The Trudeau administration finally, grudgingly expelled one communist Chinese diplomat for trying to subvert our democracy. But they sure didn’t look serious about it, which is asking for trouble.
I’m not even talking here about their determined efforts not to realize it was happening. But with the prime minister insisting that reports never left CSIS that actually reached his office only somehow to phase-shift through the desk of the non-existent National Security Adviser into a parallel universe where Sgt. Schultz occupies that post, they’ve conveyed to Beijing that national security does not concern them. At least not ours.
Regrettably it turned out to concern the populace, and even the chattering classes. You can get away with a lot in terms of contempt for your own heritage (witness the new passport), but at some point it becomes embarrassing, even dangerous, to your prestige and material comforts to be openly contemptuous of such obvious misconduct.
Faced with an uproar, the Liberal cabinet made it clear that they thought the peasants were revolting. They dillied and dallied in ways that left no doubt that they didn’t want to act, while cravenly stipulating that they feared possible retaliation. Such kowtowing unmistakably conveyed to the sophisticated that any gestures they might take to appease irate, vulgar public opinion should not be taken seriously.
Finally they sent Zhao Wei packing, China promptly expelled a Canadian diplomat, and the curtain came down. Nothing to see here, folks. The Liberals even gave a prominent spot at their national convention in early May to Jean Chrétien, one of Beijing’s best and best-rewarded Canadian friends, to underline that business as usual would continue despite this little skit aimed at a domestic audience.
Frankly, we should have chucked out five or 10 diplomats right off. Certainly when Beijing retaliated, we should have escalated. Instead, we folded. Also, and here the state-subsidized press as well as the government have fallen down badly, we should have started exploring how many Chinese diplomats are in Canada and how many of them are spies.
No, really. The Soviets too were infamous for sending dozens of cultural attachés who knew nothing about opera but lots about black ops, and sports attachés who didn’t know which end of the mallet hits the tennis birdie but wore steel-toed shoes. So have you seen one story that even asks how many people with diplomatic immunity work at the Chinese Embassy, its four consulates-general, and other United Front Work Department nests of subversion, let alone what they really do?
What’s more, “China remains an important commercial market for Canadian businesses.” Nice trade relations we have there. Pity if something were to… happen to them.
To be fair they finally mention “associated risks including market access barriers, ambiguous regulations, prevalent and persistent intellectual property theft, and the risk of diversion of sensitive goods and technologies for military purposes. Human rights abuses, such as forced labour, could also impact trade with China: Canadian companies are expected to undertake thorough supply chain due diligence.”
So, subtly, do statements like “more than 117,000 Chinese students with study permits for six months or more attended Canadian educational institutions.” It’s a reminder that their fees help keep those institutions afloat and given which side their bread is buttered on they shouldn’t make a fuss about silly old human rights or intellectual property theft.
That one of them helped set up the Wuhan lab from which COVID may well have leaked, and co-authored papers with a student connected to the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciences, is apparently none of our business. We’re just citizens in a democracy, not partners in some global law firm awash in dirty CCP money.
