It made for quite the study in contrasts.
Conservative MP Michael Chong was applauded by a bipartisan committee of U.S. lawmakers in Washington, D.C., this week for standing up for China’s persecuted Uyghurs and for shining a light on Beijing’s concerted strategy of harassment, intimidation, influence-peddling and political interference in Canada.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong, a repeated target of Chinese government intimidation, told U.S. congressional hearings Tuesday that Ottawa and Washington need a co-ordinated response to Beijing’s concerted efforts to interfere in Western democracies and bullying of diaspora communities.
Mr. Chong received a rare invitation to speak to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, an 18-member panel of Senators and House of Representatives that monitors human abuses in China and is examining Beijing’s global repression campaign.
Former Canadian fighter pilots face RCMP probe over training work in China
The RCMP are investigating three former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilots who are training military and civilian pilots in China, even though their employer, a South African flying academy, insists no sensitive information is being passed on to Chinese authorities.
The work the three pilots are doing in China has also come under scrutiny from Canadian security officials, who reached out to the former top guns in late August. The Department of National Defence says it referred the matter to the RCMP.
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) says it has detected an “information operation” targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong and it is “highly probable” — but not conclusive — that came from China.
I bet it came from the PMO.
Critics of Canada’s lax defence spending keep piling on, most recently Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan who, during a hearing on the new commander for Norad, said, “Americans are frustrated when our allies don’t pull their weight. With regard to NATO, Canada is not even close.”
Economic decoupling from China gathered steam during the pandemic when the vulnerability of supply chains came to the fore. But Canada’s economic linkages with China haven’t diminished, despite its closest ally the United States actively doing so.
Whether it’s called decoupling or friendshoring or nearshoring, international trade expert Eric Miller says it’s primarily about reducing risk—de-risking—in trade with China and then adjusting to the impacts.
A human rights group is raising concerns about the Canadian government-funded Chinese Canadian Museum as it opens to the public this month, citing anomalies during the opening ceremony and some board members’ outspoken support of the Chinese communist regime.
The opening ceremony was held at the museum, housed in the historic Wing Sang Building in Vancouver’s Chinatown, on July 1. Dozens of politicians from all three levels of government were invited, including British Columbia Premier David Eby, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, and Mary Ng, the federal minister of international trade, export promotion, small business, and economic development.
A reworking of the Liberal government’s defence policy update is underway after the document proposed by National Defence and Anita Anand was deemed to be unrealistic, according to multiple defence sources.
The Prime Minister’s Office is taking more of a hand in reworking the defence policy update, the sources noted. Defence Minister Anand tried at least twice to get the update approved but the document was rejected as unrealistic and too costly.
Anand had pushed the Canadian military’s position of a significant rearmament and reequipment plan at a time when the Liberal government is trying to get spending under control and finance major initiatives such as affordable housing and a national dental care program.
Newly appointed federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says that calling a judicial inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s elections by the Beijing regime is “complicated.”
Mr. LeBlanc, who was given the new portfolio while retaining intergovernmental affairs, made the comments shortly after being appointed to his new position in a cabinet shuffle on July 26.
The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is reportedly sending nearly 300 members to the upcoming World Police and Fire Games (WPFG), sparking concerns among China watchers.
As reported by Vancouver Is Awesome, an anonymous duty officer from the public relations wing of the HKPF revealed that 287 members are being dispatched to Winnipeg for the event slated to take place from July 28 to Aug. 6.
A senior U.S. military figure has agreed to have tough conversations with Canada about defence spending when he takes over a binational military body.
Lt.-Gen. Gregory Guillot was speaking during a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday to confirm his nomination as the next head of North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).
His comments came after a Republican senator chastised, at length, what he called Canada’s insufficient military spending and said he hoped there were Canadians watching the hearing.
Canada’s intelligence service told B.C. Premier David Eby during a briefing on Chinese foreign interference in March that it could not share secret information, according to notes of the meeting obtained by Global News.
The hour-long March 28 meeting between the premier and the regional director general of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service followed a news report alleging China had meddled in Vancouver’s 2022 mayoral election.
This month, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported that the Shanghai-based Polar Research Institute of China revealed that “China has completed the field testing and evaluation of an underwater listening device that will be deployed on a large scale in the Arctic Ocean.”
The innocuous-sounding report tells us that China intends to wage war against the United States and Canada from the Arctic.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial suggested Canada should sit at the kiddies table in the NATO alliance instead of with the adults. This is because as a share of GDP our defence spending is seventh lowest among NATO’s 31 member nations. It’s also lowest among the G7, which prompted the Journal to question whether we are still willing to accept our responsibilities as a member of the G7. It concluded that if this country “doesn’t want to play that role, then the G-7 should consider a replacement.”
Trudeau is a little prick.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the opportunity to talk to Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) troops stationed on a NATO mission in Latvia to lecture them about his government’s actions on fighting climate change and disinformation.
h/t Mauser
