Canada Obsequiously Indulging Beijing's Public Relations -- Taking the World As It Is
"It
is expected that within three years, this agreement will drive
considerable Chinese investment into Canada's auto sector, create good
careers in Canada, and accelerate our progress towards a net-zero
future."
"For
Canada to build its own competitive EV sector, we will need to learn
from innovative partners, access their supply chains, and increase local
demand."
"We're
leveraging each other's strengths, remaining clear-eyed, and focusing
on the areas where we stand to make historic gains, particularly in
agriculture and agrifood, energy and finance."
"We fundamentally stand up for human rights, for democracy, territorial integrity, rights to self-determination."
"We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be."
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaks to the media at Ritan Park in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.
"A
healthy and stable China-Canada relationship serves the common interest
of our two countries. It is also good for the peace, stability and
prosperity of the world."
"I
am ready to continue working with you, with a sense of responsibility
for the history, for the people and for the world, to further advance
the relationship in a positive direction."
Chinese President Xi Jinping
Less
than a year ago, Canada's prime minister characterized China as the
greatest threat to the national security of his country. In Beijing,
Carney was happy to usher in a "new era in the relationship" when he described China as a strategic partner, that Canada is "heartened" by the leadership of President Xi. Carney, referencing "a time of global trade disruption",
finds himself recalibrating his earlier assessment of the CCP led by
President Xi; presumably that China's abysmal human rights record isn't
so bad after all, that support for territorial integrity doesn't include
Taiwan.
So
Canada, happy to invite China to invest in Canada, is now on a pathway
to join China's 'Belt and Road' program, eager now to help Beijing
achieve its goal of world domination in territorial gains, in access to
natural resources, in expanding its already Goliath status as the
world's producer of manufactured goods. China, notorious for its
appetite for accessing trade secrets, can now be forgiven for destroying
Nortel Network Corporation's preeminence in communications so that
Huawei could thrive in its place. That Canada's National Microbiology
Lab in Winnipeg could have its security breached by Chinese agents.
Xiangguo Qiu wears a biocontainment suit while working in the
containment lab at the National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg. Qiu,
her biologist husband Keding Cheng, and her students were escorted out
of the NML in July 2019. Qiu and Cheng were fired in January 2021. The
RCMP is still investigating a possible 'policy breach' reported by the
Public Health Agency of Canada. (CBC)
As for President Xi's noble sentiments of "peace, stability and prosperity of the world",
perhaps we should overlook its aggressive territorial expansion in the
South China Sea, claiming land, air and sea rights in claims disputed
by the Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia.
"China’s
sweeping claims of sovereignty over the sea—and the sea’s estimated 11
billion barrels of untapped oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural
gas—have
antagonized competing claimants Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. As early as the 1970s, countries began
to claim islands
and various zones in the South China Sea, such as the Spratly Islands,
which possess rich natural resources and fishing areas. The failure of
Chinese and Southeast Asian leaders to resolve the disputes
diplomatically could undermine international laws governing maritime
disputes and encourage destabilizing arms buildups." Council on Foreign Relations
Chinese Warships and fighter jets in a military display in the South China Sea .. Reuters
Prime Minister Carney speaks of this new relationship with China as more "predictable" than
that Canada has long enjoyed with the United States in view of
President Donald Trump's explosive new tariff regulations imposed world
wide and impacting economies around the globe deleteriously, no less
than Canada's. But President Trump will be in the White House for
another three years. China's government, a dictatorship with a belief in
its divine destiny as the sole world power and its most important
economy will be there for a trade eternity.
The
goal, for Canada to be enabled to increase its exports to China; not in
manufactured goods, but agricultural products and natural resources;
Beijing has no interest in finished products, it is the the bare
essentials of raw industrial minerals and above all oil and gas that
fixates China's interests, while it is exuberant over exporting its
finished products abroad, consolidating its position as the apex of
world production. Many of its technologies have illicitly 'borrowed'
heavily from advances originating elsewhere. But those it exports abroad
as finished products of its own link back to Beijing as listening
devices.
"Prime
Minister Carney must explain how he has gone from saying China was
Canada's 'biggest security threat' before the [April general] election
to announcing a 'strategic partnership' with Beijing after the
election."
"His agreement will allow 50,000 EVs onto our streets, jeopardizing our security and auto jobs".
Parliamentary Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre
Mark Carney — pictured with Chinese President Xi Jinping — reached
a 'landmark' trade deal with China on Friday, in a trip that marked the
first China visit by a Canadian prime minister since 2017. (Sean
Kilpatrick/Reuters)
The Fate of Taiwan's Independent Status as a Fully Functioning State
"Taiwan
is a front-line state in the Peoples Republic of China's outward push
to expand its physical and political influence in the Indo-Pacific, just
as Ukraine stands in the way of similar ambitions in Putin's Moscow."
"The
fate of the island nation's 23.5 million people will have direct
repercussions for the future of democracy the global economy, the future
of technology and the ambitions of authoritarian regimes to create a
world that is more hospitable to their anti-democratic outlook."
J. Michael Cole, academic, Taipei, former intelligence officer
Most
Taiwanese consider themselves Taiwanese only, while some among them
acknowledge their Chinese heritage. Unlike China, Taiwan has fully
embraced democracy, and as Mr. Cole points out, Taiwan is "increasingly incompatible with, and resistant to, Beijing's attempts to annex it." He explains this and much more in his book The Taiwan Tinderbox: The Island Nation at the Center of the New Cold War,
arguing that Beijing's annexation determination does not reflect a
historic wrong through uniting a divided nation, but far more reflects
China's authoritarian territorial expansionism.
On the weekend, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
noted a U.S. intelligence report that there has been a rapid buildup of
the commercial ferry fleet by China in preparation for an invasion of
Taiwan; roll-on/roll-off ferries are being produced by a Chinese
shipyard modified to carry tanks for an amphibious operation. Some 70 of
these vessels will have been built to order by 2026's year-end.
Beijing's
President Xi Jinping had been governor of Fujian province situated
directly across the strait from Taiwan, and irrespective of the fact
that 92 percent of Taiwanese have no wish to join China, Xi has ordered
the People's Liberation Army to build its military capacity to prepare
to invade and take Taiwan by force by 2027 while he is still alive to
enjoy his territorial acquisition exploit and perhaps before he turns
his ambitions toward accessing disputed territories with his South China
Sea neighbours.
(AP Photo/Aaron Favila) A Chinese coast guard boat moves near the
Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah after it was hit by their water canon
blast causing injuries to multiple crew members as they tried to enter
the Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea Tuesday, March
5, 2024.
"The Gordian knot tightens, with little, if any potential for a truly peaceful resolution."
"The
calm and pragmatism that has characterized the Taiwanese people's
threat perception has undoubtedly contributed to Taiwan's resilience. It
has prevented panic and stock market crashes whenever China holds major
military exercises to coerce Taiwan."
"However, This pragmatism relies on a reading of Chinese intentions and capabilities that may no longer reflect reality."
J. Michael Cole, Taipei
In
2023, a war game by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies envisaged loss of Taiwan's entire fleet, and half
of its air force, while, with the U.S. holding firm to its pledge to aid
Taiwan, would lose two aircraft carriers, 20 warships and hundreds of
aircraft if a titanic military clash did eventuate. The envisioned
scenario would also see the PlA with heavy losses, needless to say.
China's ocean-going ferries are capable of transporting armoured vehicles and soldiers. (Supplied: CCTV)
Taiwan
has invested in their own cruise missile stock; they've built beach
defences, protected critical infrastructure, reduced trade dependence on
China, and created their own satellite network. The growing conviction
by Beijing that the U.S is in decline and distracted by domestic
infighting, has emboldened Xi. The conviction that Taiwan is "an indispensable element" in the Indo-Pacific state of stability is a true incentive for the West to be highly concerned over Xi's intentions.
And
then aside from the dread prospect of hundreds of thousands of lives
that might be lost in a conflict of this dimension, there is also the
element of world control of rare earth elements and production of
critically required communication and technological items. Taiwan
produces 60 percent of the world's semi-conductors to a value of $10
trillion -- ten percent of global GDP.
A cargo ship is seen next to a new class of specialised landing dock in southern China. (Supplied: US Naval War College/Maxar Technologies)
"A
military intervention with no end in sight risks triggering a regional
war, with catastrophic consequences for the vast Sahel that is already
plagued by insecurity, displacement and poverty."
Mucahid Durmaz, senior analyst, global risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft
"What
we are witnessing today is both jihadi warring factions, the Islamic
State group and [al-Qaeda affiliate Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam
wal-Muslimin] marking their territory because of the security void
caused by the coup."
"This definitely should be seen in the context of the ongoing war between the two groups."
Wassim Nasr, journalist, senior research fellow, Soufan Center think tank
Mohamed Toumba, one of the soldiers who ousted Nigerian President
Mohamed Bazoum, addresses supporters of Niger's ruling junta in Niamey,
Niger, Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023. (Sam Mednick/AP)
The
standoff between Niger and ECOWAS, the West African regional bloc, and
the Niger coup leaders grows more tense day by day. Niger was viewed as
one of the final democratic countries in the Sahel region south of the
Sahara Desert, a partner in the effort to counter growing jihadi
violence linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. Until the junta
coup led by anti-Democratic forces in the Niger military who unseated
the democratically elected Niger President Mohamed Bazoum.
ECOWAS
had demanded that the junta, three weeks after the mutiny that ousted
the president, release him and allow the country to return to its
pre-coup state. The deadline passed, and ECOWAS issued fresh warnings
that military intervention represents an option should their demands
continue to be ignored. Leaving Nigeriens preparing for a possible
invasion by regional countries.
A
"standby force" has been activated for the purpose of restoring order
in Niger. There are no signs the standoff is anywhere close to being
defused, since the coup leaders remain defiant and ECOWAS determined to
restore the presidency, although both sides have given signals of an
openness to resolving the crisis through peaceful means. After rebuffing
the bloc's efforts at talks, the junta claimed to be open to dialogue.
Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum smiles before a working lunch with
French President Emmanuel Macron, Feb. 16, 2023 at the Elysee Palace in
Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Instead
of arriving at a bargaining table, the coup charged President Bazoum
with "high treason", and took to recalling its ambassador from Ivory
Coast. Should the bloc determine it will proceed with an invasion, it
would likely be comprised of several thousand troops. The consequences,
according to conflict experts, would have devastating results. Former
colonial occupier of Niger, France and the U.S. have some 2,500 military
personnel training the Niger military.
France
and the United States, since the coup have suspended military
operations, resulting in an increase in jihadi attacks. In an extremist
ambush in the Tillaberi region, 17 soldiers and nearly two dozen more
were wounded on Tuesday afternoon when a military detachment travelled
between villages, representing the first major attack against the Niger
army in six months; a worrying sign of potential escalation.
According
to analysts, the longer the coup carries on, the less likely it is that
an intervention will materialize, while the junta cements its grip on
power. In the final analysis, forcing the international community to
accept the status quo, much as it has done in Afghanistan. The 25
million Nigeriens live in one of the poorest countries in the world
where residents hoped the new regime would forge a new path for the
nation.
In
the event, however, residents in the capital Niamey are being called
upon to volunteer in assisting the army in the face of the threat by the
West African regional bloc. An initiative spearheaded by locals in
Niamey plans to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers from across the
country to register for the Volunteers for the Defense of Niger.
Such
volunteers would be expected to help with medical care and provide
technical and engineering logistics, as well as fight, should the junta
require that of them. "It's an eventuality. We need to be ready whenever it happens",
Amsarou Bako, one of the volunteer group founders explained to Western
media. Any Niger citizen over 18 years of age is asked to register, the
list to be given to the junta to call upon volunteers if needed.
"We do not give a damn about ECOWAS. ECOWAS has been tailor-made for the
presidents in power. And we do not need it."
"Whether ECOWAS intervenes or not, Niger is ready for all
options. We are ready. Whatever ECOWAS decides, we are ready."
Omar Amadou, Niamey
resident
Supporters of Niger’s ruling junta gather at the start of a protest
called to fight for the country’s freedom and push back against foreign
interference in Niamey, Niger, Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)
The Democratically Helpful Chinese Communist Party
"They are by and large an extension of the apparatus of Beijing."
"I definitely think this is an area where our security agencies or the police should pay close attention."
Karen Woods, founder, independent Canadian Chinese Political Affairs Committee
"This really is like an ideological invasion."
"I think that undermines our national security, our social security."
Jonathan Fon, Toronto paralegal
Deposit Photos
"{The
Chinese Council for Western Ontario Elections' goal is simply to]
introduce Canadian democracy to the Chinese community, to help Chinese
Canadians better understand Canadian elections, participate in the
democratic process, and participate actively in elections."
"We support candidates of any race, as long as they oppose racial discrimination and support multiculturalism."
"We are willing to share our network resources with them to help them gain recognition and support from Chinese voters."
Toronto businessman Guo BaoZhang, executive president, Canada Toronto Fuqing Business Association
The Canada Toronto Fuqing Business Association building in Markham, Ontario.Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post/File
Now
that is really interesting. Chinese Canadians have a long history of
residence and citizenship in Canada. A history that dates back to the
19th Century with the building of Canada's national railways. Chinese
Canadians have established themselves in every facet of life in Canada,
from little shop owners to the professions of law and medicine, to
professorships in Canadian universities and to the
ordinary-man-in-the-street or family-on-your street category.
As
Canadian citizens, they know all about Canadian politics, they pay
their taxes and they vote in all elections just like any other
Canadians. Now, in the last few years Beijing has turned its eyes on
these Canadian citizens of Chinese extraction -- including many who have
more recently arrived in Canada as immigrants or to study at Canadian
universities, from both the mainland and Hong Kong. Beijing's United
Front Work Department operates in tandem with Chinese diplomats assigned
to Canada in Chinese consulates and embassy to impress on Chinese
Canadians their obligations to China.
That
obligation as ethnic Chinese, is to help promote China and China's
interests broadly, within Canada. In the 2019 general election, Canadian
Intelligence tracked the Chinese Communist Party's interference in
promoting candidates of Chinese extraction suborned by China through
ideological indoctrination and financial funding to election wins. It
has also been revealed that political insiders defend and promote
China's interests in various provincial and federal legislatures.
Now
the introduction of a new organization whose goals on the surface are
to assist Chinese Canadians in becoming more accomplished members of a
democracy. Who might've thought? Yet another group has infiltrated
Canada whose purpose is to further the interests of Beijing in a country
that it is clearly at odds with, given fairly recent events, and a new,
frosty relationship between China and Canada. China's growing
aggressive tendencies are not limited to Canada, they surface elsewhere
as well.
The
website of the Canada Toronto Fuqing Business Association identifies it
as having been established under the guidance of the United Front Work
Department, itself a branch of the Chinese Communist Party with a clear
mission to expand Beijing's worldwide influence. Influence made its
presence years ago with the endowment by China in Western
university-based Confucius Institutes; established ostensibly to help
the world know of the wisdom and culture of China.
Beijing
is well known for its ulterior motives in relations with other
countries; its constant espionage feelers out via Chinese-loyalists in
relaying back to China industrial, military and political state secrets.
It has latterly been revealed that Beijing operatives and police forces
have opened 'police stations' in Canada as well as in other foreign
countries to keep tabs on expatriate Chinese, and to 'persuade' those
critical of Beijing to return to China, under the guise of giving them
assistance in renewing passports and driver's licenses; the while subtly
threatening the well-being of family members in China.
The
Canadian Security and Intelligence Service saw fit to brief Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau's office in January regarding a Chinese program
that funded 11 candidates sympathetic to China during the last federal
electon; a member of the Ontario legislature and community groups were
engaged as go-betweens. In a brief, unscheduled meeting with Chinese
President Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting in Indonesia, Trudeau claims to
have raised the matter of Chinese political interference in Canada.
Followed by Trudeau later denying he had ever been briefed.
Beijing's
underhanded, interfering CCP-linked groups have not yet been challenged
by the Government of Canada in a manner that would reflect the
unwelcome nature of their organizational destabilization of the country.
That Beijing is the least bit involved in promoting anti-discriminatory
measures in Canada is beyond ironic, given its treatment of Tibetans
and Muslim Uyghurs in Tibet and Xinjiang.
A
multi-party committee in Ottawa has agreed to examine China's influence
in Canada's elections following a Global News story citing a Beijing
campaign to subvert Canadian democracy.
"Putin's
attack on Ukraine is an attack on the values that form the pillars of
all democracies. We have a responsibility to make the case to people
about why these values matter so much -- not just to Ukrainians but to
us all."
"We
must recommit ourselves to the work of strengthening our democracies,
and demonstrate the principled leadership people are looking for."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Despite Canadian legacy media outlets burying the story, the reprimand
of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by European parliamentarians in
Brussels has made headlines around the world. True North
Canada's
'charismatic' prime minister, the man who rode to success during the
2015 election that brought him to the helm of government, enjoyed
telling the international community at events taking him outside his
country that "Canada is back!". He never stopped deriding the previous,
Conservative-led government that preceded him, led by former Prime
Minister Stephen Harper. His initial actions on coming to power included
reversing most of the moves of the previous government, and then he put
his own personal imprint on government departments, renaming them all.
This
man preened and presented himself as a 'feminist' and a supporter of
Indigenous rights, yet when his government's female/Indigenous Minister
of Justice and Attorney General refused to surrender to the pressure he
and his cronies subjected her to in the interests of airbrushing away
prosecution of a prominent Quebec company accused of international
corruption, he moved her from her position, demoting her to a lesser
portfolio, and finally removed her from caucus.
When
the second-in-command of the Canadian military attempted to support the
need for a re-supply vessel for Canada's ill-equipped navy, Justin
Trudeau persecuted him, saw to his removal from office, and ordered a
judicial enquiry into alleged wrong-doing, the consequences of which
were an absolute acquittal. Justin Trudeau as prime minister of Canada
has done more to drive a wedge between Western Canada and Eastern Canada
than any of his predecessors.
He
saw fit to elevate a spurious charitable enterprise during the initial
days of the COVID pandemic; a group unqualified to fill a questionable
position that would profit them greatly. A charitable enterprise whose
operators were personal 'friends' engaged in questionable ethics, which
paid the prime minister's mother and brother handsomely for celebrity
appearances geared to give greater credibility to the charity, but which
ended in a public scandal, forcing the Minister of Finance to step away
from office.
During
his time as prime minister of Canada, democracy has been eroded by
decisions made by Justin Trudeau, with limited appearances in the House
of Commons, and remotely-gathered sessions to conduct government
business. He unnecessarily prorogued government for sustained periods of
time, and would not be answerable for the lapse in government business,
preferring lengthy adjournments attributable to his personal agenda.
This
is a man who felt entitled to travel once again to Europe to speak to
European parliamentarians to plead for unity in responding to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, a man who drove separatist impulse in
Western Canada over his unequal and dismissive treatment of provincial
assets and governments with which he would not agree. Democracies, he
informed the European parliamentarians, is under attack in Ukraine, as
though he was a leading exponent of democratic justice.
Trudeau's
penchant for personal unaccountability, his practised aversion to
direct response to questions, indulging in circumlocution, his automatic
response to critics, lapsing into accusations of 'racism' and 'anti
LGBTQ2' prejudices are legendary, known beyond Canada. When he mentioned
as an example the recent truckers' protests in the streets around
Parliament Hill in Ottawa last month, citing the Freedom Convoy as a
conspiracy to turn citizens against a democratic system he described as
best-suited, he drew a principled response from a handful of European
delegates.
A
response that made long-suffering Canadians sigh in appreciation that
the hypocrisy and egocentricity of the man who has spoken of Canada as a
'racist' country, a country without any culture of its own, along with
his aspiration to make of it a 'post-national' country has received
recognition. The protesters in Ottawa, fed up with their government's
autocratic mandates verging on dictatorship asked to be listened to.
Their government had mandated that the ten percent of truckers who were
unvaccinated must be.
People
who for whatever reason would not submit to vaccination became, under
Trudeau, third-class citizens whom he regarded with repugnance as
unspeakable riffraff. He directed that they be unemployable without
vaccination. Families with no incomes, struggling to get through a
difficult period in their collective lives wanted an explanation and an
answer from their prime minister, who refused to meet with them. Their
protest was an affront to his sense of infallibility.
"To defend our rights and the rights of our children, which we have
acquired over the centuries, many of us – including myself – are willing
to risk our own freedom and our own lives. Unfortunately,
today there are those among us who trample on these fundamental values."
"Canada, once a symbol of the modern world, has become a symbol of civil
rights violations under your quasi-liberal boot in recent months."
"We watched how you trample women with horses, how you block the bank
accounts of single parents so that they can’t even pay their children’s
education and medicine, that they can’t pay utilities, mortgages for
their homes. To you, these may be liberal methods, for many citizens of
the world, it is a dictatorship of the worst kind. Rest assured that the
citizens of the world, united, can stop any regime that wants to
destroy."
Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakusic
"Based on article 195, I would like to point out that it would have been
appropriate for Mr. Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, to address this
house, according to article 144. An article, which was
specifically designed to debate the violations of human rights,
democracy, and the rule of law which is clearly the case with Mr.
Trudeau."
"[You are a] disgrace for any democracy. Please spare us your presence."
German MP Christine Anderson
Anderson accused Trudeau of openly admiring the Chinese basic
dictatorship and called out the prime minister for trampling on
“fundamental rights by persecuting and criminalizing his own citizens as
terrorists just because they dare to stand up to his perverted concept
of democracy.”
In Myanmar Protesting the Coup is a Criminal Offence and a Death Sentence
"I begged them not to hurt the protesters, but to treat them kindly like family members."
"I told them that they can kill me, I am not standing up until they give their promise that they will not brutally crack down on protesters."
"We heard loud gunshots, and saw that a young kid's head had exploded, and there was a river of blood on the street."
"Our clinic floor became a sea of blood. We need to value life. It made me feel so sad."
Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng, northern Myanmar
Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng said she begged the authorities 'not to shoot and torture the children.' (AFP)
Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng operates a clinic in her town in northern Myanmar. She had received assurances from senior police officers who had entered the town of Myitkyina on Monday. They were there solely for the purpose of clearing the road of protesters. Their intention was to quietly do so. They had no orders to commit violence on the townspeople. She could relax about their presence. They would fulfill the purpose of their assignment and leave quietly.
In her white robe and black habit she knelt on a town street speaking the while to two policemen who were kneeling as well, in respect of her Buddhist status as a respected religious figure. A video showed their interaction. She pleaded with the men to stop shooting protesters who were agitating against the military junta's coup a month ago, arresting and detaining the country's leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy.
The nun and one of the policemen are seen in the widely circulated video, touching their foreheads to the ground, an act of piety, a prayer for better times to come. Imploring the police to respect the human rights of the people to gather and to protest and to protect them from violence no doubt moved some of those present, but they followed orders, and soon afterward the gunfire began.
Two of the protesters were killed, others wounded. Sister Tawng attempted to carry some victims to the clinic, and then she was blinded by tear gas. Last month she had placed herself between protesters and police, pleading for peace. All together so far, more than sixty people have died, over 1,800 detained in the crackdown on protests against the February 1 coup.
Another official from deposed Myanmar leader Suu Kyi's party has died in custody after his arrest early on Tuesday, becoming the second figure of the National League for Democracy to be arrested and to die while in detention in the past two days. Arrested in Yangon, the NLDs Zaw Myat Linn died in custody..."He's been participating continuously in the protests", explained one of his colleages Ba Myo Thein.
"China's Communist parliament has taken the biggest step so far to obliterate Hong Kong's freedoms and aspirations for greater democracy under the rule of law."
"The Chinese Communist Party [CCP] has ordained that in order to be a Chinese patriot you must swear allegiance to the Communist Party."
"This completely destroys the pledge of 'one country, two systems'."
"[The CCP is] a continuing and brutal danger to all who believe in free and open societies."
Christoper Patten, former colonial governor of Hong Kong
A Chinese propaganda poster showing an enthusiastic celebration after the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
This is China undoing the legacy of Britain's imperial colonialist past. In countries like India and the vast number of countries forming the British Commonwealth of countries that Great Britain colonized reaping benefit of their natural resources and gifting them with a democratic ideal, it is Hong Kong alone that prospered while under British rule even as the rest of China was mired deep in poverty, that now sees its democracy in end-stage jeopardy. Beijing has deemed it due time to return the former British colony to full Chinese rule. And since China is ruled by the Communist Party of China, Hong Kong too must fall under its complete legislative aegis.
It is, after all, what most countries would do; asserting their full sovereignty over all their territory. The fly in the ointment here is that Hong Kong has long been a territory apart, independent from Beijing's full authority, a giant of industry and trade and proud of its accomplishments, guided toward them by British oversight. The 1997 agreement to return Hong Kong to China held within it a promise to respect Hong Kong's democratic autonomy for a fifty-year period. China had no wish to crush its golden egg.
Protest as they may, the people of Hong Kong, clinging to their vision of the past, and their devotion to Democracy, are now firmly in Beijing's orbit, clasping it tightly and never more will it be allowed the illusion of being differently-oriented and separate in its ideology to the rest of China. And as long as protests continue the firmer will Xi Jinping's resolve be to squelch that dream denied. Another exodus has been complicated by the global presence of the viral pandemic, courtesy of China.
The control of the pandemic in China has given Beijing ample cover for its crackdown on Hong Kong; the world's attention diverted by the presence of a virus hungry for human casualties, and it has found them everywhere across the globe. And there is China, the world's largest producer of medical protective gear and personal protection equipment the world is now so heavily dependent on, as well as several highly effective vaccines the world is clamouring for. Criticize Beijing's largess?
All of which has sounded the death knell for the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong, leading from the overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system. Removing 'choice' of candidates; outlawing any deemed insufficiently loyal to the concept of China's full and complete ownership of Hong Kong, that priceless engine of mercantile commerce. Pro-democracy candidates henceforth reduced to nonentities may no longer aspire to election in Hong Kong. Imprisonment or exile their choice.
The Chinese Communist Party is determined to ensure that 'harmony' exists throughout China. And with the world's largest population base, how better to establish harmony than to erase choices and impose the monoculture of Chinese Communism under its iconic president? The purpose is honourable; "to safeguard national security". What nation doesn't have that top of agenda? Any who threaten China's security are, ipso facto, 'terrorists'.
"We will resolutely guard against and deter external forces' interference in the affairs of Hong Kong", stated the country's premier, Li Keqiang, speaking to the National People's Congress in Beijing as China prepares to put in place a decision to improve Hong Kong's electoral system whereby Beijing will ensure that "patriots:" only are elected to govern the territory. It is more than obvious that opposition politicians are "unpatriotic", therefore disqualified from politics, much less capable of holding public office.
"China urges the Canadian side to immediately correct its mistakes and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China's other internal affairs in any way so as to avoid further damage to China-Canada relations." "Their attempt to exert pressure on China under the pretext of Hong Kong-related issues is completely against the trend of time and doomed to fail like kicking against the pricks [struggling in vain against something]." Zhao Lijian, spokesman, China Foreign Ministry
This is, of course, the very same China that has invested heavily in building the infrastructure of roads and bridges in other countries of the world, to gain influence and extract concessions with its "One Belt, One Road" trade and diplomacy initiative to gather to China a greater share of the world's raw materials and trade assets, indebting countries that will eventually have to pay off those loans and whose finances will be strained to the limit. The same country whose claims in the East and South China Seas exacerbate relations with its neighbours over contested territory.
This is China, with its investment in other countries' cultural, arts and academic institutions funding their Confucius Institute in colleges and universities internationally to gain traction on spreading Chinese propaganda as a respectable nation admired for its undoubted heritage and linked to the current Communist Party with its penchant for cyber-espionage, gaining state and commercial secrets to advance its own technological reach without expending time, energy and funding to gain its own original knowledge but building on others'.
This is the China that extends its reach abroad, installing spies and handlers for the Chinese Communist Party, to violate freedoms guaranteed the citizens of other countries when it harasses its expatriates with citizenship in Canada, voluntarily foregoing loyalty to the country of their birth where freedoms are denied. This is the China that claims Tibet as its territory, Taiwan as illegal, and Hong Kong as an indivisible part of China in every respect, with no place for democracy to flourish.
Police detain a protester after he was hit with pepper spray
during a protest in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay before the annual march on
July 1 marking the anniversary of the handover of the city from Britain
to China. (Vincent Yu/The Associated Press)
A half-million Hong Kongers have Canadian citizenship or landed immigrant status, and Canada is interested in their welfare as it would be for any of its citizens anywhere, extending an invitation to welcome back those who have returned to Hong Kong only to live through Beijing deciding to relegate its agreement with Great Britain that recognition of Hong Kong's special semi-independent status would be guaranteed for 50 years, deciding that 23 years is enough, and enacting draconian laws on 'treason' that would entrap democracy supporters in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong police arrested more than 300 people on Wednesday,
including 10 under China's new national security law, as thousands
defied a ban on protests on the anniversary of the city's handover to
China. (Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images)
Just coincidentally, a professor at Tsinghua University who in 2018 denounced the removal of the two-term limit for China's President Xi, allowing him to remain in office well beyond his present second term (just as autocratic regimes like Russia and Turkey have manipulated for their presidents-for-life) has seen Xu Zhangrun, 57, arrested, taken from his home by 20 police who searched his house and confiscated his computer. "He felt that the country was going backwards and that as a public intellectual, he has the duty to speak up", explained He Weifang, a Peking University law professor, of his colleague Xu.
The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau finally found its resolve to join other nations to denounce the new security law imposed on Hong Kong, violating the principle of "one country, two systems", and suspending Canada's extradition agreement with Hong Kong. China, in response, warned its citizens to exercise caution in travelling to Canada, where "frequent violent actions" take place through Canadian law enforcement.
Amid a diplomatic crisis triggered by China's clampdown on Hong Kong, Chinese officials harshly condemned retaliatory moves taken by the UK and Canada
"I write to express my strongest and most powerful protest against the partisan impeachment crusade being pursued by the Democrats in the House of Representatives. This impeachment represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power by Democrat Lawmakers, unequalled in nearly two and a half centuries of American legislative history." "The Articles of Impeachment introduced by the House Judiciary Committee are not recognizable under any standard of Constitutional theory, interpretation or jurisprudence. They include no crimes no misdemeanors, and no offenses whatsoever. You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!" U.S. President Donald Trump
Mark Galli wrote in Christianity Today: ‘We believe the impeachment
hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller
investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority.’
Photograph: Michael Reynolds/POOL/EPA
Unprecedented? Yes, surely. The election to the presidency of the United States of America of a vain, pompous oaf, an ignoramus, a coarse, undiplomatic misogynist was most certainly unprecedented and it is fair to say that while his supporters, legion as they were to elect this man were absolutely delighted, the rest of the world was amazed and bemused. But here's the truth of the matter. The Republic of the United States of America is a democracy. And as a democracy proud of its traditions and its heritage, and chafing under the administrations that preceded Mr. Trump's accession to power, elected the man they wanted to sit in the Oval Office.
While the world held its breath, it gradually became acclimatized to its new suspenseful collegiality with a brusque, critical imperialist with an admiration for dictators and tyrants who well knew that his office and his nation would not permit one in him. Those Americans who did not vote for Mr. Trump and chose instead the Democratic candidate whose own failings as a political leader of distinction became starkly evident throughout the course of the election campaign, raged and ranted and led feminist marches determined to bring down the extremely flawed man who was their president.
Mr. Trump's tenure so far has been one of unprecedented suspense in attempts to anticipate what his next moves might be, impacting not only on his country but the world stage at large. His critics detest him and mostly with very good reason. His supporters are delighted with him and for their own good reasons. He is no one's image of an accomplished politician widely respected whose words and actions give cause for admiration and trust. But he is, withal, the President of the United States of America.
He won office as fairly as any other candidate ever did. The accusations of Russian interference in the election represented a hysterical denial of the truth, that the Democratic Party lost the election fairly; the majority of Americans failed to appreciate their progressive qualities that lent themselves as much as did the Republicans' agenda, to further widening the gap between the haves and have-nots in America. The have-nots have the day. They have their president, one of the haves who incites admiration from followers because he scorns the elite in Washington.
The virago-politician that is Nancy Pelosi was scorned by Donald Trump as a has-been, a poor political leader, a foolish prod by a foolish man who now sees the damage that can be done by a woman scorned. Above all, the spectacle of a President of the United States who occupies a seat in the order of world politics that reflects that imperfect as he is, he is still the most powerful man on the planet, but brought low temporarily by the viral, nauseating hatred of half of the people he governs.
When the Russia-interference accusations failed to be proven, desperation turned Democrats' attention to Ukraine, where the inference was that funding would be released to Ukraine for arms to defend itself from Russia with the cooperation of an investigation into a potential 2020-election rival's son's connections with his father and his corrupt financial links in Ukraine. Obama, Biden, Trump and Pelosi.Trump, as atrocious as his persona is, is being accused of using his office in a manner quite similar to that of his predecessors.
The Democrats have shamed America. Democrats themselves, however, have no shame. They have shamed the very democracy they claim to uphold and to venerate. Democracy brought Trump to the presidency. The succeeding election would tell whether Americans continue to support the man they brought to Washington to 'clean up the Aegean stables'. And then what will they all wallow in? Mr. Trump takes little comfort in Ms. Pelosi praying for him.
"The West is smashing its geopolitical might on the anvil of its own foolishness. The authoritarian regimes in China and Russia are gleefully picking up the pieces." "In May 2016, Donald Trump promised a lot of winning. 'We're going to win so much'.,” he said, 'you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning. And 'you’ll say, ‘Please, Mr. President, we beg you sir, we don’t want to win anymore. It’s too much.' "
"He
turned out to be right. We just didn’t know at the time that the 'Mr.
President' he was talking about was President Xi Jinping of China."
"As Trump
makes his diplomatic tour of Asia, the West faces a simple and
unfortunate reality. There are four powers in the world that are strong
enough to meaningfully shape global affairs: the United States, the
United Kingdom/European Union, Russia and China."
Brian Klaas, Opinion contributor, USA Today
In this Saturday,
July 8, 2017, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese
President Xi Jinping arrive for a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20
Summit in Hamburg, GermanyCredit:AFP
In most peoples' memories after the Second World War there were two super-powers recognized by the global community. There was the United States and its influence with its Western-nation allies, and there was the Soviet Union, with Russia and its satellites; Democracy and Communism dominating as two systems of government and social and economic structure serving as models to be emulated by the rest of the world, dividing the world into the two spheres of ideological conquest in effect; white and black, good and bad, depending on perspective.
With the collapse of the United Soviet Socialist Republic, suddenly there was a diminished Russia, freed Eastern European satellites, the rise of the European Union and the United States, with the award of the golden chalice of super-status going to the United States of America. The model for the current-day successful Republic, of the people by the people, though Communism felt it too represented the governance tool, by the people for the people. Post-USSR, the United States stood alone and proud as the arbiter of values and mores.
When nations construct their annals of national greatness attributing outstanding leadership to the prescient and the wise, human nature dictates that they construct a legend, not one necessarily faithful to the entire character of the individual celebrated, but given characteristics identified as heroic, for all countries are in need of national heroes, patriotism demands nothing less. And so, in the United States the two figures of greatest reverence, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln stand head and shoulders above their successors; attributions of greatness celebrated in their superior capabilities.
Finishing touches are made to the huge statue of
Abraham Lincoln, which stands just inside the entrance of the Lincoln
Memorial, prior to its dedication in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 1922.
Underwood & Underwood / Corbis
It is a mirage. A hopeful one. One denying and defying the reality that human nature strips human beings of the potential to be truly great in measure of conscience and performance on a scale that places them on a pedestal of greatness. But we must have our illusions and the belief in the superior traits and habits of outstanding people of great virtue in whom others may place their trust and admiration and whom the young can hope to emulate -- instructs institutions to produce their own histories and heroes to feed a national psyche.
Reverence is not reserved only for the faith and belief in the presence of a supernatural power we call God. God instructed the faithful not to produce false idols nor to make of the Almighty's existence a simulacrum to be worshipped. But those human beings whose legend is elevated to the position of saintliness and creative genius, of brilliant governance of humankind and the humble aristocracy of judicial wisdom can be sanctified and monuments of heroic size and likeness erected to their memory.
King Ramses II (The Great)
From antiquity to the present, such monuments have been the subject of both adoration and rejection; dictators order their graven images to be erected and adored. Later generations take it upon themselves to erect monuments to predecessors of great renown and respect resulting from their superior abilities to influence the lives of others for the good of the public weal. The former statues are hated and eventually destroyed, the latter remain as reminders of what human nature can aspire to, even those whose attributes are overblown, their failures overlooked.
The purportedly most powerful country in the world, the super-power has fallen on hard times. It's not just that it elected a deal-making, coarse-mannered, ill-natured celebrity who exemplified all the crude socially corrupt manifestations of the 21st Century, a man whose ignorance of world affairs, social courtesy and pluralist equality identifies him as intellectually bankrupt, or in the kind of cruder terms he uses himself; a moronic imbecile, for he represents in his elected presence the culmination of those lesser mortals who preceded him most recently.
All of whom served their country ill, all of whom served themselves first and foremost, all of whom failed the most basic tests of divorcing their most unwholesome emotional instincts in the lust for wielding power in a reflection of their limited natural intelligence and understanding of the impact it would have on their country and the extended world community.
The likeable pretender Bill Clinton whose womanizing fetish brought discredit to the presidency, George W. Bush whose sweet nature and bully impulse created a Middle East quagmire, Barack Obama whose sympathies with Islam opened America to invasion and the world to the Iranian threat, and their natural successor whose qualities embodied all the propensities of his predecessors.
The super-power waiting behind the drawn curtains in the global theatre is prepared to open the world community of trade and commerce to China's One Belt One Road to produce a global bazaar ruled by Chinese investment; trade and commerce have represented the universal state interests from antiquity to the present and China is now the world's topmost entrepreneur.
"With the current changes it is impossible for the opposition to talk in Parliament. The opposition has to look for other places to do its work, and in this case, it's the march." "If we have to pay a price, we will pay for it [through arrests]." "Why did we march? We walked for the non-existent justice. We walked for the rights of the oppressed, for the imprisoned lawmakers, the jailed journalists ... We walked for the academics who were thrown out of universities." "No one should think the end of this march is the end. This march was our first step." Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Istanbul, Turkey
People shout slogans as Turkey’s main
opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu
(not pictured) walks on the final stage of his 25-day long protest,
dubbed “Justice March”, against the detention of the party’s lawmaker
Enis Berberoglu, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 9, 2017.
REUTERS/Osman Orsal
The March for Justice, a protest long-distance trudge initiated by the Republican People's Party began in Ankara on June15, and was meant to continue after the goal of trudging the 450 kilometers to reach Istanbul by July 9, made for a lot of very sore feet and ankles. Throughout each day the marchers, thousands of them, including about 30 Turkish lawmakers from the main opposition party, walked 25 kilometers in heat of up to 35C. At night they settled down to sleep in rented trailers or hotel rooms.
Their route included marching up mountains in pouring rain. One marcher experienced a lethal heart attack on the march. More people joined them as the march progressed, until their numbers swelled to ten thousand and counting coming in afresh. They were expressing their outrage over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's state of emergency declaration that gave the authorities in Ankara the opportunity to round people up wholesale, accusing them of helping to plot the failed coup of 2016.
Most legitimate opposition of any kind was swiftly stifled by the government. Turks watched in dismay as 40,000 people were arrested, among them over 170 journalists who wrote stories the government took issue with. Included also was the arrest of over a dozen lawmakers, and the suspension or firing of over 140,000 Turkish workers, among whom were several thousand academics and tens of thousands of teachers, prosecutors and civil servants taking issue with the Islamist government.
Photograph: Sedat Suna/EPA
When the march went through that area of Turkey where Erdogan supporters predominated, there were many responses from local residents in support of the Justice and Development Party, who hurled verbal abuse at the marchers. A truckload of manure was left close to the camp site for the marchers. A bullet was found symbolically left on the road. People flashed four-finger salutes, a symbol of Erdogan support. For these conservative Turks, Erdogan's control equates with their freedom to worship in public.
The March for Justice was joined by hundreds of thousands of supporters at the rally concluding the march from Ankara to Istanbul. During the march, the tens of thousands of marchers chanted "rights, law, justice". At the rally, people waved Turkish flags and flags carrying the word "justice". A message that Ankara cannot possibly ignore. A significant number of Turks have risked arrest, imprisonment, loss of employment, for the opportunity to deliver their message that their government does not represent them or the interests of Turkey.
Thousands of people take part in the ‘Justice March’ in Turkey.
Photograph: Depo Photos/via REX/Shutterstock
"The A.I.P.'s own cadres are filling the void [left by Erdogan's mass purge within Turkey's bureaucracy across government departments and the military]." "They want to establish a bureaucratic structure that accepts whatever the politicians say." Kemal Kilidaroglu, leader, Turkey's largest political opposition
"The perception among Turks is that Erdogan rules everything, but that's not the case." "There are various groups, all different to each other, that previously plotted against each other, but are now in alliance [against the Gulenists]." "If you purge 30 to 40 percent of the judiciary, in a sense you purge it
all. There’s no tradition left and no knowledge
left." "As long as he depends on these alliances [Islamist and ultra-right parties], a new betrayal may be on the horizon, too." Justice Orhan Gazi Ertekin, head, Democratic Judicial Association
A sign in Istanbul asks for
yes votes on Sunday in a referendum that would expand the powers of
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who is pictured on the sign.Credit
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
The failed coup that roiled Turkey in the summer of 2016 gave Recep Tayyip Erdogan the righteous opportunity to sweep through the judiciary, the police, public servants, journalists and teachers, to accuse those he linked with the Gulenist movement claimed to have been behind the attempted coup, of betrayal of their country. By stripping 130,000 people of their jobs, by firing or suspending them as dissidents, Erdogan has left the country in a partially dysfunctional state.
His most immediate reaction and purpose in targeting those he suspected of links to cleric Fethullah Gulen, once a trusted colleague turned enemy, was to purge the entire government bureaucracy of critics, the potential bulwark of an opposition movement well enough entrenched to present an existential problem in the future to his ongoing presidency in the power structure of the country. The sweep was meant to root out leftists and those advocating for a return to secularism and a more robust democracy, and it did.
Half of the fourteen professors at Ankara University in its human rights law department were dismissed, leaving the department half-staffed and unable to supervise its student population adequately, so half of the courses were scrapped, and no new students can be admitted for the following academic year since remaining professors have had their student load tripled with no capacity left to supervise new students.
"How can we write our dissertations?", pleaded a master's student left without a supervisor. To which the department head, Professor Kerem Altiparmak responds: "If our professors are
not reinstated, this program will end. These are the last students we
will see in this program." Precisely. A situation which has led those impacted by this new reality to wonder whether this was indeed the purpose of the dismissals, to hamper the university's liberal view by rendering it incapable of infusing it into the mindsets of its students.
Supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey at a campaign rally in Ankara.CreditChris Mcgrath/Getty Images
Of army officers, over 8,000 were dismissed; 8,000 police officers and 5,000 academics. Law and justice has been hit hard, with 4,000 judges and prosecutors having been forced out. The enormous social cost to the country cannot be underestimated. The fallout to date has been the closure of 1,200 schools, a whopping 50 hospitals, and 15 universities. Representing the dismantling of a significant proportion of the civil infrastructure required by any country to fulfill the needs of its citizens.
Sezgin Yurdakul, 40, whose daughter was a student at a Gulen-operated school on a scholarship, knows all about the situation. Turkey has become "like an open-air prison", he says ruefully after being fired from the Istanbul ferry system, pointedly because his daughter's school did not sit well with the government authorities. And while Erdogan supporters insist a large range of groups fills the void left by people like Mr. Yurdakul, others claim it is loyalists, Islamists filling the vacant positions, particularly members of the Justice and Development Party.
According to Mustafa Karadag, head of the judges' union, positions vacant in the judiciary resulting from the loss of almost one-third of all former incumbents were filled by novices lacking adequate training, accreditation and experience who are capable of proving they belong to a legal guild with links to the ruling A.K.P. The government, in its defence denies all of this and it has reluctant support even from among its critics who point out that the purges were too widespread and numerous to be filled by A.K.P. members alone.
Leaving Mr. Erdogan to rely on right-wing nationalists, hard-left nationalists, recalled retirees and those with inadequate background in any of the disciplines whose gaps they have filled. In fact, the far right Nationalist Movement Party cast the critical votes to boost the 'yes' results in the referendum, enabling Mr. Erdogan to secure the parliamentary backing he needed.
The leader of the arch-secularist Patriotic Party who had once pledged he would "demolish" Erdogan's government made a statement of more recent vintage: "There's no reason for us to fight. We became side by side. They [the A.K.P. and Erdogan] are now following our program." A puzzling statement from a secularist party, but not one dedicated to patriotism of the Turkish variety.
Opponents of a move to expand
the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey waved a Turkish
flag with a picture of the country’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, last
Wednesday in Istanbul.Credit
Bulent Kilic/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
