Beijing, Making Friends and Influencing People

Chinese ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu. Justin Tang/CP

"...Of course we have to be careful about our external environment in the South China Sea. It is generally stable but the U.S. is trying to make trouble in the region."

"The U.S. is selling advanced weaponry [to Taiwan] and trying to undermine our national security. [China is only doing what] any responsible sovereign country is entitled to do] by placing its military on alert."

"If Canadians care about the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, including the 300,000 Canadian passport holders there, they should support efforts to fight violent crime to make sure the one country, two systems is constantly and comprehensively implemented in Hong Kong."

"I suggest people here take an objective and fair view of what is happening in Hong Kong, and make sure not to interfere in China's domestic affairs."

Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu

"Our communities are actually being actively harassed, bullied and intimidated on Canadian soil. They're worried about who to vote for ... they're worried that their MLAs aren't aware of CCP influence on Canadian soil."

"This isn't a special interest thing for us, our communities are very motivated to campaign and speak up for politicians that are standing up against CCP [Chinese Communist Party] influence, for our own safety."

Jody Chan, volunteer: Canada Tibet Committee, Canada Frends of Hong Kong, Alliance Canada Hong Kong

"The Chinese Communist Party is not just a threat to people within China. The Chinese government looks at municipal and provincial governments as a way of spreading its influence [in Canada]."

"The public want to know which of their candidates [in upcoming British Columbia election] in this election stand for Canadian values and stand for B.C. interests as opposed to those of a hostile foreign power."

"This is an issue that British Columbians especially care about since we are on the Pacific Rim and this is an issue that's not going to fly under the radar anymore."

Lee Haber, Volunteer: No BC for Xi, Alliance Canada Hong Kong

Hong Kong protests, police firing tear gas.  USAToday.com

"If you look at it [sale of TMAC gold mine to Shandong Chinese interests] from a security and military point of view, the concerns would be they have physical assets on the ground in the Arctic."

Pierre Leblanc, private consultant, military Arctic experience

A national security review is being undertaken of a state-owned Chinese company's proposed buy-out of Canada's TMAC Resources Inc., operating a struggling gold mine in Nunavut. China-based Shandong Gold Mining Co.Ltd. is interested in obtaining the mine that comes complete with infrastructure including a port, an airstrip and a processing plant ... reflective of China's increasing presence in the Canadian Arctic. With that infrastructure China would have the potential to service its ships in Arctic waters.

The port itself could be purposed to bring in large equipment, serving as a place to monitor conversations or Canada's early warning radar system based in the Arctic. "We expected that there probably would be a national security review", ceded Jason Neal, chief executive of TMAC, the mine owner which estimates its operations would need $700 million in investments, and is willing to sell their gold mine to Shandong for $215 million. China's concentration on exploitation of assets and raw materials worldwide is never-ending.

But that these activities interfere in the sovereignty of the countries it courts is, of course, simply wrong, for China never surreptitiously acts to gain influence and territorial advantage wherever it can in its march of conquest. In Canada, Chinese-Canadian communities have been monitored by China, harassed and threatened, and this too is entirely within China's legitimate purview of its rights according to Beijing and the various ambassadors that have been posted to Canada who love to teach Canada about what's good for it through Beijing's benevolent interest.

China has for quite a few years both openly and subtly exerted its influence within Canadian institutions, from its political contacts, friendship societies and investments in Canadian universities with The Confucius Institute. It has persuaded schools in Canada to place on their curriculum Chinese language and cultural programs so that Canadians can better know and appreciate China, its history and its culture. Not, under any other circumstances, a bad thing, but in this instance, reflecting a bid by China for greater influence in the West.

At a recent news conference when Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu was asked for an explanation about comments made by President Xi Jinping that national troops prepare for war, it was viewed with alarm outside China, but according to the ambassador, merely his country like any other, looking to its interests. Peaceful development is what motivates China, nothing more, nothing less, and all within international law. The video conference was meant to celebrate 50 years of Canada-China relations.

Not much to celebrate, lately, with the death penalty meted out to four Chinese Canadians ostensibly on drug-trafficking charges. And certainly not taking into account the imprisonment of two Canadian businessmen, charged with espionage and held incommunicado for over two years, in obvious retaliation for Canada holding Meng Wanzhou of Huawei on an extradition warrant by the United States. Beijing has vigorously denied, through its series of ambassadors, that the Michaels, Kovrig and Spavor, are hostages for the release of Meng.

Yet Ambassador Cong stated that Canada and China can "work to strive to open more bright prospects", once the Meng "grave political incident" is resolved. He iterated that Canada is behaving as "an accomplice" to the U.S. in detaining Meng since the Americans are engaging in "power politics and unilateralism" for the purpose of destroying Huawei. China, on the other hand, is a "builder of world peace", an "upholder of the international order". As for Kovrig and Spavor, rest assured: "The judicial process ... will unfold in due course".

 

Michael Kovrig (left) and Michael Spavor, the two Canadians detained in China, are shown in these 2018 images taken from video. Photo by File photo /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

One reporter had the gross temerity to enquire of the confidently loquacious ambassador if his intention in raising the fate of the quarter-million Canadian-Chinese passport-holders in Hong Kong as a possible threat, to which he responded "That is your interpretation", a follow up which would certainly be, then why mention them in that particular context?