PM’S tone on China should change more
Canadians see country’s abuses and know action is now required, Diane Francis says.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke his embarrassing silence over China’s predations, but only because public opinion has shifted dramatically against that country’s communist regime.
Polling shows a groundswell of anger among Canadians, so it was hardly surprising that Trudeau’s ambassador to China was told to scrap his obsequious tone and raise some softball questions at a private meeting last week.
When asked about this, Trudeau piped in his two cents’ worth by saying, “It’s totally normal that we be asking questions about how different countries are behaving, including China.”
Really? Totally normal? Questions? Including China? What leader of a G7 nation talks like that? This Canadian tag team of timidity is embarrassing, given China’s abuses and the justifiable outrage here at home. The poll behind Trudeau’s vague posturing was impossible to ignore. Conducted by Angus Reid, the survey showed that 85 per cent of Canadians believe China has not been honest or transparent about the virus and 88 per cent believe that it cannot be trusted on issues of human rights or the rule of law.
Further, four out of five say Huawei should be banned, only 11 per cent say future trade efforts should focus on China and a mere 14 per cent have a positive opinion about the country — representing a drop in negative sentiment that the pollsters described as a “free-fall.”
Canadians can clearly see China’s wrongdoing and know that concrete action is now required. China covered up its COVID -19 problem. It has incarcerated two Canadians for nearly two years and blocked billions of dollars worth of Canadian agricultural exports in retaliation for holding Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request. China thumbs its nose at trade norms, spies on industries, hijacks intellectual property and used its influence to pressure the World Health Organization into ignoring Taiwan’s warnings about the virus as far back as December.
Clearly, Trudeau is attempting to appease an angry Canadian public, without alienating the Chinese or other despicable members of the United Nations, who will decide whether he gets the useless Security Council seat he so covets. It’s also about providing political cover for Quebec companies that do big business in China. But it’s not working.
Neither should Trudeau’s hypocrisy regarding China and pollution. Trudeau, who fancies himself a climate change warrior, scapegoats and unjustifiably damages Canada’s ethical and low-emissions oil industry, but remains mute concerning China’s shocking levels of pollution and track record of environmental degradation around the world. Not only does Beijing foul its own nest, but it exports more emissions than the rest of the world through its Belt and Road Initiative, through which it is constructing hundreds of coal plants in Asia and Africa. And Trudeau’s beloved United Nations Climate Accord exempts that country, and the up-and-coming pollution monstrosity India, from any emissions controls. Canadians get it: China is a pariah that thumbs its nose at global norms, laws and institutions and has repeatedly kicked sand in Canada’s face because of its weak leadership.
The prime minister should be saying that Canada, in accordance with the Five Eyes’ report that provides evidence of a COVID-19 cover-up, will sue China for damages; will impose tariffs on all Chinese goods to pay for the billions of dollars in canola, pork and other products it refused to buy without cause; will fully recognize Taiwan and back Hong Kong reformers in fighting for their democratic rights; will halt financial and trade assistance to projects involving China; will ban Huawei and other Chinese companies from investing in, or contributing to, Canadian infrastructure projects; and will stop providing visas to Chinese students until the two unjustly imprisoned Canadians are released and compensated. Anything less constitutes an absence of judgment and leadership.
At least Canadian Ambassador to China Dominic Barton — whose appointment raised eyebrows because of his business dealings there — admitted that he “probably drank the Kool-aid (in China) for too long.” Trudeau and those who do business there did, too, but Canadians certainly aren’t.