The Most Controversial President in U.S. History's Ambassador to Canada

"He said, 'What do you want to do?" I said, 'I think I see myself as your ambassador to Canada'. He had kind of a quizzical look ... and he says 'I like that, I like that idea'."

"I'm not only Dutch, I'm Frisian, which they call the most stubborn and blunt group -- and the Dutch pride themselves on being blunt. [That] is pretty valuable as a diplomat ..."

"I don't think [Canadian officials] leave the meeting saying 'What was he trying to tell us? Do you think Trump is really serious about tariffs'?"

Pete Hoekstra, U.S. Ambassador to Canada

 

"For the first time, it appears that the American ambassador's audience in everything he says publicly is the president."

"He is very likely making his boss happy, while he makes the rest of us uneasy."

"He's not from central casting."

Flavio Volpe, president, Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association, Canada

 

"He was just a brilliant guy and a can-do guy who just wanted to get things done."

"He is an original thinker. He's not conventional at all in so far as policies or in terms of ideology."

"He thought outside the box, which I really admired." 

Steve Emerson, Investigative Project on Terrorism 

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra speaks before taking part in a discussion on Canada-U.S. relations with Colin Robertson, a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, during the Global Business Forum in Banff, Alberta on Sept. 25, 2025. Photo by Brent Calver/Postmedia /Brent Calver/Postmedia

 

The man has been labelled 'contentious' and 'pugnacious'; he certainly speaks his mind in a manner that is unreflective of the position he holds as a senior diplomat, though he doesn't come from the professional diplomatic corps, but rather, like his boss, from the business world. And he is, if anything, a true-red Republican Trump loyalist. Although he has some family ties with Canada, of relatives living in the country, and some memories in his dim background of visiting Canada, he appears to know little-to-nothing about the Canadian spirit.

 

In the sense, that is, that he can fathom broad offense taken by Canadians when the  American president he represents and champions insults the country by suggesting it become the  51st state. A 'term of endearment' was his reading of the suggestion, baffled that any offence could be taken. Surely not; more likely taking his cue of making light of the assault on Canadian sovereignty as though to deliberately minimize the spurning reaction of  a people whose dignity as a nation has been  made light of.

 

He is said to be a genial man in person, and no doubt he is. So is President Donald J. Trump when he wants to be, which is to say when everything goes his way. The supreme confidence instilled by holding the position of the most politically powerful man in the world would doubtless make many people immune to criticism, but not Trump and not, Mr. Hoekstra, on Trump's behalf. Criticize Mr. Trump and you have the supreme audacity to find fault with the great United States of America. 

 

"Dear Canada: beware. Hoekstra deserves to be treated as a hostile guest", proclaimed the  website of Common Dreams. The ambassador, 72 years of age, was born in Groningen, a northern city in the Netherlands. His family brought him to the United States when he was three years old through emigration. He earned an MBA in Michigan and entered the business world to become vice-president of marketing at an office furniture manufacturer before he turned to the political arena and election in 1992 to the House of Representatives, as a conservative Republican.

 

He opposed abortion rights, same-sex marriage, gay adoption, gun control and federal employee paid parental leave; the very essence of Democratic liberal values.  He chaired the House of Representatives intelligence committee from 2004-2007. As think tank pundit, author and diplomat he seems the perfect representative in Canada to reflect the current administration. His continued warning of "radical Islam", and that schools in America were used "to indoctrinate our children with Marxist ideology" mark him as controversial but fairly accurate. Since 9/11 he has devoted "almost all of my time" to intelligence, stating the "greatest threat" to the U.S. is the rise of "radical Jihad, radical Islamists".

 

At his Senate confirmation hearing last year he stated "I recognize Canada's long-standing friendship, our deep economic ties and our strong military alliance", as he spoke of Mr. Trump's priorities as "freer, fairer trade". Canadians, along with much of the world might take issue with that last statement. Canada in particular with the imposition of 35 percent tariffs on goods not covered by the CUSMA agreement. The tariffs on aluminum, steel, copper and lumber are particularly onerous and resented. 

 

"You do not come into America and start running political ads -- government-funded political ads -- and expect that there will be no consequences or reaction", he sternly admonished the Province of Ontario's trade representative over a series of well-publicized media spots highlighting former President Ronald Reagan's statements rejecting tariffs as completely unnecessary, as a gentle chide to President Trump's triumph of shocking tariffs and incentives to Canada-based manufacturers to leave Canada and set up manufacturing in the U.S. to unburden themselves of the weight of tariffs.  

"Chaos in the Netherlands. There are cars being burned. There are politicians that are being burned."

"With the influx of the Islamic community ... there are no-go zones in the Netherlands. All right?"

"There are no-go zones in France ... There are no-go zones in Britain as well, but they are tearing the Dutch apart politically." 

Pete Hoekstra, Muslim Migration into Europe: Eurabia Come True? 2015 panel discussion 

Somali-born, Dutch-American writer of note, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, herself a former politician and a bellwether of the kind of furtive jihad practised by the Muslim Brotherhood, would agree with every word of each caution issuing from the mouth of this unusual ambassador whose ideas of diplomacy are rather unconventional. Canada may yet learn much from this frank man of experience whose provocative conservative values counter much of the touchy-feely progressive-liberal standards of its own current government.

  

Pete Hoekstra, then Michigan Republican Party chairman, speaks at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Freeland, Mich., May 1, 2024. Photo by Paul Sancya/AP, File

 

"He's got to walk a tightrope. If he tries to inject too much rationality into the discussion, he gets zapped by Trump."

"I'm not going out of my way to defend him, but I feel a bit of sympathy for the predicament he's in."

"I'm sure when he showed up in Ottawa he didn't think he'd become the most controversial U.S. ambassador in history."

David Haglund, international relations professor, Queen's University 

The Canada/China Contortion Conundrum and the United States

"We are in a uniquely complicated spot."

"We are being borne along a current with very few options. So the idea that we can craft a way forward easily is wrong."

"They don't see it in Chinese thinking as an oppressive thing, they just see themselves in more benign terms as the leading civilization in the world, and that they ought to have an important say in the affairs of the world and even a dominant position."

"But it's not a Nazi-like military conquest of the world."

Gordon Houlden, director, China Institute, University of Alberta 

"It's been said that China doesn't have allies, it has markets."

"I attribute the Cold War spirit and the Cold War stresses, in largest part to China's actions, as well as the tone of their 'wolf warrior diplomacy', which isn't very diplomatic."

Margaret McCuiag-Johnston senior fellow, University of Ottawa, former member, Canada-China Joint Committee on Science and Technology

"It will require much more thought, it will require much more management of foreign policy."

"That will be difficult for everybody. It'll be particularly difficult for Canada because we haven't put much thought into our foreign policy for a long time, and we're going to pay a price in terms of the learning curve that we have to go up."

"That's the first step [Beijing releasing detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor] when I talked about China's assault on our sovereignty and our autonomy."

"It's sapping the will, it causes countries to feel that it's just impossible, it's too much work. And that was never Canada's approach in the past, but I worry that we've succumbed to that to a certain extent."

David Mulroney former Canadian ambassador to China 2009-2012

The U.S. Senate passed a bill aimed at competing with China on economic and other fronts. It wants clarity on U.S. strategy for working with allies. (Jason Lee/Reuters illustration)

 

U.S. legislation titled the Innovation and Competition Act, a 1,445-page bill is set to lay the groundwork for broad strategy on the part of America to enfeeble Beijing's plan to raise the country globally as a colossus of commerce, a guide to the world's perplexed over China's increasingly aggressive stance as the ultimate world-leading power. The Act identifies strategic industries where the recommendation is for the U.S. to ramp public support for quantum computing, advanced semiconductors and pharmaceuticals to continue to reflect America's preeminent global role.

It also proposes more substantial protections for America's share of critical minerals, expansion of research spending with an aim to strengthen cyber defence capabilities as primary objectives, among others. That same act places Canada in a role in sections of legislation; plans deeply consequential that will rework and reshape Canadian foreign policy for some time to come. This, as American officials spur forward on a protracted conflict with China for global supremacy; an issue observers refer to as the new Cold War.

That Cold War is in active engagement between the two giants on a number of fronts including cyber warfare, military expansionism, technological research, culture, infrastructure, and intellectual property. All areas incidentally, which in one way or another Beijing has stealthily intruded upon in the process enriching itself with the results of its cyber-scrutiny otherwise known as stealth-theft. There is little question that Canada's traditional neighbourly ties with the United States will inform its inclusion in the U.S.-led agenda dividing China and the U.S. where trade and national security are issues of huge importance./China impedes both at will; one as punishment the other as threat.

The links between Canada and the U.S. are historically strong and steadfast, culturally and politically. with the U.S. Canada's largest trading partner. An agreement between the two neighbours was signed to establish new supply chains for critical minerals and rare earths as defence against China's zeal in gaining rights and overwhelming ownership to both. Canada has been lax in deciding whether, like all other members of the Five Eyes intelligence group, it will shut Huawei out of its 5G upgrade.

On the surface the U.S. legislation is clear enough with its plans to uphold a "shared vision of democracy", maintaining the "rules based international order established after WWII", which China flouts with impunity. The loosening of export regimes between the two neighbours, protecting "critical defence-related technology", establishing open and transparent planning on infrastructure, co-operating on Arctic defence and energy connectivity, combating "industrial espionage" and deepening intelligence sharing "particularly in 5G telecommunications technology", all favour more secure ties.

And all specifically point at China's infamously notorious penchant for surveillance, espionage and hunger to acquire by foul means the intelligence and secrets of other countries. "We are in the midst of a fundamental debate about the future and direction of our world", stated U.S.President Biden in a public statement earlier in the year in response to a more bellicose, authoritarian China guided by President Xi Jinping who seized the temptation to step in where the influence of the United States has waned as it withdrew from various stations of U.S.-guided support across the world.

The Communist Party of China is invested in aggressively redressing its "century of humiliation" when the Western world advanced far beyond the capabilities that China brought to bear from the mid-1800s to mid-1900, a situation humiliating to a once-powerful nation. It focuses on a goal of re-asserting its proper place in the world as a leading nation whose influence and power can be challenged by no others, even as it challenges with the assurance of entitlement the lone global super-power as a has-been entity.

Implacably, President Xi awaits each opportunity with the patience of an ancient cultural tradition of self-assurance renewed. His mantra of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" has served him and his country well in a few short decades that has literally pulled the country from its bootstraps up, in economic advantage leading to its ambitious Belt and Road initiative expanding travel, trade and telecommunications links with Europe and Asia.

While bidding for economic supremacy since it joined the World Trade Organization, China has undermined multilateral institutions and the international rule of law. At one time President Xi in conversation with then-President Obama assured there was no intention to militarize the disputed islands he had built in the South China Sea that he had illegally preempted as China's sovereign right. They were soon enough militarized, the purpose for which they had been established. 

 

Multilateral institutions have been slowly succumbing to Chinese power plans where international settlements and diplomatic and industrial guidelines are set. Chinese nationals occupy leadership positions in some 40 United Nations institutions for engineering, maritime law, health, finance, atomic energy and dozens of other areas. A situation that would make even a cynic cringe over future implications where Chinese positions at the International Telecommunications Union, UN Industrial Development Organization, Food and Agriculture Association renders massive leverage to China.

 

Totalitarianism in China is Complete and Utter Control

"Hong Kong's democratic leadership has been arrested en masse,and recently citizens found they were no longer able to access certain websites."

"Under the National Security Law, the government can force websites to remove any information that could 'endanger national security'."

"Schoolbooks are being edited and teachers' roles circumscribed. It is possible that Hong Kong could see even more repression as the regime uses its tools of surveillance to quash any thought of independence."

"In the ultimate measure of extraterritorial control, the National Security Law provides that any person who speaks out against the Chinese regime anywhere in the world can be extradited and prosecuted in China."

Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, Senior Fellow, Institute of Science, Society and Policy, University of Ottawa

The Chinese Communist Party is increasingly dominated by one man, Xi Jinping, whose power is stronger than any leader since Mao. Lintao Zhang / Staff / Getty Images

 

Beijing recently named two Danish politicians in an extradition request; their crime? aiding a former Hong Kong legislator in his asylum search in Denmark. That Denmark has never signed an extradition agreement with China is fortuitous both for the Danish politicians and for Denmark itself since there are no legal obligations to impel them to respond to China. On the other hand there are many countries which did sign such an extradition agreement never realizing that a complication such as the National Security Law would ever trouble them.

There are, however other avenues that Beijing can take to compel people to bend to its will and in this regard the Chinese diaspora is particularly vulnerable, no matter where they have emigrated to. They can be threatened that harm will come to their relatives still living in China to coerce them from criticizing the regime they left behind. Their relatives become virtual hostages to the diaspora -- Chinese citizens of other countries being forced to act with great circumspection to avoid payback.

Under Xi Jinping, Beijing has turned sharp left from authoritarian to totalitarian with a cult of leader-worship in full display. The Chinese Communist Party no longer indulges in any pretense to appease the sensibilities of the international community that it continues to approach the democritization of its political agenda. China's embrace of capitalism did not, after all, lead it toward a form of Chinese democracy; its growing influence in the international community, its status as a trade and technology giant have given it free rein to remove the facade of moderation as it moved steadily toward dictatorship.

Photo: NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images

 

According to The Economist's 2019 Democracy Index, the current regression away from any semblance of democracy resulted in a fall of 23 places in ranking in one year. A situation that now places China near the bottom, below Iran at 153 out of 167 countries. It isn't complicated to recognize totalitarian rule; a sole political party ranks as the leading indicator. Added to which is intolerance of varying opinions and the control of its citizens' lives, along with manipulation of the system of justice. 

Citizens are monitored by its Social Credit System through WeChat and Weibo through the use of algorithms identifying those who are bold enough to mention June 4 or May 35, code for the Tiananmen Square massacre or referencing Winnie the Pooh, with a gait similar to President Xi's own. There are subtle identifiers that single out 'social deviants', as simple as late-loan payments, acquiring traffic violations to earn poor social credit scores. As a result of which people can find themselves unemployed or lacking the right to send their offspring to a good school.

 

New Chinese facial recognition technology can identify faces with masks. Source Hauyon's Website CSIS

 

Large demographics cannot gain permission to travel either within the country or abroad as punishment for low social credit scores, and citizens become careful in their exercise of the social weal as it is seen in China, to avoid appearing on the blacklists, becoming skilled in self-censorship. Domestic and foreign companies are compelled to submit to the Corporate Social Credit System, since failure to comply with regulations or speaking ill against government policies will ensure no access to grants, procurement contracts, land, or lower taxes.

Should employees or suppliers themselves gain poor scores, the company itself is punished. These credit systems are set to be further firmed up with party committees in every company prepared to ensure corporate decisions take care with their obligations to advance the interests of the Communist Party. Each citizen is obliged to study on an app that takes note when the users are scrolling too quickly to properly mentally ingest the information through the guiding ideology, Xi Jinping Thought, a three-volume publication.

 

Visitors being filmed by a security camera with facial recognition technology.
Source: Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images.

Typically, totalitarian regimes are intolerant of religions; in plain evidence in Tibet and Xinjiang where incarceration for 're-education' purposes to achieve 'harmony' and dampen 'splittism' is the overarching goal of control of people's thoughts, aspirations and loyalties. Voice pattern telephone surveillance, forced labour and mass sterilization are all part of the extensive program of brain-washing to achieve CCP loyalty in the People's Republic of China. 

When Turkic Muslim Uyghurs are released from re-education to return home, a young Han man or woman is assigned to mandatorily live with them to monitor that the family speaks Mandarin exclusively, and does not revert to its former religious practices. In this 'family program' package the Han handlers are also encouraged to marry Uyghurs in a long-term strategy of thinning the genetic stream as well as the cultural-religious landscape. 

Persecution of Chinese Christians continues, with churches seeing their crosses torn down, and where  Xi's photo and Xi Jinping Thought are given prominent place in sanctuaries while senior clerical appointments  must be approved by the Party. Officially unapproved covert House churches, when their presence is discovered are routinely shuttered, their clergy incarcerated.

Those Chinese citizens oblivious or uncaring of the backlash they will incur, speak out on such issues as free speech, environmental degradation, expropriation without compensation at their peril, known to having been subjected to daily interrogations while seated in a metal tiger chair with wrists and ankles in vices in freezing environments. Websites are shut down in their hundreds of thousands in response to 'inappropriate' content, exemplified by criticism of President Xi and his party.

 

While the novel coronavirus was unleashed globally after emerging in Wuhan, China, with the result that the world economy suffered overwhelming losses in 2020, China's economy grew 2.3 percent in that same year even as every other major economy suffered dreadful recessions. China is now on track to supplant the United States as the world's foremost economy, within a decade. When Beijing faces criticism from abroad it takes immediate punishing steps.

Australia had the unmitigated gall to ban Huawei in 2018 from its 5G upgrade, and more recently called for an international inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the process by enraging Beijing, trade barriers abruptly appeared and Australia lost roughly $3 billion in commodity sales to China in 2020. Canadian canola shippers too were targeted by Beijing following the house arrest of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei,  on a U.S. extradition request.

'Practical' business interests are now calling on their governments to avoid unnecessarily alienating the trade giant that China is. At the centre of the most dynamic region in the world, China is a sought-after trade and investment source. The fear is that failure to 'constructively' engage with Beijing on its very own terms will result in long-term harm to other nations' business interests. And so, nations wedded to the concept of protection of human rights are prepared to set those concerns aside for the greater interests of securing prosperity linked to Chinese business opportunities.

The Canadian Mandate for Relations withBeijing

 

Dominic Barton,  (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

"[I was given a mandate that included an overall objective of restoring relations between Canada and China, one caveat and three key priorities]. First and foremost, secure the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor and get clemency for Robert Schellenberg. That is core. That's a priority. Second, promote and protect human rights."

"[The third priority is to deepen person-to-person relationships between Chinese and Canadian people at all levels, including government, the arts, business and universities, and caveat is that those efforts must be made in keeping with] international rules and principles that provide predictability and security."

"We're angry. We're very angry because of our people that had been taken. China is very angry as well, furious. We're both furious."  

"The first conversation I had there was probably one of the most unpleasant conversations I've ever had. I mean, the shaking and anger from there, and we were also … It wasn't a conversation." 

"We're never going to be singing from the same hymn book. We did not have any formal communications, it was a lot of informal, we now have very good formal relations. We have real discussions where we can argue and debate."

"We're saying you need to be careful on the Chinese side because we are a high quality, safe food supplier."

"From a financial point of view, I think it was [former Liberal deputy prime minister] John Manley who said, 'This is the stupidest economic decision I could ever make in my life'. [His history of business dealings with China and the suggestions by Democracy Watch and others that those dealings put him in a conflict of interest]. I did it for public service. I want to help. I feel I can help the country."

Canadian Ambassador to China, Dominic Barton  ...
House of Commons committee on Canada-China relations

 

"The military and diplomats were at odds over the People's Liberation Army training program [and diplomats were concerned the decision to cancel the exercise] might aggravate Beijing."

CBC report

 

"Unfortunately, Canada is no stranger to the complex influence game McKinsey plays with China."

"Before becoming Canada's ambassador to China, Dominic Barton went from serving on the advisory board of the China Development Bank to running McKinsey's global operations."

Senator Marco Rubio, chair, Senate intelligence committee, United States 

The Government of Justin Trudeau is as Liberal as it's possible to be. He, and his government are following in the footsteps of Canada's previous Liberal government headed by then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien who, while prime minister primed relations between himself personally and China's business establishment, using his public service office as a springboard to groom personal relations with influential Chinese government officials and business elite. Mr. Chretien led large trade missions to China influencing his future as a private citizen joining a prestigious law firm and using his contacts to enlarge business contacts with China. 

 

It was, after all, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Justin's father who as Liberal prime minister in the '70s opened relations with China to begin with. It was likely an influence on son Justin who has spoken admiringly of China's 'basic dictatorship' that can turn on a dime. Well yes, dictatorships specialize in such manner. When Dominic Barton was selected last year as Canadian ambassador to China, that choice had a clear agenda for the Liberals; to mend broken fences at any cost, for much depended on it. That 'much' would be enhanced trade opportunities and investment, not strengthening Canada's sovereignty by any means.

 

Hostages Spavor and Kovrig, Xi, Trudeau

This, of course, was in the wake of Canada having arrested Huawei Communications' CFO on an extradition warrant by the U.S. Which launched a dire situation of hostage diplomacy in direct reaction by Beijing, furious at the detention of Meng Wanzhou. And nor did the arbitrary arrests of Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig on espionage charges end Beijing's lash-back; three other Canadians were sentenced to death on charges of drug smuggling, and agricultural product shipments to China from Canada were halted.

 

Canada has paid dearly for spiking Beijing's regard for a docile, biddable country that raised no protest over Chinese-Canadian citizens being harassed in Canada and threatened over their support for Hong Kong democracy, nor the infiltration by Chinese espionage agents into every sphere of Canadian life from politics to academia, along with the stealth action of cybertheft and purloining Canadian industrial and scientific formulae. Yet despite all of this, Canada felt it appropriate to invite members of the People's Liberation Army to Canada to be trained in winter warfare. And the more recent revelation that Chinese pilots are training on Canadian aircraft at a closed air force base in Ontario.

It was the head of the Canadian military, General Jonathan Vance who decided to disinvite Chinese troops for cold-weather military training in Ontario. His concern revolved around national security. Much to the displeasure of the Canadian diplomatic corps whose memoranda back and forth to the prime minister's office revealed concerns related to offending Beijing. 

China has and continues to punish Canada for its 'abuse' of international law, as China claims, even while in fact, in detaining Meng the rule of law was upheld through an extradition treaty between Canada and the United States, and due judicial process is ongoing, with Ms.Meng permitted to live in her two Vancouver mansions on bail while awaiting extradition, whereas the Canadian prisoners in China languish in solitary confinement, under harsh duress and constant interrogation, without access to lawyers and limited interventions by Canadian consular staff.

In the House of Commons on November 18, the opposition Conservatives tabled a motion for the Trudeau government to decide finally whether to ban Huawei from Canada's 5G upgrade as other members of the Five Eyes intelligence group (United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Canada) have long since done. They also demanded that the government institute measures to halt China's agents from their intimidation of Canadians both in Canada and in Hong Kong.

Ambassador Barton's assertion that Beijing would be cognizant of the quality and abundance of food crops from Canada and be compelled to reverse its ruinous contract breaches costing Canadian farmers billions of dollars in lost revenues, is out-of-this-world ridiculous; those crops are fungible; Beijing can access them elsewhere in the world, in particular from another nation it is busily harassing, Australia. In the United States a warning was issued to western governments that business with McKinsey is fraught with danger because of its alignment with the Chinese Communist Party ruling elite.

The Liberals ignored Conservative queries regarding the need to have Barton disclose his Chinese client lists in 2019 on his appointment as ambassador to China. Citing McKinsey client confidentiality, the demand was evaded although Barton had to place his investments into a blind trust. That McKinsey conducts business with 22 of China's 100 largest state-owned enterprises was revealed by the New York Times. McKinsey has aided in raising the stature of the CCP regime. As a frontman for the Liberal government and the China-boosters in Canada, Barton was the perfect candidate.

And his supporters are people of huge influence, including former prime minister Jean Chretien, the Desmarais family, Power Corporation (into which Mr. Chretien's daughter married) and the Canada China Business Council chaired by Chretien grandson Olivier Demarais. The connections read like a Liberal-Quebec who's who of business elites because that's what it all is, hungry for business with China at any cost, that cost a sell-out of Canada in exchange for trade and business and investment with China.

Human rights abuses are of no concern to this crowd, their focus is entirely on business and profit. "The weight of the world is shifting and has shifted toward Asia, so we need to do more in China", Ambassador Barton recently stated in a speech he delivered at the China Institute at the University of Alberta, urging government emphasize more robust business with China.

 

Australia's PM Scott Morrison,  Bloomberg

"We won't be compromising on the fact that we'll set what our foreign investment laws are, or how we build our 5G telecommunications networks, or how we run our systems ... that are protecting against any interference."

"We will always set our own laws and our own rules according to our national interests -- not at the behest of any other nation, whether that's the U.S. or China or anyone else."

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  CP/Sean Kilpatrick

"Do I regret that Canada followed its laws? Do I regret that Canada lived up to a long-standing extradition treaty with our closest ally? Absolutely not."

"Canada is a country of the rule of law. And obeying those laws can't just be when it's convenient or when it's easy. If you're a country of the rule of law, if you're a country of values, you need to stick up for those. And that's exactly what we're doing."

"In the face of pressure and increasingly coercive moves by one of the world's great powers, I think that really highlights at which point we need to be working together as allies, as neighbours, as friends, as countries."

"Very few countries could stand up on its own to a superpower, to a great power. But working together in alignment, we can make sure there is a recognition that the path that China is choosing to take right now is probably not going to be as effective -- even for them -- as they think it will."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

"[The government must] make a decision on Huawei's involvement in Canada's 5G network within 30 days [and] develop a robust plan, as Australia has done, to combat China's growing foreign operations here in Canada and its increasing intimidation of Canadians living in Canada [within 30 days]."

House of Commons Opposition Conservatives

"We are aware that China is, and will remain, an important commercial partner for Canada."

"China is also a significant source of tourists and students to Canada, and brings economic and enriching social benefits across our nation."

Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne

Sing4DemocracyHK protest outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong (Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images)

Australia and Canada have displeased China mightily. China awaits both countries to come to their senses and that would entail sincerely apologizing to Beijing for their intransigent wrong-headed views on China regarding many issues, inclusive of Hong Kong, Uighurs, Huawei, Chinese benevolence, Chinese cyber espionage, copyright infringement, and above all, COVID-19. Beijing's release this week of a list of 14 grievances with Australia put matters out in the open down under when a Chinese official spoke on record to an Australian reporter: "China is angry. If you make China the enemy, China will be the enemy." 

According to Australian sources the list of grievances includes instigating an investigation in the United Nations regarding the spread of COVID-19 at the turn of 2020, cancelling Chinese student visas as a COVID-aversion safety measure, blocking Chinese investments in Australia, leading international focus on violation of human rights by China and the banning of Huawei from contributing to the Australian 5G telecommunications network upgrade. All hostile actions guaranteed to poison relations between China and Australia; the latter the aggressor, the former the victim.

Australia's Prime Minister made it abundantly clear that Australia's sovereign decisions are not up for discussion much less explanation or apology to the world's number one natural resources-hoarder, trade colossus, and cybertheft expert. Australia puts its words into action and lives with the consequences, unwilling to be bullied and coerced into pleasing or pleading with the Chinese Communist Party for concessions and forgiveness. 

 G20 Leaders photo, Riyadh on Friday. Getty Images

Canada's Prime Minister enjoys grabbing the limelight as a victim whose defence of justice and the rule of law has occasioned Beijing's wrath and imprisoned two innocent Canadians for the past two years, charged with threatening China's security, in retaliation for the detention of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei, on a U.S. extradition request. Canada has appealed to other APEC nations to support Canada in a joint rejection of Chinese bullying in the hopes that Xi Jinping would be confronted at this weekend's G20 Saudi-hosted virtual gathering.

But is Canada prepared to  go it alone, to stand up for its sovereign rights as its Prime Minister boasted? It remains the only Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nation to leave open the question of whether Huawei will be included in Canada's 5G telecommunications upgrade, fearful of Beijing's explosive wrath, whereas Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States have all clearly stated their positions to shut out Huawei citing obvious security reasons.

Canada, on the other hand, saw fit to award a standing offer for conveyor-style X-ray machines to Nuctech, a Beijing based company partially owned by the Chinese government, once operated by the sun of the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Canadian, American and British companies all competed for the standing offer, but it was Nuctech who won the tender including delivery, installation, operator training and software training at Canadian embassies located world-wide.

It was only when a national newspaper broke the news of the contract that the federal government committed to a review once the contract was exposed, and ultimately decided not to buy Xray machines for Canadian embassies from the controversial Chinese firm. But it turns out that the Canadian Border Services Agency had already bought and installed Nuctech X-ray machines: 

"We have a number of mitigating interventions that we put in place around this technology. One of the first ones is obviously to keep it disconnected from our networks and from any Government of Canada networks ... the second is (anyone) affiliated with any of our suppliers would be screened through security processes and would be escorted on site if they were present in our facilities", explained the vice-president of the CBSA;s intelligence and enforcement branch. 

 

Why go through all this rigamarole necessitated by the use of the machines to begin with? To do otherwise, it would seem, would be to offend Beijing. Who could easily retaliate as they have done with holding two Canadians they've charged with espionage as hostages to force the release of the Huawei executive. China also flexed its trade muscles when it refused Canadian pork exports and canola products, both commodities that enjoyed a heavy trade prior to the Huawei affair.

Cong Peiwu, China's ambassador Canada (Justin Tang/CP

All of this in light of Canada's Communications Security Establishment's Canadian Centre for Cyber Security releasing a new report in which Russia, North Korea, Iran and China are listed as cybersecurity threats to Canada. An earlier report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians pointed out that China and Russia are using their diaspora, undercover agents and groups based on Canadian campuses as part of "significant and sustained" foreign interference campaigns in Canada, according to a redacted intelligence report.

 

"The committee believes that these states target Canada for a variety of reasons, but all seek to exploit the openness of our society and penetrate our fundamental institutions to meet their objectives."

"They target ethnocultural communities, seek to corrupt the political process, manipulate the media, and attempt to curate debate on post-secondary campuses."

"Each of these activities poses a significant risk to the rights and freedoms of Canadians and to the country's sovereignty: they are a clear threat to the security of Canada."

"[This] so-called genocide [is] a rumour and a farce fabricated by some anti-Chinese forces to slander China." 

"Its groundless statement  [committee report] is full of lies and disinformation. {Parliamentarians would do well to] avoid doing any further damage to China-Canada relations."

"This is blatant interference in China's internal affairs and reflects those Canadian individuals' ignorance and prejudice. China firmly deplores and rejects that."

"[The installations are] vocational training and education centres [where religious] extremists [are educated in the] national common spoken and written language, legal knowledge, vocational skills and de-radicalization."

"The aim is to eliminate the root cause of terrorism and extremism." 

Zhao Lijian, spokesperson, Chinese foreign ministry

In this photo, a guard tower and barbed wire fence surround a detention facility in the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China's Xinjiang region. (Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)