China's Global Power Journey

"The Chinese Communist Party's political persecution and arbitrary detainment of these two Canadian citizens [Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor], while Canada continues to uphold the rule of law in the case of Meng Wanzhou, only reinforces the international community's concerns about the CCP's complete disregard for individual rights and the fair and just application of the law."
"[China must] immediately release and drop all charges] against the two, arbitrarily detained for over 550 days on spurious charges of espionage]. [Their] arbitrary detention and confinement in inhumane conditions is deeply troubling."
U.S. Senators from Idaho, New Jersey, Colorado, Delaware

"What I learned also is that China doesn't adhere to the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners. And so I'm not surprised to hear also that just from watching the news that maybe the two Michaels are not getting that sort of attention as well."
"My husband wouldn't have had consular assistance because he was a Chinese citizen. However, the Stephen Harper government was very good. They received the campaign letters that were being sent to them and then his office would forward them to the office of the ambassador to China from Canada at the time, which [sic] was David Mulroney. And he was amazing."
Karen Patterson, ex-wife of previous Chinese detainee

People hold signs calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig during an extradition hearing for Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver March 6, 2019. (Lindsey Wasson/Reuters)

Seized by Chinese authorities in December 2018, in response to the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer and daughter of the technology giant's founder on a U.S. extradition warrant in a clear act of political retaliation in a matter of law and justice, the two Canadian men are being kept incommunicado, unable to contact their families, denied access to lawyers and consular services as well, while being subjected to psychological torture. While Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, on bail, lives in either of her two Vancouver mansions, awaiting eventual extradition.

The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been tripping over eggshells ever since the two men's arrest and the death sentences meted out to two other Canadians accused of drug smuggling, Beijing's pressure tactics, along with the halting of imports of Canadian Canola products into China, and the imposition of onerous duties on other agricultural products, punishment for Canada's insubordination to China's entitlements. Canada's Prime Minister expressed his "disappointment" last Friday in the wake of official espionage charges laid by Beijing.

Rather than imposing counter-measures to counteract China's bullying, the Trudeau government has trod lightly, fearful of provoking Beijing into ever more egregious offensives. "It has been obvious from the beginning that this was a political decision made by the Chinese government, and we deplore it and have from the very beginning", Trudeau finally stated. Yet no measures were even taken to match those of Beijing in punishing Canada for honouring its extradition agreement with the United States.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing, Zhao Lijian, responded to Justin Trudeau's milquetoast demeanor: "China urges the relevant Canadian leader to earnestly respect the spirit of the rule of law, respect China's judicial sovereignty and stop making irresponsible remarks"; righteously insulting scolds that Beijing is so clumsily addicted to, in its sanctimonious belief that the entire world owes it obeisance, and should apologize for all the underhanded mischief that Beijing imposes on the world order.

Calling for Canada's justice minister to intervene in the case, saying that "discretion" is "expressly codified" in the Extradition Act, a Toronto lawyer retained by Michael Kovrig's wife urges Ottawa to release Meng Wanzhou to have the two Michaels freed thus acceding to Beijing's demands: "This shows that the Canadian government can actually handle this incident in a just manner according to Canadian law. Once again we urge the Canadian side to earnestly respect the spirit of rule of law, treat China’s solemn position and concerns seriously, stop political manipulation, immediately release Ms. Meng and ensure her safe return to China", Zhao iterated.


India is currently facing another kind of challenge that China regularly imposes on its neighbours in its never-ending focus on expanding its territorial imperatives to seize land, water and airspace that is shared by neighbouring countries or actually within the sovereign territory of other nations. From the South China Sea to the Himalaya, Beijing extends its malevolent reach, threatening, and bullying while making unsubstantiated claims to ownership of areas not their own. Indian border guards came under attack by their Chinese counterparts last week in the disputed Galwan Valley.

The video, published first by ThePrint, shows troops first engaging in a close quarter fist-fight and then hurling stones at each other.

Twenty-three Indian soldiers were killed, and one captain was hurled to his death down the mountainside in a deadly skirmish when the Indian military made an effort to protect its territory from the encroachment of China. Chinese troops annexed 60 square kilometres of land in early May in Ladakh, the cause of the hand-to-hand combat by troops using improvised weaponry, having been disarmed to prevent just such a violent event, through mutual agreement by both nations.

"There is a lot of land which has been annexed by China, not only this time in the Galwan Valley but all along the LAC [Line of Actual Control]. I have been raising my voice, and even meeting with the local administration. They know about it, but neither the government nor the media have raised their voices about it", maintained Urgain Chodon, a councillor for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Ladakh. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is left little leeway for action; a military response being interpreted as a battle cry, with the prospect of the two most populous nuclear-armed nations on earth at war.

China prepares itself for all such scenarios. In its bid to match the Global Positioning System of the United States, it has now completed its BeiDou satellite navigation system. Should the U.S. and China ever enter a conflict, the U.S. would now not be able to disable Chinese military systems by blocking access to GPS, since it now has its own. "We are moving from being a major nation in the field of space to becoming a true space power", boasted Yang Changfeng, chief designer of China's $10 billion 3D satellite network.

China has successfully put into orbit the final satellite in its BeiDou-3 navigation system, further advancing the country as a major power in space    Getty Images