Charming Beijing Captivates Liberal Loyalty

"[These comments] deeply offended, [demonstrating a] terrible lapse in judgement [however, the episode could serve as a] teachable moment."

"This is a person of integrity who served his community as a senior police officer for ... more than a quarter of [a] century. He's made a terrible lapse in judgement."

"He's made his apology. He's made it to the public, he's made it to the individual concerned, he's made it directly to me, and he's going to continue with his candidacy."

"He has my confidence." 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

"[The response by Mr. Carney is indeed a] teachable moment."

"It teaches us that Mark Carney will never stand up for Canada."

"If Mark Carney won't stand up for a Canadian against this foreign hostile regime now, how could we ever expect  him to stand up for Canada after the election?"

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre

 

"He is a police officer, and he ought to know that when the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] went out and put a bounty on anybody, including Canadians, that cannot be acceptable."

"That is intimidation at its worst."

NDP MP Jenny Kwan

 

"What we saw was the news of the bounty was sort of re-upped, but we're just watching the open space for anything related to that." 

"That alone, I think, is a form of coercion."

"Spreading, again, the information about the bounty is precisely how malign foreign states seek to silence, harass and coerce."

Rapid Response Mechanism head Larisa Galadza, Global Affairs Canada

Paul Chiang is seeking re-election in Markham-Unionville, a riding he took from the Conservatives in 2021 by a margin of fewer than 2,500 votes. Justin Tang The Canadian Press file photo

"If  you can take him to the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto, you can get the million-dollar reward", advised Liberal electoral candidate Paul Chiang to an news conference comprised of Chinese-language media, in reference to Conservative candidate Joe Tay who had been charged under the Hong Kong national security law as a threat to Beijing for his Canada-based YouTube channel critical of the Beijing-dominated CCP government.

 

When the comment hit headlines in the legacy media in Canada, calls for the Liberal party to disown Mr. Chiang and remove him as a Liberal candidate for the April 28 federal election expressed the disgust of most Canadians. Derisory statements by opposing political party candidates are not uncommon during election campaigns, but seldom do they cross the line into currying to foreign interference in Canada's affairs and certainly never to the extent that one candidate incites to violence against another.

 

Pressure came fast and furious even within the Liberal party for Mr. Chaing to be removed as a candidate in view of his comments last week. The bounty in  question, in Hong Kong dollars $1 million, transcribes to $183,000 in Canadian currency. Any taker could be assured of earning themselves a reward for luring the Conservative candidate to appear at the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto where he would be spirited to China and imprisoned as a traitor to Beijing -- but certainly not to China.

 

Mr. Chaing informed the Chinese-language media that given Mr. Tay's position on China and Beijing's response, should Mr. Tay be elected to Parliament, the Hong King criminal charge would be a cause of "great controversy", according to the Ming Pao newspaper. And no doubt it would, since the Liberal Party goes out of its way to pacify Beijing, and continues to build on its relationship through trade, despite the assaults on Canadian sovereignty where Canadians have been falsely imprisoned, Canadians have received the death penalty in China, and Chinese interference in Canadian affairs is deeply troubling.

 

Liberal Leader Mark Carney says Paul Chiang will remain a candidate under his banner, despite calls to drop the Markham-Unionville incumbent for suggesting people turn in a Conservative candidate to the Chinese consulate and collect a bounty.   CBC News

Even so, even when Canadian Intelligence has warned government on many occasions through updated reports that China is among those countries -- foremost among those countries -- that have used their expatriate Chinese-Canadian community originally from Mainland China to act as agents for Beijing, as well as instructing all expats that it is their ancestral patriotic duty to infiltrate and capture whatever advances in technology, science, medicine, and military news helpful to be conveyed to China's possession.

 

Mr. Chiang himself saw fit to apologize soon after  his comments were publicized:

"The comments I made were deplorable and a complete lapse of judgement on the seriousness of the matter. I sincerely apologize and deeply regret my comments."

"I will always continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong in their fight to safeguard their human rights and freedoms."

 

And while unelected PM-incumbent Mark Carney is satisfied to let the matter lie there and continue to approve Mr. Chiang as a Liberal candidate, the man himself took the initiative to resign from the Liberal candidacy. Whether his apology is sincere is debatable. He still took the right course in apologizing and taking himself out of the election. There is no debate that Mr. Carney, on the other hand, has often engaged in dishonourable conduct. He has bent the truth to suit his fabricated explanations.

 

And on this occasion he has spectacularly failed to act with conscience and integrity. Canadians should hold him to account for this, yet another lapse in judgement on his part. On the other hand, government officials tasked with identifying and responding to foreign threats during the election period acknowledge they are monitoring the situation closely. Moreover, the RCMP has opened an investigation in the matter. While the man aspiring to be elected Prime Minister of Canada succumbed to his own lack of moral integrity.

 

Mr. Tay has been left uneasy and concerned over his safety, given the obvious nature of the threats against him posed by a foreign government whose record on human rights is abysmal. He has stated that the situation left him fearing for his safety. Spurring him to get in touch with the RCMP for his personal protection, and demanding that Carney fire Chiang. A demand that thirteen pro-democracy groups in Canada linked to Hong Kong produced a statement urging the Liberal Party to "send a clear message" in removing Chiang's candidacy, making it clear they cannot accept his "insincere apology".  

"I want to be clear: no apology is sufficient."

"Threats like these are the tradecraft of the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in Canada."

"And they are not just aimed at me. They are intended to send a chilling signal to the entire community in order to force compliance to Beijing's political goals."

Conservative federal election candidate Joe Tay 

"[Foreign interference, including instances of transnational repression, continue to be a] pervasive threat in Canada [and the federal police takes all reports and allegations seriously]."

"The RCMP is looking into the matter, however no specific details can be provided at this time."

"To ensure the integrity of our investigations, the RCMP typically does not disclose information relating to investigations unless criminal charges are laid, rendering it a matter of public record."

RCMP spokesperson Kristine Kelly 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, speaking in New Brunswick, says Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s decision to stand by candidate Paul Chiang, who called for people to turn in Conservative candidate Joe Tay for a Chinese bounty, ‘teaches us that Mark Carney will never stand up for Canada.’ Poilievre added that he spoke to Tay and he is ‘very, very rattled.’   CBC

"It is a teachable moment. It teaches us that Mark Carney will never stand up for Canada."

"The Chinese government literally wants to kill Joe Tay because he’s a political dissident. And this candidate said that that should happen."

"I have never in my life seen a prime minister unwilling to protect a Canadian citizen against a foreign government that wants to take his life through a bounty."

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

All The News That's Fit To Print About China

"China’s construction of nearly 250 new silos has serious implications for international relations and China’s role in the world. The Chinese government has for decades insisted it has a minimum deterrent and that it is not part of any nuclear arms race. Although it remains unclear how many silos will actually be filled with missiles, the massive silo construction and China’s other nuclear modernization programs are on a scale that appears to contradict these polices: the build-up is anything but “minimum” and appears to be part of a race for more nuclear arms to better compete with China’s adversaries."

"The silo construction will likely further deepen military tension, fuel fear of China’s intentions, embolden arguments that arms control and constraints are naïve, and that US and Russian nuclear arsenals cannot be reduced further but instead must be adjusted to take into account the Chinese nuclear build-up.?

"The disclosure of the second Chinese silo missile field comes only days before US and Russian negotiators meet to discuss strategic stability and potential arms control measures. Responding to the Chinese build-up with more nuclear weapons would be unlikely to produce positive results and could cause China build up even more. Moreover, even when the new silos become operational, the Chinese nuclear arsenal will still  to be significantly smaller than those of Russia and the United States."

"The clearest path to reining in China’s nuclear arsenal is through arms control, but this is challenging. The United States has been trying to engage China on nuclear issues since the late-1990s, but so far with minimal success. Rather than discuss specific limitations on weapon systems, these efforts have been limited to increasing transparency about force structure plans and strategy, and well as discussing nuclear doctrine and intentions."

"The Trump administration correctly sought to broaden nuclear arms control to include China, but fumbled the effort by turning it into a public-relations pressure stunt and insisting that China should be part of a New START treaty extension. Beijing not surprisingly rejected the effort, and Chinese officials have plainly stated that “it is unrealistic to expect China to join [the United States and Russia] in a negotiation aimed at nuclear arms reduction,” particularly while China’s arsenal remains a fraction of the size."

Matt Korda and Hans Kristensen, Federation of American Scientists 

The Hami missile silo field domes are identical to silo domes seen at the Yumen missile silo field and the Jilantai training area.

 

"[The Chinese nuclear weapons stockpile was] expected to double, if not triple or quadruple, over the next decade."

Admiral Charles Richard,commander U.S. nuclear forces

 

"The silo construction at Humen and Hami constitutes the most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever."

Matt Korda and Hans M.Kristensen

China has certainly not endeared itself to the freedom-loving Western democracies of late. Its aggression over territorial rights in the Himalaya with India, in the South China Sea with its near neighbours, disputes over land, sea and air rights have all alerted its neighbours to a sovereignty agenda whose fulfillment will most certainly diminish their own disputed rights. Taiwan is in Beijing's crosshairs, and Hong Kong has suffered a blow to its hopes for the future as a bastion of democracy.

 

Life in prison is the sentence that people in Hong Kong face for daring to challenge the supremacy of China and this is just what a young activist, Tong Ying-kit, 24, is now facing for hoisting a protest flag on July 1st last year reading "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times". He was convicted of terrorism and inciting secession under the controversial national security law meant to stamp out dissent that mightily offends Beijing. 

So it is with a jaundiced eye that the United States looks in at what intelligence agencies suspect is the latest move by China to assert itself. As though to complement Chinese President Xi Jinping's assertion to "bash the heads" of any foreign intrusive powers that plan to interfere with Beijing's sovereign rights on its own territory. As, for example, global criticism of the oppression of Tibetans and of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Beijing has had a lot on its plate recently from its Belt & Road initiative with massive investments all over the world meant ultimately to benefit China's status as a trade and production colossus on the world stage where Beijing longs to be recognized as a world power at least on par with the United States of America. United China is Beijing's goal and it will brook no interference nor questioning of its right to act as it will in securing 'harmony' among its many restive parts.

 

The Hami missile silo field covers an area of about 800 square kilometers and is in the early phases of construction.

 

Now, according to satellite images, it appears that China has been busy, building a second nuclear missile base able to hold dozens of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Spread over 300 square miles in the Xinjiang region, the vast site is theorized to hold 110 silos for launching weapons. "The most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever."

Civilian satellite was utilized by the Federation of American Scientists to examine the Gobi Desert close to Hami where Uyghur Muslims are believed to be kept in "re-education camps". A series of large inflatable domes typical of those generally made use of by construction teams on military bases to shield from view work they are performing within, were identified. 

Only weeks earlier another silo field had been spotted in Yumen, northeast China. There, according to the James Martin Center for Non-proliferation Studies, are located 120 missile silos, as well. China's version of the issue of missile silos and their projectiles are that it maintains a "minimum deterrent" of nuclear weapons, estimated to number some 300, by experts. The United States and Russia both maintain strategic arsenals easily five times that size, along with stockpiles of roughly 5,000 weapons each.

At the same event when President Xi made his "bash the heads" threat, he pledged to build up China's military. He also spoke of the nation's commitment to the "reunification" of Taiwan, reiterating the importance of social stability which would be more certain in Hong Kong under Beijing's thumb, and at the same time enhancing Beijing's thrust toward security and sovereignty. It is President Xi casual scorn of security and sovereignty of other nations that is found so offensive.

"Just because you build the silo doesn't mean you have to fill them all with missiles. they can move them around."

"It's not insane. They make the United States target a lot of silos that may be empty. They can fill these silos slowly if they need to build up their force. And they get leverage in arms control."

"I'm surprised they didn't do this a decade ago."

Vipin Narang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Hami and Yumen missile silo fields are located deeper inside China than any other ICBM base and beyond the reach of conventional cruise missiles.  Image: Google Earth.