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

Transparently Disingenuous Russia

"Under the auspices of the United Nations, with the United States, even with European countries, and, of course, with our partners and friends, we could discuss the possibility of introduction of temporary governance in Ukraine."

"[It would allow the country to] hold democratic elections, to bring to power a viable government that enjoys the trust of the people, and then begin negotiations with them on a peace treaty." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Putin said Russian troops had the "strategic initiative" in Ukraine   Reuters

"He is afraid of negotiating with Ukraine."

"He is afraid of negotiating with me personally, and by excluding Ukraine's [government] he is suggesting that Ukraine is not an independent actor for him."

"Europe definitely knows how to defend itself, and we are working together to ensure greater security for our country and all European nations." 

"Russia continues looking for excuses to drag this war out even further."

"Putin is playing the same game he has since 2014 [unilateral annexation of the Crimean peninsula]."

"This is dangerous for everyone -- and there should be an appropriate response from the United States, Europe, and all our global partners who seek peace."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"You could say that I was very angry, pissed off, when... Putin started getting into Zelensky's credibility, because that's not going in the right location."

"New leadership means you're not gonna have a deal for a long time." 

"If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia's fault - which it might not be... I am going to put secondary tariffs... on all oil coming out of Russia."

"There will be a 25% tariff on oil and other products sold in the United States, secondary tariffs."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

(Volodymyr Zelenskyy / X)

 

As a brilliant solution to vexing problems, Russian President Putin's Friday proposal for Ukraine to be placed  temporarily under external governance throughout the efforts to reach a peaceful settlement in the conflict that Russia imposed upon Ukraine through its military invasion and subsequent claims of legitimacy in annexing Ukrainian provinces as Russian territory, this one registered as just another form of naked aggression on the part of Russia in its territorial grabs. 

 

Further, calling into dispute Ukrainian democracy and President Zelenskyy's legitimacy reminds one of Vladimir Putin's musical chairs performance when he brought in Dmitry Medvedev as president while he took on Medvedev's prime ministerial role, to enable them to once again reverse the situation ensuring that Russia's two-term presidency limit would not interfere with Putin's designs to remain Russian president in perpetuity to which end he changed the constitution and now sits secure as Russia's legal long-term president. Any challengers have been summarily either murdered or imprisoned.

 

Yet this is the man who insists that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has no legitimacy to sign a peace agreement since his term expired. A pathetic piece of demagoguery since he would be very well aware that it is illegal in Ukraine for national elections to be held during times of conflict and the nation is under martial law. Still, Putin pressed ahead with the claim that any such agreement to a permanent ceasefire signed by the sitting Ukrainian government could be challenged by a successor government so that new elections should be called for, through external vigilance under temporary guardianship. 

A summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron considered plans for troop deployment to Ukraine in view of an eventual peace deal where Macron announced that 'several' other nations would volunteer to participate in the force along with France and Britain. Mr. Putin, however, made it clear that he would not accept troop involvement from NATO members in a prospective peacekeepng force. So, for Mr. Putin it would be far more appropriate if Belarus, Iran and North Korean troops comprised such a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

 

"They are playing games and they're playing for time", stated U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, while Macron and other Paris summit participants accused Russia of insincerity in its offering to participate in negotiations that could lead to a peace agreement to end the bloodshed. 

Both Russia and Ukraine agreed in principle to a tentative US.-brokered agreement to pause strikes on energy infrastructure even as both sides hold varying views on when the deal to halt strikes should become effective, accusing one another of violations, making it more than obvious just how fraught any semblance of an agreement would be in the challenge to negotiate a broad peace. 

 

Germany has voted to hugely boost investment in its military   BBC

 

Russia's claims of wanting peace and an end to the conflict -- as long as it is able to hold on to the one-fifth of eastern Ukraine that the Kremlin now considers part of Greater Russia, are viewed with skepticism by its neighbours. Leading Norway, as an example to refurbish its old Cold War Military Bunkers, and leaving Germany convinced it must now begin to rebuild a viable military, the better to confront any future expansionary moves by Moscow.

 

Bunkers like the ones at Bardufoss can keep expensive fighter planes safe from attacks by drones (Credit: Norwegian Armed Forces)

 

 

101: Making Friends and Influencing People

"As you all know, it's a big issue and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades."

"It's cold as s--- here. Nobody told me."

"[Danish leaders have] spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second-class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair."

"Denmark has not kept pace and devoted the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and other nations."

"I think that they [Greenlanders] ultimately will partner with the United States. We can make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection. And I think they'd fare a lot better economically as well."

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance

JD Vance in Greenland BBC

"[The United States] needs Greenland for international security."

"Greenland's very important for the peace of the world. And I think Denmark understands, and I think the European Union understands it. And if they don't we're going to have to explain it to them."

"We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%." 

U.S. President Donald J. Trump 

"It is a time when we as a population are under pressure."

"We must stick together. Together we are stronger."

"[The U.S. visit signaled a] lack of respect."

Greenland's PM-designate Jens-Frederik Nielson

 

"[Donald Trump Jr's visit in January first sparked concerns] that’s when we realized that his words are no longer just words, he actually means what he says."

"We’re afraid of being colonized again. We’ve been a colony for the past 300 years under Denmark, it still feels like it. Now another colonizer is interested in us."

"[Greenland needs to be] open-minded [and consider strengthening relations with the US to secure a sustainable independence strategy]."

"Trump is only going to be president for the next four years so we also need to think about what’s going to happen in 10 years, 15 years."

Qupanuk Olsen, Greenland politician, pro-independence party Naleraq

U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance was in Greenland on Friday, slamming Denmark for not doing a good job in keeping its semi-autonomous territory safe. But as Greenland content creator Qupanuk Olsen explains, many Greenlanders did not roll out the red carpet for Vance.   CBC

 

It's hard to say whether President Trump's representatives in his White House Cabinet really expected to be welcomed with huge enthusiasm by Greenlanders in their shared trip to Greenland on Friday. Originally the trip was to have lasted longer, and be more expansive, but in the face of obvious push-back by offended Greenlanders who consider their semi-autonomous government under Denmark's protection the arbiter of who should embark on a state visit to their island, and that by special invitation, an invitation that hadn't been extended. 

 

As far as Greenlanders were concerned, the visit by US. Vice-President Vance, his wife and other senior American officials took it upon themselves as an act of hubris to visit unannounced and uninvited; their home, as it were, invaded by strangers. Strangers, no less, with designs on their homeland that are extraordinarily offensive; offering to buy a home that is definitely not for sale. In the end, the visitors confined their trip to visiting the American military outpost at Pituffik on the northwest coast of Greenland. In the process, evading the risk of violating diplomacy through an uninvited delegation.

 

With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to take over Greenland, the country’s prime minister has called a visit by a U.S. delegation a provocation and highly aggressive. The Americans on the trip include national security adviser Mike Waltz and Usha Vance, the vice-president’s wife.  CBC

Nonetheless both Greenlanders and Danes were offended that the trip took place at all, but even more so that the original itinerary had been planned without customary diplomatic consultation beforehand. Addressing American troops at the U.S. Space Force Pituffik outpost informing them that the Trump administration is very interested in "Arctic security", Vice-President Vance advanced the Trump agenda. His entourage that included national security adviser Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Senator Mike Lee of Utah then received briefings from military officials present at the base.

 

"As you all know, it's a big issue and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades", Mr. Vance advised  his listeners, as the first U.S. vice-president to ever visit Greenland. In the process of President Trump expressing his intention to 'buy' Greenland from Denmark, relations between the two nations have become extremely strained, with the U.S. President repeatedly suggesting the U.S. should control the mineral-rich territory of Denmark. It is highly unlikely that any two such allies, both NATO members, have ever collided over an issue where one coveted the territory of the other. 

Pituffik Space Base is pictured as Vance visits, on Friday in Greenland. (Jim Watson/The Associated Press)

President Trump alluded to rising Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have begun to open in the North West Passage as a result of climate change melting sea ice. Access to the Passage -- part of Canadian territory -- will be yet another issue of aggravated presumption between the U.S. and Canada where at present, diplomacy argues that before embarking through the Passage, permission must be sought from Canada. Which feeds once again into President Trump's argument about U.S. 'security' in his wish to control Canada through annexing it into the U.S.

 

Canada, its government and its population are no more anxious to accommodate the American President's desires of territorial expansion than is Denmark/Greenland. The Pituffik Space Base owned and operated by the United States with Denmark's permission, is situated remotely, 1,100 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Residents of Nuuk, Greenland's capital, about 1,500 kilometres south of Pituffik, voiced their concern with the U.S. delegation's visit underscoring their misgivings about the most powerful nation on earth coveting their Arctic island.

 

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expressed his exasperation following the Vance trip to Greenland, stating that although Denmark can deal with criticism, there is a collegial, diplomatic way of speaking to a friendly democratic ally. Through a video he posted on social media, he declared he had a message "for our American friends." 

"Much is being said these days. Many accusations and many allegations have been made."

"And of course, we are open to criticism. But let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it's being delivered."

"This is not how you speak to your close allies."

Larrs Lokke Rasmussen

 

Canada/U.S. Relations Out of Kilter

Then: "Reliance on a US defence umbrella, a critical factor since the end of WW2 for so many countries is no longer guaranteed."

"No affected country can afford to close its eyes and hope that 2026 or 2028 elections in the US will bring everything back to 'normal' ... and not happen again."

"The toothpaste cannot go back in the tube." March 25 LinkedIn post 

Now: "The reality is that, without U.S. consent, no country can hope to operate the F-35 for long. [Building Canada's future fighter force solely on the F-35 would be] irresponsible."

"We may find for example that 36 F-35 and 150 other fighter aircraft such as Rafale or Gripen could be a better strategic, economic, and military posture while investing heavily in 6th gen developments." 

Retired Lt.-Gen. Yvan Blondin

The F-35 program has had a controversial history in Canada. Photo by Errol McGihon /Postmedia

Once the man who was chief of the Royal Canadian Air Force from 2012 to 2015, retired Lt.-Gen. Blondin had insisted the U.S.-built F-35 represented the best fighter jet for Canadian operations given that its allies in democracy gravitated around American leadership, technology and military operations. That is, until the election and ascension of Donald Trump to the American presidency. Much has since then changed.

 

Canada's economy is now under threat by the Trump administration amidst aggressive statements on annexing the country under American hegemony as the 51st U.S. state. And nor is Canada the only nation that finds itself under threat, since seizing Greenland and the Panama Canal have also come under discussion in the U.S. ostensibly to secure American concerns over security issues. 

 

Yet, confoundingly, one of the countries that stands to pose the greatest risk to American security has somehow secured President Trump's confidence.

 

A former fighter pilot, the retired general had years back recommended that Canada take on the F-35 from Lockheed Martin, persuading then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper it would be in Canada's best military operational interests. Which resulted in then-PM Harper's Conservative government locking into the acquisition in 2010, despite delays when increasing costs and technical problems associated with the F-35 began to surface. 

In 2023 the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau, after having for years denied that the F-35 would answer to Canada's needs and skirting the issue of acquisition, changed tack to announce it was prepared to buy 88 F-35s at a cost of $19 billion, although Canada was financially committed only to the purchase of the first 15 jets hearking back to the Conservative government decision.

 

Lt.-Gen. Blondin elaborated, explaining that the problem with the F-35 is the issue of complete control that the United States maintains over all aspects of the plane, not merely the aircraft itself. Time remains before a decision must be made for the purchase of the remaining 72 F-35s, said Lt.-Gen. Blondin after Liberal Leader Mark Carney ordered a F-35 purchase review, taking into account an increasingly hostile America under President Trump. 

 

Saab's Gripen E fighter jet is an alternative being considered to the American-made F-35. Photo by Saab /PST

 

There are options in suggestions the Swedish built Gripen -- second in the Canadian fighter jet competition -- would be considered a solution. There had been a promise by its Swedish manufacturer that the Gripens could be built in Canada. Former defence procurement chief at the Canadian Armed Forces Alan Williams, and other defence analysts have given warning the F-35 represents a strategic vulnerability for Canada, with American total control over software upgrades and aircraft spare parts.

 

Canada, pointed out Lt.-Gen. Blondin, must now look to developing a defence strategy taking into account the new realities of changes in its relationship with the United States. Those who are in support of Canada's F-35 purchase point out the hundreds of millions worth of contracts that companies in Canada have been involved in, supplying parts for the U.S. aircraft, creating Canadian aerospace employment.

 

That too changed,  however, when in late February, President Trump informed Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the F-35. that a change was in order; specifically that he wanted those jobs returned to the U.S. when Canadian contracts come up for renewal.

 

Yvan Blondin said building Canada’s future fighter force solely on the F-35 would be “irresponsible.” Photo by Jack Boland /Jack Boland/Toronto Sun