority share holders. 

As to the security aspect, Canada will continue to investigate Chinese state espionage in its economic, political and military aspects including cyber-espionage in Canada and to work in multi-lateral fora to encourage the Chinese regime to follow the norms of responsible global citizenship. 

Finally with regard to the third pillar as the 1995 statement puts it: "Canada is not an island: if the rights of people abroad are not protected, Canadians will ultimately feel the effects at home. They understand that our economic and security interests are served by the widest possible respect for the environment, human rights, participatory government, free markets and the rule of law. Where these are observed, there is a greater prospect of stability and prosperity . . . Their observance, therefore, is both an end in itself and a means to achieving other priority objectives."

There is a strong cross-partisan consensus on how Canada should manage relations with the PRC. After all, even the Dalai Lama's honorary Canadian citizenship was achieved through a unanimous resolution of Parliament. 

Evans' attempts to politicize Canada's China policy just doesn't conform with the facts.

Charles Burton 

Brock University

Yahoo closing all China e-mail services

http://english.sina.com/china/2013/0418/583165.html

University shuts down Dalai Lama visit - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-17/university-shuts-down-dalai-lama-visit/4635906?section=nsw

This video is very much worth watching to the end.

My interview on China and Korea on Wednesday WABC John Batchelor Show

http://johnbatchelorshow.com/podcasts/2013/04/10/first-hour

Further Delay in Trial of Suspect in Death of Miss Liu Qian

In April 2011 the daughter of my friend and colleague, Liu Jianhui of the Central Party School in Beijing died in Toronto.  Liu Qian was 23, a student at York University.  Shortly thereafter, Brian Dickson was arrested for the murder of Miss Liu.  Dickson remains imprisoned.  A lengthy preliminary hearing was held in February 2012.  The full trial was subsequently scheduled to begin on April 2, 2013.

Now I have learnt that the suspect's lawyer successfully achieved a delay in the start of the trial by getting a judge to agree to having mental health assessment of the accused done prior to the trial being held.  This development occurred last Thursday, March 28, the day before the Good Friday/Easter holiday.  It appears that the trial of Brian Dickson will likely be re-scheduled to begin at the end of this year and go over into 2014.  That certainly is some long time after the young woman died in the spring of 2011. Her parents and all of us would like to see closure to the tragedy of the death of this only child of such a good and fine family.  So now we have to wait even longer.

Can anyone explain to me what it going on here?  Is it simply the proclivity of Canadian defence lawyers to seek to delay and delay?  What sort of defence strategy could be behind this?  I would certainly welcome any information from anyone reading this blog post.

In the meantime I feel a very deep sense of unease about all of this.

My Op-Ed in Globe and Mail today "China’s Communists find Marxism"

My op-ed in the Globe and Mail March 6, 2013: "a fading caretaker regime that has more past than future, unable to stop increasing numbers of citizens from realizing the complete disconnect between the Party’s official ideology, the reality of Chinese politics today and the social values of Chinese young people."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/chinas-communists-find-marxism/article9317530/

140 Nobel laureates urge China to release Liu Xiaobo - www.ddinews.com

http://www.ddinews.gov.in/International/International+-+Other+Stories/Nobel+laureates+urge+China+to+release+Liu+Xiaobo.htm

And the report says 4,000,000 people from more than 130 countries signed an accompanying petition.

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Video showing PLA Chinese Cyber-hackers at work

Colloque: «La Chine et le Monde après le XVIIIe Congrès du PCC»

Colloque: «La Chine et le Monde après le XVIIIe Congrès du PCC»

 I am speaking at the event Feb 21-2 in Montreal

PLA Cyber-Unit Has Hacked Into Canadian Pipeline Switches

China's Army Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S.
http://nyti.ms/XZRMHn


Comment: Question is how long can we blithely accept Chinese MFA denials that the Government of the PRC does not engage in computer hacking against critical Canadian systems?

BBC News - China military unit 'behind prolific hacking' - http://goo.gl/KXOmY via @Shareaholic

Full-text of the Mandant Report: http://intelreport.mandiant.com/Mandiant_APT1_Report.pdf