"Both China and Russia need to carry out more joint actions to more effectively safeguard our security and interests."
"At present, certain international forces are arbitrarily interfering in the internal affairs of China and Russia under the guise of democracy and human rights, and brutally trampling on international law and the norms of international relations."
Chinese President Xi Jinping
"A new model of co-operation has been formed between our countries, based, among other things, on such principles as non-interference in internal affairs and respect for each other's interests."
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in virtual conference
It used to be called a 'love-in'. The two countries have had their moments of mutual distrust and accusations. They will surface again at some future date, possibly when too many Chinese begin to occupy Russia's under-populated Arctic region as the Chinese population continues to explode. But for the time being they have more in common than what keeps them apart. Both expanding or attempting to expand, their influence abroad. Both building up their advanced technological military weapons.
And both notably, threatening their neighbours over territorial disputes. Out of which disturbing advances has come criticism from their neighbours and from Western groups like the EU and NATO. Both China and Russia, infamously, permanent members of the United Nations' core Security Council where decision-making is rarely unanimous; both preferring to naysay the other permanent members, France, Britain, and the United States.
Both now under heavy sanctions, led by the United States, supported by the European Union and NATO along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand. China for its abysmal human rights record on Tibet and Xinjiang and its bullying in the South China Sea, and Russia for its strongarm techniques edging into military invasion in Georgia and Ukraine.
For the time being, however, they have seen fit to form a common front against their 'enemies' and embrace as best friends. Leading Xi Jinping to endorse Vladimir Putin's demand that binding security guarantees be forthcoming from NATO, that Ukraine will not be welcomed into the NATO alliance and that Russia be permitted to do what Russia will do; invade Ukraine without inconvenient interference.
Mr. Xi after all, has much in common, insisting that Taiwan is part of mainland China, and discarding Hong Kong's dearly-held autonomy and love affair with democracy.
The two have proposed "joint actions" in defence of both Russian and Chinese 'security interests', according to a report issued by the Kremlin. A 90-minute video call had the two leaders celebrating the "model" relations between them, both countries locked in confrontation with the United States on a deepening trajectory.
Oddly enough the reports highlight two events; Russia's build-up of troops along the Ukraine border; China's People's Liberation Army's drills in a practice run for a Taiwanese assault.
Vladimir Putin informed his "dear friend" of Russia's travails in "mounting threats to Russia's national interests from the U.S. and the NATO bloc, which consistently move their military infrastructure close to the Russian border".
And while they were at this uber-friendly confab, Mr.Putin assured Mr. Xi of his intention to attend Beijing's Winter Olympics in February, an event that will be shy of the presence of Western diplomats who have decided to use a diplomatic gesture to express displeasure in China's intimidation of its neighbours and repression of its Uyghur population.
Russia and China’s verbal sparring
with the US over competing visions of multilateralism last week in the
UN Security Council exemplified the closer ties forged over recent years
between Moscow and Beijing. Kremlin.ru
"Many poor governments could not take on any more loans. So [China] got creative."
"[Instead
loans were handed to a] constellation of sectors other than central
government [often backed by a government guarantee]."
"The contracts are murky, and governments themselves don't know the exact monetary values they owe to China."
"What we're seeing right now with the Belt and Road Initiative is buyers' remorse."
"Many
foreign leaders who were initially eager to jump on the BRI bandwagon
are now suspending or cancelling Chinese infrastructure projects because
of debt sustainability concerns."
Brad Parks, executive director, AidData, U.S.-based research firm
"These debts, for the most part, do not appear on government balance sheets in LMICs [low and middle-income countries]."
"However
most of them benefit from explicit or implicit forms of host government
liability protection, which has blurred the distinction between private
and public debt and introduced major public financial management
challenges to LMICs."
"Beijing
is more willing to bankroll projects in risky countries than other
official creditors, but it is also more aggressive than its peers at
positioning itself at the front of the repayment line [via
collaterization]."
AidData report
Chinese
President Xi Jinping, in response to criticism, promised in 2019 that
his country's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative would be subject to
increased transparency in program financial stability and that there
would be "zero tolerance for corruption".
Of course, China's ruling Communist Party fails to equate sharp
business practise with corruption. They're just going about their
transactions in fairly unconventional ways that also happen to screen
them from too much unwanted scrutiny. Until a reviewer who knows what to
look for reveals the presence of unscrupulous methodology.
A
total of one hundred, sixty-five countries are now indebted to China.
Which had unveiled a bold new plan to resurrect a modern, improved "Silk
Road" of enhanced trade opportunities where all roads lead inevitably
to China. A vast network of highways, bridges and other communication
infrastructure was to be built in low- and medium-income countries who
badly needed modernized transport infrastructure and China made an
irresistible offer to build and finance them on a loan basis with
tantalizing terms.
Those
countries that took the bait are now in a position of facing a total of
$385 billion in hidden debts through their participation in the BRI. In
the case of 42 poorer countries, debt exceeding ten percent of their
individual GDP has become their reality. There are some loans revealed
through AidData research that have been under-reported to the World
Bank, are off the public balance sheets through a system of special
purpose and semi-private loans.
The
revelations by that research indicate that loans are "substantially
greater" than the data in possession of research institutions, credit
rating agencies or intergovernmental organizations with surveillance
responsibilities "previously understood" to be the case, according to
the study. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund, were said to
be aware of problems, but the report gave substance to the scale of just
how much was beyond their purview, going under-reported.
China's
overseas lending dramatically underwent change from
government-to-government loans to the point where close to 70 percent of
the financing was transferred to state-owned companies, banks, joint
ventures, private institutions and special purpose vehicles. Which
resulted in an estimated $385 billion of debt under-reported with the
lenders no longer central government bodies attached to strict
transparency.
When
Beijing originally developed its BRI in 2013 with a view of investing
in global infrastructure hundreds of countries across Central Asia and
Africa including low- to middle-income countries, signed up for the
investment program launched by President Xi Jinping. Some of those same
countries anxious not to miss an opportunity to advance their trade
potentials are now rethinking their original enthusiasm. Laos, Papua New
Guinea, the Maldives Brunei, Cambodia and Myanmar are part of the list
of nations owing debt in excess of ten percent of their GDP.
The Yuxi-Mohan railway between China and Laos under construction in May 2019 in China's Yunnan Province.
Getty Images
Part
of the debt accumulated by Laos as 'hidden debt' was found to be quite
significant through research, where the $5.9 billion China-Laos railway
project funded entirely with unofficial debt is equivalent to about a
third of the impecunious country's GDP. China focused on countries rich
in resources with corruption at high levels for increased loan
provisions. The report notes that 35 percent of BRI projects were rife
with corruption, faced labour violations, environmental pollution, and
public protests.
Countries
with traditionally poor performance on conventional measures of
credit-worthiness saw China increasing its provisions of loans there in
comparison to other international lenders; at the same time imposing
much higher interest rates, alongside shorter repayment periods. Of the
50 largest loans, forty were collateralized, generally against future
commodity exports. Whatever the scenario, China came out winning, its
client countries hooked and sunk.
The
arrangement for Pakistan saw Chinese loans with average interest rates
of 3.76 percent -- in comparison to an OECD-linked loan rate of 1.1
percent. "A lot of banks wouldn't even lend to Pakistan. If you're able to secure a loan you have to pay the higher risk premium",
explained Peter Call, a research fellow at the Australia-based Lowy
Institute. The Center for Global Development in 2018 found Djibouti,
Kyrgyzstan, Laos, the Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro Pakistan and
Tajikistan owing over half of all their foreign debt to Beijing.
China
systematically underreports its debt to the World Bank's Debtor
Reporting System by lending money through special purpose vehicles, a
study reveals. (Source photos by AP and Reuters)
"It would have been easy for the government just to keep quiet on this and let the award process go forward."
"The government has to take action so it can be seen as being a lot more supportive of Taiwan. I've been saying for a long time we have to drop the white gloves and be a lot more forceful and firm in our actions with China."
Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China
"Instead of supporting the people of Taiwan, the Trudeau Liberals have threatened to pull support from the forum if the organizers went ahead with the award."
"This attempt to silence those critical of China is shameful. Canada should support those who stand up and speak out against the Chinese Communist Party's violations of human rights and international law."
Conservative Member of Parliament, and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong
"President Tsai of Taiwan is a well-respected international leader, the first female president of Taiwan and a strong global advocate for democracy."
"She would certainly be an ideal fit for this award [2020 John McCain award]."
Robin Shepherd, vice-president, Halifax Forum
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a speech at an event. | Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo
Canada's Liberal government has once again become the recipient of a storm of criticism, naming its posture toward the People's Republic of China as a "disgrace" and "shameful" in the wake of a media report outlining that government officials had made an effort to block an award geared to be presented to the president of Taiwan, in Canada. Federal government officials had threatened to withdraw funding to the Halifax International Security forum should it award the John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service to Tsai Ingwen, Taiwan's president.
The Liberal decision was attributed to a fear of offending the Communist Party of China, notoriously sensitive to any whiff of 'insult' toward it by anyone or any entity or any other nation. Since Beijing has made no secret of Chinese President Xi Jinping's passion for 're-uniting" China by absorbing Hong Kong and Taiwan, two breakaway democratic states that have no interest whatever in being ruled by mainland China, any nod to someone like Taiwan's president's courageous stand against Beijing's intimidation tactics is certain to infuriate Chinese authorities.
Canada, like other Western democratic countries, particularly Australia, has felt the sting of Beijing's displeasure on previous occasions, and the Canadian Liberal government, still harbouring hopes that somehow it can manage to sign a free-trade agreement with China, even though Beijing's hostage diplomacy and human rights abuses toward Tibetans, Falon Gong and Turkic Muslim minorities are well known and deplored, fears further animosity directed against Canada from Beijing.
Canada, charge the two former Canadian ambassadors to China, has eschewed any action, however seemingly innocent, to infuriate an already apoplectic China, furious over criticism it has and continues to receive over its treatment of Chinese Uyghurs. In this latest instance where Canada's Liberals have trod on eggshells over China, it is in response to the Halifax International Security Forum choosing to award recognition of Taiwan's president's courage in the face of China's bullying.
The annual event hosted by the Halifax International Security Forum sees attendance by highly influential military officials and politicians. This year, the John McCain prize for courage was to have been awarded to Taiwan's president in recognition of her defiance of China, and her determination that her island state remain sovereign, separate and apart from mainland China. Her successful efforts in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan was also part of the award.
"Canada's Feminist Foreign Policy has no room for one of the most courageous, principled, and seriously threatened women on the planet", wrote David Mulroney, another former Canadian ambassador to China, on Twitter. It is President Xi Jinping's "China dream" of national revival that has him determined to return Taiwan to the Chinese fold of state Communism. Lately, China has been flying military jets through Taiwanese security airspace. And while President Biden has expressed his distaste for Chinese moves, he has done nothing concrete to dissuade Beijing.
Meghan McCain, former Senator McCain's daughter spoke her mind: "Absolutely pathetic -- Canadian government is a bunch of cowards condoning Chinese genocide".
In this Aug. 31, 2016 file photo, Chinese President
Xi Jinping shakes hands with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of
their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China.Photo by Wu Hong / Pool /REUTERS / FILES
A Shifting World Political System Eyeing Chinese-Style Authoritarianism
"While problems between the West and China grew in number, there was
no overall response that saw these as elements - trade tensions,
technological rivalries, strategic issues and so on - as part of a
bigger 'China problem' that required a concerted and co-ordinated
response. This was the world on the brink of the Covid-19 crisis; a
drama that originated in China and which initially caused some serious
problems for Beijing, but one which it was clearly determined to turn to
its advantage. It is no accident then that a more strident
nationalist tone in Chinese policy has been the result, ranging from
tensions with the US and Australia, Sino-Indian rivalry on their common
frontier, and to cap it all, China's decision to overturn the
fundamentals of its deal with the UK over Hong Kong. Indeed the Covid-19 crisis gave Beijing the opportunity to bring the Hong Kong crisis to a head. However
long this pandemic lasts, one consequence is clear - the trajectory of
Beijing's more assertive policy is unlikely to change unless real and
concerted pressure is brought to bear. And for all the condemnation of
China's attitude towards the liberties of the people of Hong Kong, it is
hard to see this happening."Jonathan Marcus, BBC News
Hong Kong demonstrations Reuters
Where to start? Let's try the one, signal issue that has incorporated the entire globe into a fused concern, the global pandemic known as COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that suddenly appeared in Wuhan, China back at the turn of the year that brought us into 2020. The year that everything changed. And keeps changing. World history brought to a head, making 2020 a significant year for change and a wholesale disturbance that has roiled the world.
Originating in China and swiftly transposed to the rest of the world, in part thanks to Beijing's efforts to cover up its existence, then failing to give timely and transparent warning, much less its concerted efforts to ensure that the rest of the world didn't close its borders to China, there is much to fault the Chinese Communist Party which rules the country under President Xi Jinping for. Including the fact that once China brought its own initial wave of COVID under control, it saw opportunities in its position as major supplier of the world's PPE.
The ensuing major crisis in the United States, swiftly taking over first place from Italy and Spain in the number of cases and deaths, put a quick end to U.S. President Donald Trump's first impressions of China's Xi Jinping as an admirable man he could do business with. Now Mr. Trump speaks of the "China virus" and not admiringly, a virus that has trashed the U.S. economy and pretty well given a death sentence to his aspirations for a second term in office.
The U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray has said he has "opened a new counter-intelligence investigation on China every ten hours", to which Beijing responds that the Houston consulate spoken of as a "nest of espionage", was countered by Beijing ordering the closure of the U.S.consulate in Chengdu, all laid at the feet of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo whose rationale was "a hodge-podge of anti-Chinese lies" to hear Beijing tell it. The spark that lit this fire was the new trade agreement being hammered out between Beijing and Washington. Kaput.
U.S. European allies are being prodded to remove their supply chains from China, mostly in pharmaceuticals and technology. This, at a time that the European Union is negotiating an investment agreement with China. A China that remains dependent on the global economy to rely on its manufacturing exports which in turn promotes its ongoing process of development. Decoupling from China would be an arduous process, but for China an impediment to the progress of its "Belt and Road" infrastructure investment program.
Sanctions imposed by the U.S. on human rights violations against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang certainly represent a sore point in China-U.S. relations. On this file the U.S. has plenty of support; from the U.K. protesting forced sterilization of the Uyghurs, and the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule, yanking its autonomous status precipitately despite the covenant signed with the U.K. in 1997, leading to a U.K. citizenship offer for close to three million Hong Kong residents.
The U.S. and 26 Western democracies criticized China's retraction of the "one country, two systems" agreement at the UN Human Rights Council, leading 53 UN members led by Cuba to sign a resolution in support of Beijing, thus aptly demonstrating the lack of relevance of the United Nations. Then there is the issue over China's South China Sea territorial claims, upsetting its near neighbours directly facing the threats of Chinese aggression and growing military presence.
World stability hasn't been particularly enhanced by the prospect of China deciding to challenge India over their mutual claims of territory in the Himalayas. A situation where the Modi administration may wish to move closer in political alignment with the United States, even while China is making accommodations with Pakistan and Iran both of which would be grateful for the financial investment aid on the horizon. Egypt too is now accessible to China, with a newly signed agreement on vaccine production.
"Ottawa can't seem to shake this tendency to flatter." "I'm
not suggesting that we need to insult China or provoke a quarrel. We
should simply be guided by the facts. And right now the facts argue for
the case that China was delinquent, that it wasn't transparent enough.
That's not a conspiracy theory." "When
you start acknowledging the truth, then positive and corrective action
is possible. As long as you're in denial, there's no hope of action that
will ameliorate the situation." "This is a tremendous missed opportunity and it's not too late for the government [of Canada] to slowly turn the ship around." David Mulroney, former Canadian ambassador to Beijing, 2009 -- 2012
"You have to draw a line. You have to stop such behaviour." "You
have to acknowledge that if you dealt with this issue with a lot more
transparency we would have avoided an international crisis that has led
to one of the greatest recessions of our times." "Cabinet did not fully realize what I call the dark side of China." Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to Beijing, 2012 -- 2016
Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomes
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse
in Beijing, Wednesday August 31, 2016. China has rejected Canada's
efforts to inject labour standards into a free trade agreement.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was leader of the-then opposition
Liberal Party of Canada, campaigning during the 2015 general election
that brought him to the helm of government, he stated his intention of
bringing Canada closer to China, with the ambition of signing a free
trade agreement with the Chinese Communist Party, in contrast to the
previous government of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper who
distrusted the CCP and its obvious untrustworthiness, much less its
penchant of abusing human rights.
In his 2018 trip to Beijing, Trudeau fully expected to sign that free
trade deal he had placed so much stock in. And China might have been
pleased to sign such an agreement, giving it even more influence in
Canada, had it not been for Trudeau's usual insertion of recognized
rights for aboriginals, environmental policy and gender-based analysis,
so much a part of his 'progressive' agenda, even in the face of his
conflicted admiration for authoritarian-style governments because they
can 'turn on a dime'. And although Trudeau considers Canada, under his
aegis, a post-national country, Xi Jinping celebrates Chinese
nationalism.
A
memorial this month for victims of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China.
Officials have been faulted as having at first mismanaged and concealed
the breadth of the epidemic.Credit...Roman Pilipey/EPA, via Shutterstock
Canada treads lightly in its relationship with its southern neighbour
and largest trading partner, the United States, and most particularly
under the leadership of its current president, not known for his steady,
guiding hand of objective and open policies. Canada owes much of its
international security and its economic health to the fairly open trade
and intertwined closeness of Canada's production with that of the United
States. And when an extradition request from the U.S. for Huawei CFO
Meng Wanzhou led to her arrest in Vancouver, China unleashed the full
force of its bitter enmity.
Ever since, the Liberal government has tread lightly, hoping to soften
Beijing's acid vituperation and re-ingratiate itself with a world power
that knows no constraints or restraints, exercising contempt for other
nations' scruples while itself threatening international stability. No
greater harm has been done to the global community than when the CPC
decided to withhold vital information from the World Health Organization
on the seriousness of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic ravaging Wuhan,
unleashing a deadly coronavirus on an unprepared international
community.
According to David Mulroney who has experienced ample reflections of
China's moody manipulation, Ottawa's "almost humiliating" posture
regarding China has as good as given China a green light to continue
presenting itself as a champion of industry and morals rather than the
criminal ideology that Trudeau's craven attitude avoids speaking of. In
providing incorrect information to the WHO, China deliberately chose to
place the world in danger. Canada, along with other first-world
countries have an obligation to social health and security to name China
for its disregard of moral responsibility, much less the crass looter
of world resources that it is, in the interests of furthering its own
industrial conquest.
The Trudeau cabinet has bent itself like a pretzel to avoid criticizing
either China or the WHO, when both have been responsible for the current
situation the world finds itself in, trying to control a deadly virus
with success nowhere in sight, while millions are threatened and
countless lives are needlessly lost. China's aggression and rejection of
responsibility only ensures that it will continue to place the world
community in danger from its reckless totalitarian decision-making
impacting the world outside China.
The Chinese people deserve better from their government. The world
community expects better from the Communist Party of China, but Xi
Jinping and his colleagues heed no accusations that they cannot
attribute to the false cries of 'racism' while bullying the world order
and focusing on becoming the next and premier world power. It already
considers itself to have achieved that status.
In laying the world low, killing an untold number of people through
neglect and arrogance, destroying the world economy, Beijing still comes
out ahead, placing its industries on overdrive to satisfy the world's
new vital need for medical equipment and drugs in a desperate effort to
allay the harm done by China, while China profits. And it will
vigorously and effectively fend off any demands that may arise for an
impartial international investigation into the true emergence of the
Wuhan novel coronavirus.
The Wuhan
Institute of Virology opened in 2018 with the founder of a French
bio-industrial firm, Alain Merieux, acting as a consultant in its
constructionHector
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.
:format(jpeg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/Y3EYSRII5ZJHJK4XZ2L6NZLMUI.JPG)
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/opinion/contributors/2020/04/25/trumps-china-blame-game-hastens-new-world-order/xi_jinping_and_trump.jpg)
