Burton and Byers: COMMENTARY: Treatment of the Two Michaels reveals Canada’s lack of leverage in Beijing

 

COMMENTARY: Treatment of the Two Michaels reveals Canada’s lack of leverage in Beijing

https://globalnews.ca/news/7706849/michael-spavor-kovrig-china-trial/

But recent years have given stunning clarity to the true nature of the CCP regime. Petty, vindictive, arbitrary, and brutal, Beijing has made no mystery about its authoritarian intentions. Kovrig and Spavor’s plight fits a pattern of belligerence from the regime, including its military incursions and overt threat against its neighbours, genocide against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, blanket repression of cultural, racial, and religious minorities, militarization of international waters in the South China Sea, repression in Hong Kong, and so much more.

Canada’s naïveté toward China has left us impotent and rudderless in the face of Beijing’s aggression. What is desperately needed is for Ottawa to finally wake up to the reality that Canadians have acknowledged for some time: China is a clear threat that we must be prepared to stand against in concert with our allies.

My discussion with Canada's Ambassador to the UN on the Uyghur Genocide (2:15 to 17:30) This video is working again (March 16, 2021)

 

Transcript: http://www.peacemagazine.org/archive/v37n2p16.htm

Burton: Canada needs a foreign agent registry to help it tackle China's influence

 Burton: Canada needs a foreign agent registry to help it tackle China's influence

https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/burton-canada-needs-a-foreign-agent-registry-to-help-it-tackle-chinas-influence

Even though opinion polls indicate nearly nine in 10 Canadians want our government to be much more “proactive” in relations with China, the prime minister and cabinet are apparently listening to other voices, who may be rewarded by the PRC régime, saying we should be “sophisticated and mature” in our relations with China, abiding by China’s urging that we “set  aside differences and seek common ground.”

This latest statement by MP Oliphant, that the government is “actively considering” creating a registry of foreign agents, follows a familiar pattern. To appease or distract public opinion, the Trudeau government dangles a series of hollow promises, then just kicks the can down the road.

Canadians should demand that their government stop with the lip service and follow through with this now. As the old Lerner and Loewe show tune puts it “Sing me no song, read me no rhyme, please don’t explain. Show me!”

Canada’s Way Forward With Taiwan: Charles Burton For Inside Policy

 Canada’s Way Forward With Taiwan: Charles Burton For Inside Policy

https://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/canadas-way-forward-taiwan/

"But today, with the re-election of President Tsai Ing-wen, the notion that the government of Taiwan does not deserve to be recognized as a legitimate government no longer holds. The awkward reality today is that Taiwan’s indisputably free and fair election makes clear that the current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government is the legitimate representation of the aspirations of the people of Taiwan.

Another factor is Canada's now dashed high hopes and aspirations for relations with the People's Republic of China, particularly since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012. While Canada and the PRC still maintain the framework of strategic partnership agreed to when the CCP Party General Secretary visited Canada in 2005, this partnership is no longer active. Simply put, the agreed to government-to-government consultations and programs of collaboration have gone into abeyance. What Canada and our like-minded democratic allies have today is very much a relationship of strategic adversary.

We need to recognize that the current government of democratic Taiwan is a legitimate regime that has effective sovereign control of its territory. As such, Canada’s desire to respect the feelings of the PRC by shunning Taiwan in global affairs is not longer relevant. It follows that Canada no longer has to adopt a Taiwan policy informed by appeasement to the PRC."