
The prime minister is right that we should not capitulate to China and free Meng Wanzhou, CFO of telecom giant Huawei, held on extradition charges in her Vancouver mansion, in exchange for Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, brutally imprisoned in China on bogus charges of espionage. Although the Michaels and their families are suffering terribly, we cannot raise the white flag — both as a matter of principle and because it would expose other Canadians to hostage diplomacy and kidnapping.
The current debate should lead to a broader examination of China’s global assertiveness, how it presents itself to the world and the urgent need for Canada to stop acting like a punching bag and start punching above our weight.
An unsettling political and economic conflict has intensified between the world’s two largest economic powers. On one side is the United States, Canada’s closest neighbour, biggest trading partner and long-time ally — a free-market democracy that respects individual rights and the rule of law but has become more inward-looking and riven by intractable internal divisions. On the other is China, an increasingly aggressive and self-confident one-party state with hegemonic ambitions, unhindered by the rule of law or any sensitivity to human rights. In terms of interests and values, there can never be any doubt whose side we are on.
China’s ambitions and periodic bellicosity are widely manifest. The artificial islands it has built and militarized in the South China Sea threaten neighbouring countries. It has exploited the economic devastation wrought by the pandemic to divert attention from its hostility to Hong Kong and India. Its “Belt and Road Initiative” seeks global dominance through $1 trillion in capital investments — “debt trap diplomacy” designed to extract concessions from nations that default.
[Interesting Read]
See Also:
(1) ‘Extremely concerned’: Trudeau suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong
(2) The Biggest Story of 2020 Won’t Be COVID or Riots, Tom Cotton Warns