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Re: Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread
« Reply #3600 on: November 23, 2019, 11:09:01 »
1) Justin Trudeau's government's pathetic efforts to appease the Chicoms continue:
Canada's defence minister says China is not an adversary
Canada's defence minister says he doesn't see China as an adversary, as a security conference in Halifax this weekend prepares to focus heavily on the Asian superpower.
Harjit Sajjan said while there are significant challenges in Canada's relationship with China -- including the detention by the Chinese of two Canadians -- there is co-operation on "certain aspects of trade," and now is the time to try to work together to find solutions.
"We don't consider China as an adversary," Sajjan told reporters at the Halifax International Security Forum on Friday [Nov. 22].
"Some of the things that China from a security perspective have been doing is concerning, and we need to be mindful of that. But it's only through the appropriate discussions that we are able to get back into a rules-based order."
Several of the sessions at the Halifax forum will deal with the country many geopolitical experts see as an emerging threat.
China-Canada relations have largely remained tense since the detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor on espionage allegations last December, shortly after Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on an extradition request from the United States.
Many China observers believe relations will remain in limbo until Meng's case is resolved.
Forum president Peter Van Praagh wasn't as careful as Sajjan in his assessment, saying China can be characterized in a variety of ways including as a strategic competitor and adversary.
"I think it's clear that China and Canada do not share the same interests," Van Praagh said. "There is some intermingling on some issues, but China has a very different view of the world than Canada's view of the world."
Van Praagh said Canada and its democratic allies in Europe and Asia need to recognize that fact in order to be properly prepared to deal with it...
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-s-defence-minister-says-china-is-not-an-adversary-1.4698187
2) Whilst we continue to face diplomacy with Chinese characteristics:
China's new envoy says Canadians should speak out against Hong Kong protests
Beijing has a new representative in Canada but his stern message to Ottawa remains the same as his predecessor's: release Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou, arrested in Vancouver nearly a year ago at the request of the United States.
In a roundtable interview Friday, Chinese ambassador Cong Peiwu also urged Canadians to speak out loudly against the "violent criminals" protesting for more freedom in Hong Kong, citing the risks to Canadian citizens and companies there.
"What happened in Hong Kong has nothing to do with democracy or human rights," said the 52-year-old Cong, who arrived in Ottawa two months ago.
Cong denounced U.S. legislation aimed at sanctioning Chinese and Hong Kong officials who abuse human rights. He cautioned Canada against any such action, suggesting it would cause "very bad damage" to the bilateral relationship "and that's not in the interest of Canada."
"We are determined to safeguard our national sovereignty, our core interests, our security," Cong said. "And we are determined to oppose any foreign intervention."
Relations between Ottawa and Beijing have been fractious since early last December, when Canadian authorities took Meng into custody over American allegations of violating sanctions on Iran. Her extradition case is before a Canadian court.
Soon after Meng was arrested, Beijing detained two Canadians, businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, on allegations of undermining China's national security.
The developments are widely seen in Canada as retaliation for the detention of Meng.
Cong said Meng's arrest and pending extradition to the U.S. amount to arbitrary detention, leading to "the severe difficulties" Canada and China are experiencing.
The ambassador tried to play down any fears about allowing Huawei to help build Canada's next-generation 5G mobile networks...
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/china-s-new-envoy-says-canadians-should-speak-out-against-hong-kong-protests-1.4698025
CloudCover
Canadian Defence Minister: China is not our adversary
https://www.cp24.com/news/canada-s-defence-minister-says-china-is-not-an-adversary-1.4698229
What we have here is either a magical, talking rainbow unicorn or a very brilliant man with a strong desire to detail what "adversary" means in an asymmetrical state of affairs. China is the long term main adversary politically, economically but maybe he is right from a military perspective.
Quote from: Cloud Cover on November 23, 2019, 13:09:52
He needs to re-read the section on "State Competition" at p. 50 of Strong, Secure, Engaged.
1) Meanwhile US senators of btoh parties go after us in Halifax on Huawei:
Canada warned of fallout on Five Eyes relationship if Huawei allowed on 5G
U.S. lawmakers delivered stern warnings about the Chinese telecom giant at security forum
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-warned-of-fallout-on-five-eyes-relationship-if-huawei-allowed-on-5g-1.5370992
2) As in Germany Chancellor Merkel's own party forces her to let parliament decide on Huawei/5G--where vote could well go against Chicoms. A transparency we won't see here:
German parliament to decide on Huawei 5G involvement, Merkel's CDU party agrees
Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) overwhelmingly approved a motion on Saturday to debate in parliament the involvement of controversial tech firm Huawei in building the nation's 5G network.
Germany's other parties rule out Huawei
Just days before CDU delegates met in Leipzig this weekend, nine security and foreign-policy experts with the CDU's coalition partners in Berlin, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), openly called in a policy paper for Germany to exclude "non-trustworthy manufacturers, especially if unconstitutionally controlled interference, manipulation or espionage cannot be ruled out."
Meanwhile, the environmentalist Greens, currently nipping at the heels of Chancellor Merkel's CDU in polls, also categorically rule out Huawei's involvement in Germany's 5G network. That raises the possibility that opposition parties and unruly coalition partners could stop Huawei from bidding on the project, even with Germany's most powerful politician open to the prospect...
https://www.dw.com/en/german-parliament-to-decide-on-huawei-5g-involvement-merkels-cdu-party-agrees/a-51379848
What are chances that a majority could be found in our Commons to block Huawei?
Matthew Fisher is not best pleased with the approach of Justin Trudeau and his comprador friends to China:
COMMENTARY: Canada's new foreign minister must figure out how to deal with China
Figuring out a strategy for how to get along with the growing economic and military colossus will likely be the major preoccupation of Canadian foreign ministers and governments for the rest of this century. It should dominate the foreign policy agenda for next few years.
Whatever her strengths and her alleged power within cabinet, Chrystia Freeland was not often able to get past the Prime Minister's Office to criticize China, though she did manage to clearly state recently Canada's opposition to how Beijing was manhandling protesters in Hong Kong.
The Globe and Mail's Steve Chase unearthed a nugget this week that strongly suggests that in Freeland's successor at foreign affairs, Francois-Philippe Champagne, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has found another China fanboy to complement his new ambassador to the Court of Chairman Xi, Dominic Barton [emphasis added].
Only two years ago, Champagne praised the Xi government in an interview that he gave to the state-backed China Global Television Network.
"In a world of uncertainty, of unpredictability, of questioning about the rules that have been established to govern our trading relationship, Canada, and I would say China, stand out as [a] beacon of stability, predictability, a rule-based system, a very inclusive society," Champagne said.
This gushing declaration was of a piece with what Trudeau himself said six years ago, when he told a party fundraiser that the country that he most admired was China's "basic dictatorship."
Moreover, Champagne is a protégé and friend of Jean Chretien.
The former prime minister has been one of those loudly leading the charge to have Canada ignore its legal processes and end the extradition hearing of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who faces 13 charges of fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the U.S., in order to get China and Canada back to talking trade.
With Freeland keeping the U.S. trade file in addition to her new duties as what might best be called Canada's first minister of national unity, that should leave Champagne with more time to seriously consider a balanced policy towards China rather than the lopsided, ardently pro-China policy favoured by the PMO and most of the country's leading diplomats and business groups.
He should heed polls that suggest Canadians are far less keen on closer ties with Beijing than he and his government are.
The Liberals barely spoke about China or anything to do with foreign policy or national security during the recent federal election campaign. And Trudeau famously skipped the only television debate on foreign policy, causing the Munk School to entirely scrap that event.
Just about the only quasi-security commitment that Trudeau made during the campaign was an announcement that, if re-elected, the Liberals intended to try to untangle the military purchase process by creating a Defence Procurement Agency.
Trudeau has made clear that in leading a minority government during his second term, his intention will be to focus on domestic issues for the next few years.
Bringing home his peripatetic foreign minister, Freeland, underscores this commitment.
Though Freeland has been fawned over by the media for her handling of the foreign affairs ministry, she, Global Affairs Canada and the government, writ large, barely articulated any vision regarding the country's place in the world. Truth be told, Canada does not really have a foreign policy.
There hasn't been a statement of priorities and what, exactly, the country's national interest is or should be. What Canadians have heard aplenty have been the usual self-congratulatory and utterly empty bromides about being advocates for NATO, NORAD, peace, stability and rule of law.
Champagne might wish to stop the Canadian practice of speaking so often about the importance of its alliances and demonstrate leadership within them or on its own. What has been urgently required for some time is a realistic national discussion about Canada's rather limp standing in the world.
What Canadians have heard instead has been a lot of the usual nonsense about how the country punches above its weight and is regarded as a paragon of virtue.
Canada badly needs a foreign policy strategy that acknowledges that the world has profoundly changed. It must recognize that the Indo-Pacific, and not only China, is the realm of paramount importance.
This will, perforce, oblige Canada to pay less attention to its traditional partners in Europe, though it must keep a close watch on Russian intentions there, in the Middle East and in the High Arctic.
The Trudeau government has seemed to react to crises on an ad hoc and sometimes capricious basis during its first term. Much was made, and usually in a preachy way, about how bad the Venezuelan and Russian dictatorships were.
Yet little has been said about the growing list of outrages perpetrated by the Chinese dictatorship at home and abroad, including its meddling on Canadian university campuses, its relentless attempts to penetrate and co-opt Canadian political echelon and the staggering number of digital assaults that its hackers have been making on Canadian government and industry computer servers.
Nor has Canada taken a harder line with China since it kidnapped two Canadians nearly one year ago and held them in dire circumstances since, or slapped import controls on imports of Canadian pork, beef and canola in obvious retaliation for Canada putting Meng through the extradition process.
One consequence of Ottawa remaining in the grips of China trade fever, no matter what the cost to the country's pride or principles, is that Canada has chosen to invest little in growing its economic and security relations with friendly, reliable Asian partners, or its presence and clout within APEC and especially ASEAN, which China has been busily fracturing by buying off its poorest members.
Canada has also chosen not to try to join the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, whose members are Japan, India, Australia and the U.S., which is something the Tories promised to do if elected.
While China is the elephant occupying more and more space in foreign ministry offices around the world, there are, of course, other pressing issues.
Canada had made hollow boasts about the global leadership that it has shown on the environment, yet there has been virtually no change in Canada's failure to meet environmental targets since Stephen Harper was in power. Canada had made a noisy play for African UN votes to secure a non-voting seat on the Security Council, but paradoxically, only a few hundred Canadian peacekeepers spent 13 months in Mali.
Freeland failed to even visit Africa once and has not spoken much on the Middle East — despite the fact that, like Africa, it is full of UN votes that Trudeau allegedly covets.
Not that you would know it in sleepy Canada, but the world is entering a highly unstable era where the most likely flashpoints will be in the maritime domain. China is constantly threatening to attack Taiwan and actively pursuing what the Rand Corporation has called "grey zone coercion" against the Philippines and Vietnam through outrageous and illegal territorial claims.
Further, China continues to harass fishermen and challenge others who build oil drilling platforms in the South China Sea while sending out its navy, coast guard and weaponized fishing militia to assert its claim to almost all of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
With every passing day, China has more of the means to do what it wants in some parts of the western Pacific. Over the past year alone, for example, it produced 19 new blue water warships. Canada may border three oceans and have the world's longest coastline, but the entire Royal Canadian Navy's surface war-fighting fleet consists of 12 vessels that are each 25 years older or more.
While Canada has been sleeping, the West has been on a long losing streak, not only in the Indo-Pacific but in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Its influence has receded in almost every important area and there has been no common strategy to halt the bleeding.
All is not yet lost, though. Canada could, for example, help the West take back the initiative from China by advocating for the establishment of a NATO-like Asian security alliance of like-minded nations, by greatly increasing trade with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and India, and by working collaboratively with partners on big infrastructure programmes to prevent the island states of the South Pacific from falling further under Beijing's spell.
This could be the template to do more of the same across the developing world to give smaller countries a democratic alternative to counter authoritarian China's multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.
Whether Canada will show such leadership is an open question. But the portents are not good.
Champagne has, in his own words, shown that on China he is an acolyte of Chretien and Canada's new ambassador to Beijing, Barton. And Canada remains far more Euro-centric than Asian-centric.
A question Champagne should ask himself as he attends his first G20 foreign minister's meeting in Japan this weekend is whether Canada is better off in geo-strategic terms today than it was four years ago and what might make it worse off in two or three years. The answers, if Ottawa is honest with itself, should ring alarm bells.
Will they?
Editor's Note: the line which stated Chrystia Freeland 'did not manage to clearly state recently Canada's opposition to how Beijing was manhandling protesters in Hong Kong' has been corrected to state that she did.
Matthew Fisher is an international affairs columnist and foreign correspondent who has worked abroad for 35 years. You can follow him on Twitter at @mfisheroverseas
https://globalnews.ca/news/6199691/francois-philippe-champagne-china/
As for the government's priorities, Cabinet Committee on Global Affairs and Public Security has Minister of Innovation, Science & Industry as chair (Navdeep Bains) and Min of Economic Development and Official Languages as vice-chair (Mélanie Joly)--neither with experience foreign policy, defence or national security.
https://pm.gc.ca/en/cabinet-committees
Exposed: China's Operating Manuals for Mass Internment and Arrest by Algorithm
A new leak of highly classified Chinese government documents reveals the operations manual for running the mass detention camps in Xinjiang and exposed the mechanics of the region's system of mass surveillance...
https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-cables/exposed-chinas-operating-manuals-for-mass-internment-and-arrest-by-algorithm/
THE CHINA CABLES
'They can find out anything': Leaked documents show China's surveillance of Uighurs worldwide
Classified documents show China tracked members of its Uighur population around the world [including in Canada]...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/china-uighurs-canada-secret-documents-1.5369835
Hence, taking a pass on the foreign policy debate was a smart move by Trudeaus campaign team:
" Global Affairs Canada and the government, writ large, barely articulated any vision regarding the country's place in the world. Truth be told, Canada does not really have a foreign policy.
Local District elections are over in Hong Kong with the Government losing many council seats.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-50531408
'A wipeout beyond imagination'
Stephen McDonell, BBC China correspondent, in Hong Kong
Outside the Yau Ma Tei North polling station, local residents lined up to gain entry so they could watch the vote count. The doors opened and they poured into the public viewing area.
Six months into an ongoing political crisis, people have lost faith in government institutions. They wanted to make sure that this process was fair and transparent.
As they waited for the total in their own district council to be tallied, they could see the numbers coming in from elsewhere on their mobile phones.
By their facial expressions it was clear they couldn't believe what was unfolding, and people cheered in astonishment as one surprising result came in after another.
Nobody imagined such a comprehensive wipeout, and Carrie Lam's administration will no doubt come under renewed pressure to listen to the demands of protestors following such an overwhelming defeat for her and her allies.
Big winners and losers
More than 1,000 candidates ran for 452 district council seats which, for the first time, were all contested. A further 27 district seats are allocated to representatives of rural districts.
Pro-Beijing parties held the majority of these seats ahead of the election.
In one of the biggest losses for the pro-Beijing camp, lawmaker Junius Ho - one of Hong Kong's most controversial politicians - suffered a shock defeat.
He was stabbed earlier this month by a man pretending to be a supporter. The lawmaker has openly voiced his support for Hong Kong's police force on multiple occasions. He was in July filmed shaking hands with a group of men - suspected of being triad gangsters - who later assaulted pro-democracy protesters.
And beware some academic ties with China--Canadian universities should be really waking up to this:
UK academia's links to Chinese defence firms 'harmful for national security'
Report singles out Britain for 'unprecedented levels of collaboration' with China's military
Extensive links between British universities and Chinese defence companies, including missile manufacturers, could threaten UK national security interests, the author of a report on China's research activity overseas has said.
The UK has been singled out as having unprecedented levels of collaboration with Chinese military companies in the analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) which identifies collaborations with scientists from China's hypersonic missile programme and on research topics ranging from smart materials to robotics.
Sixteen university labs around the world are identified as being run jointly by Chinese defence companies, or have major investments from them. Ten are based in the UK, with the University of Manchester and Imperial College London hosting six between them. The others are in Australia, Germany, Switzerland and Austria [emphasis added].
"[Something] that really alarmed me was the level of collaboration with Chinese missile scientists," said Alex Joske, the report's [see here https://www.aspi.org.au/report/china-defence-universities-tracker ] author and an analyst at ASPI, referring to the UK collaborations. "I haven't seen anything like Chinese missile manufacturers setting up these joint labs in other countries," he added.
Earlier this month, a report by the foreign affairs select committee revealed "alarming evidence" of Chinese interference on UK campuses, adding that universities are not adequately responding to the growing risk of China and other "autocracies" influencing academic freedom in the UK.
The UK labs mentioned in the report include the Sino-British Joint Advanced Laboratory on Control System Technology at the University of Manchester and Imperial College London's Advanced Structure Manufacturing Technology Laboratory. Both are partnerships with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, which develops space launch vehicles and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Other labs highlighted in the report are based at the University of Strathclyde and the University of Nottingham. Research at the Strathclyde lab includes autonomous rendezvous systems for satellites, which could be used for docking, but also for anti-satellite missions.
Beyond their industrial collaborations with Chinese defence firms, dozens of British universities also work with Chinese military institutes, such as the PLA's Army Engineering University and the National University of Defence Technology. The work ranges from hi-tech materials and design optimisation strategies to 5G networks and artificial intelligence programmes that can identify people in low-resolution surveillance footage, and control swarms of robotic vehicles on military patrols.
Bob Seely, a former Conservative MP and co-author of a critical report on Huawei for the Henry Jackson Society, said some universities appeared to have a "laissez-faire" attitude to the potential risks. "We are in danger of being extremely naive about this," he said.
"We have to draw a line between what is beneficial for us and China and what is not so beneficial for us. I'm incredibly wary considering the amount of IP theft, espionage and cyberattacks that have come out of China. At the moment we haven't got the balance right at all."
Joske said that such research was often framed as "dual-use", but that this concept was questionable when applied to collaborations with defence companies. "If you're dealing with a company like a Chinese missile manufacturer you don't really need to speculate about the use," he said.
The analysis revealed what Joske described as a fundamental misalignment between the way universities approach research collaborations and how countries, including the UK, approach security interests. "Some of the collaborations that universities are engaged in with China are almost certainly harmful for national security and contributing to things that I don't think the taxpayer would approve of," he said.
He added that some laboratories ran risks of inadvertently violating export controls or laws around weapons of mass destruction...
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/nov/25/uk-academias-links-to-chinese-defence-firms-harmful-for-national-security
Plus on espionage bona fides or not of defector to Australia, Wang Liqiang, also by Alex Joske:
Defections are messy and we may never know the full story
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/defections-are-messy-and-we-may-never-know-the-full-story-20191123-p53dg6.html
Terry Glavin sticks his shiv in and just keeps twisting--excerpts:
Ottawa goes meek and gentle with Beijing
The Trudeau government's newfound faith in 'appropriate discussion' is the Canadian equivalent of 'thoughts and prayers'—an easy out when dealing with the China lobby
With Beijing's most determined allies decisively crushed by a democratic alliance in Hong Kong's district elections over the weekend, at least somebody's putting up some kind of a fight against Xi Jinping's increasingly savage aggression and belligerence. Because it certainly isn't Canada.
An unprecedented 71.2 per cent turnout on Sunday in the ordinarily humdrum local elections resulted in a massive triumph for pro-democracy candidates and a withering rebuke to the Chinese Communist Party and its puppet Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive. Out of 18 district councils, all formerly under the establishment's control, 17 are now in the democratic camp. Of the 452 posts up for election, Hong Kong's democrats took nearly 400 of them, quadrupling their seat share. Pro-Beijing parties lost 243 seats.
It was a lot less uplifting that while Hongkongers were streaming to the polling stations over the weekend, at the 11th annual Halifax International Security Forum here in Canada, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan telegraphed the strongest signal yet that after several months of dithering, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has decisively retreated into the Liberal Party's traditional approach to relations with Beijing—appeasement, capitulation, and normalization.
"We don't consider China as an adversary," Sajjan said at the forum's opening on Friday.
Hongkongers certainly do. So do the Uighurs of Xinjiang, a Muslim people whose persecution has accelerated to the point that at least a million of them are confined to concentration camps and forced-labour zones laid bare in the greatest detail yet in a trove of leaked Chinese government documents just released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. So do Tibetans, whose dispossession and oppression over the past seven decades is now being replayed in Xinjiang—and whose tragic predicament, once a hallowed cause in Canada, is now rarely if ever even mentioned in polite company...
The findings of Canada's own National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians contradicts the weird claims Sajjan made at the Halifax conference. Last April, in its first-ever annual report, the committee officially declared China a threat to Canada's national security, owing mainly to Beijing's hostile espionage, its cyber threats and its subversive overseas influence-peddling operations...
For several weeks now it has been increasingly evident that Trudeau's government is willing to surrender a great deal and to draw that line where Beijing has always wanted it drawn—with diplomatic and corporate relations inside the relationship, and all those bothersome "Canadian values" about human rights, democratic accountability, the international rules-based order and the rule of law left entirely outside of it.
Beijing has always understood the Liberal Party as the political wing of the Canada-China Business Council. And now Trudeau is giving every impression that the way to repair the 11-month-old crisis in Canada-China relations—as if putting things back together again should even be Canada's objective in this at all—is to conform with Beijing's expectations, to a fault...
As for Xi Jinping's explicit determination to bring down the curtain on 70 years of the western-guided international order, here's Sajjan: "Some of the things that China from a security perspective have been doing is concerning, and we need to be mindful of that. But it's only through the appropriate discussions that we are able to get back into a rules-based order."
So that's it, then. Appropriate discussions will do the trick. Thoughts and prayers, in other words. In the U.S., that's how they deal with the stranglehold of the gun lobby. In Canada, we've got the China lobby.
First came the September appointment of Dominic Barton as Canada's new ambassador to Beijing. Barton took over from the disgraced China evangelist John McCallum, and while Beijing was sad to see McCallum go, Barton was the replacement China had hoped for. In August, at a multinational summit in Bangkok, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi quietly told Canadian officials as much. Barton came pre-approved by Beijing, in other words. You can see why.
Barton had been an adviser to the state-owned China Development Bank, and he'd spent several years swinging big-money deals in Shanghai. During his years as managing partner of McKinsey & Company, the global consulting giant had taken on several Chinese state-owned corporations as clients. Just one of them was an enterprise building islands in the South China Sea, which Xi Jinping has arbitrarily annexed in defiance of the United Nations. Last year, McKinsey held its glamorous annual retreat in Xinjiang, just a short walk from one of China's several Uighur concentration camps.
...[new foreign minister] Francois-Philippe Champagne, came straight out of the corporate sector when he was elected in 2015. He is not known to have ever uttered so much as a cautionary word about China.
Champagne is a protegé of former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, which in itself is straight away a bad sign. Chrétien's lasting foreign-policy legacy was his role in helping Beijing re-establish relations with western democracies in the years following the Tiananmen massacres of 1989. Chrétien has busied himself in the corporate consulting business in China, and giving governments terrible advice about China, ever since he left public office 15 years ago.
Last week, the Globe and Mail's Steven Chase came upon a 2017 interview Champagne gave to the China Global Television Network, a Communist Party propaganda platform. Champagne's flattery of the Beijing regime was as preposterously gushing as it was objectively absurd: "In a world of uncertainty, of unpredictability, of questioning about the rules that have been established to govern our trading relationship, Canada and, I would say, China, stand out as [a] beacon of stability, predictability, a rule-based system, a very inclusive society."
Rounding things off was last week's elevation of Mary Ng to the post of minister of international trade. It's a file that's just tacked onto her previous cabinet portfolio—small business and export promotion. Hired as an appointments secretary in the Prime Minister's Office after the 2015 federal election, Ng was a political unknown until only two years ago, when she was elected MP in Markham-Thornhill, the riding held by John McCallum.
Freeland brought McCallum's mercifully-brief diplomatic assignment to an end in January after he publicly contradicted her strict rule-of-law insistence in the Meng Wanzhou case. He's since gone on to the lucrative corporate consultation racket in China—a pattern with these people. Last July, McCallum admitted to the South China Morning Post that he'd been counselling his former contacts in China's foreign ministry about how Beijing should conduct itself to better assure the favourable outcome of a Liberal victory in Canada's upcoming federal election campaign...
As for Mary Ng, there are two highlights in her strangely meteoric rise to the international trade ministry. The first was the controversy shrouding her connections to pro-Beijing activists in Ontario's Chinese-Canadian community, including her associations with Michael Chan, the former Ontario cabinet minister who has gone hoarse-voiced lately from parroting Beijing's propaganda lies about the Hong Kong democracy movement. The second was that time in July when she posted a photograph of herself with Senator Peter Harder, formerly of the Canada-China Business Council, hamming it up in a Beijing ice cream parlour.
Not exactly a good look, as they say, for a government that claims to be so closely focused on the entombment of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in some Beijing dungeon...
David Mulroney, the former Canadian ambassador to Beijing, told the CBC on Sunday that China is "the greatest threat to human freedom on the planet," and that while Canada has managed to stand up to Russia, to Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, "China gets a pass."
That is an unimpeachable fact.
So while Canada accelerates its business-class rapprochements with Xi Jinping's tyranny, the task of confronting the greatest threat to freedom on the planet has fallen to teenagers choking on tear gas in the streets of Hong Kong, fighting on almost entirely alone, with bows and arrows.
https://www.macleans.ca/politics/worldpolitics/ottawa-goes-meek-and-gentle-with-beijing/
Read the whole story--this is bloody awful, will our gov't have the guts to say anything serious? Thank goodness for a few very good and assiduous reporters in our media--with video:
B.C. politician breaks silence: China detained me, is interfering 'in our democracy'
A veteran Chinese-Canadian politician is coming forward to reveal that upon landing at the Shanghai airport in November 2015, Chinese authorities improperly detained him, separated him from his wife for eight hours, confiscated and searched his B.C. government phone and accused him of "endangering national security" before cancelling his visa and ordering him to fly back to Canada.
And since his detention, he said, China's interference in Canadian society has increased in myriad ways, including aggressive attempts to influence our political system and elected leaders, control Chinese-Canadian immigrants, and silence all criticism of Beijing's policies.
Richard Lee, the B.C. Liberal MLA for Burnaby from 2001 to 2017, provided Global News with a letter outlining his allegations, sent on Jan. 1, 2019, to then-foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Lee's letter says he had planned to go public with his story after returning to Vancouver from Shanghai, but decided not to "in consideration of the potential damage to the relationship between China and Canada."
...since 2015, Lee claims he has seen increasing interference in Canada's political system by China's government, including private warnings from consular officials that Canadian politicians refrain from speaking out on issues that might anger China.
And after China jailed Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor on vague national security grounds in late 2018, Lee says he felt reminded of the injustice in his own case...
https://globalnews.ca/news/6228973/b-c-politician-richard-lee-china-detained-interfering-democracy/
YZT580
All you can do is spend your money on any label that doesn't say made in China. It is a little thing but at least it helps me not to be hypocritical. Heck, even our flags say made in China
Australians being forced to wake up to Red China menace--note piece on Ireland at end:
Suddenly, the Chinese Threat to Australia Seems Very Real
After a businessman said Chinese agents sought to implant him in Parliament, that revelation and other espionage cases have finally signaled the end of a "let's get rich together" era.
CANBERRA, Australia — A Chinese defector to Australia who detailed political interference by Beijing. A businessman found dead after telling the authorities about a Chinese plot to install him in Parliament. Suspicious men following critics of Beijing in major Australian cities.
For a country that just wants calm commerce with China — the propellant behind 28 years of steady growth — the revelations of the past week have delivered a jolt.
Fears of Chinese interference once seemed to hover indistinctly over Australia. Now, Beijing's political ambitions, and the espionage operations that further them, suddenly feel local, concrete and ever-present.
"It's become the inescapable issue," said Hugh White, a former intelligence official who teaches strategic studies at the Australian National University. "We've underestimated how quickly China's power has grown along with its ambition to use that power."
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American officials often describe Australia as a test case, the ally close enough to Beijing to see what could be coming for others.
In public and in private, they've pushed Australia's leaders to confront China more directly — pressure that may only grow after President Trump signed legislation to impose sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials over human rights abuses in Hong Kong.
Even as it confronts the specter of brazen espionage, Australia's government has yet to draw clear boundaries for an autocratic giant that is both an economic partner and a threat to freedom, a conundrum faced by many countries, but more acutely by Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison continues to insist that Australia need not choose between China and the United States. A new foreign interference law has barely been enforced, and secrecy is so ingrained that even lawmakers and experts lack the in-depth information they need.
As a result, the country's intelligence agencies have raised alarms about China in ways that most Australian politicians avoid. The agencies have never been flush with expertise on China, including Chinese speakers, yet they are now in charge of disentangling complex claims of nefarious deeds, all vigorously denied by China...[read on]
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/world/australia/china-spying-wang-liqiang-nick-zhao.html
Meanwhile CCP is scaring overseas Chinese in Ireland and terrifying the few Uyghurs there:
China has 'a lot of spies' in Ireland, activists claim
CHINESE POLITICAL ACTIVISTS LIVING IN IRELAND CLAIM THAT OTHER CHINESE PEOPLE HERE ARE 'KEEPING AN EYE ON EVERYONE' FOR SIGNS OF DISLOYALTY TO THE COMMUNIST PARTY
It's not often that prospective interviewees turn up at The Irish Times wearing face masks and reflector sunglasses, with black baseball hats pulled low over their foreheads. But that's what happened when three supporters of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong agreed to be interviewed. All living in Dublin, two are from Hong Kong and the other from the Chinese mainland.
"They are killing people," a woman from Hong Kong says soon after the interview began. "That is what is happening now. The Hong Kong government, and the police, they are really killing people."
Each of the interviewees is concerned about the potential consequences should it become known that they had spoken with the Irish media. One has already had the experience of losing her job with a Chinese employer in Dublin after her image attending a protest here was posted on Chinese social media.
Over the past fortnight, The Irish Times has been speaking with people from the Tibetan and Hong Kong communities about living in Ireland while being careful not to come to the attention of the Beijing authorities. No one from the small Irish community of Uighur Turkic Muslims, from the northwestern province of Xinjiang, would agree to be interviewed...[lots more]
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/china-has-a-lot-of-spies-in-ireland-activists-claim-1.4097005
« Last Edit: November 30, 2019, 14:21:06 by MarkOttawa »
« Reply #3612 on: December 01, 2019, 11:17:13 »
Maclean's Magazine has published numerous articlea about Chinese influence in Canada and the Canadian government's lack of response. I did a quick search on "Startpage" using "macleans trudeau and china" and got a solid 2 1/2 pages of hits with articles outlining the problem.
The issue isn't just the government, Canadians as a whole seem uninterested in the issue (these articles are not hidden in academic journals or behind paywalls) so there is little call for the government to do anything about it. I suspect that the real wake up call will be when the issue is far to deeply entrenched to deal with, we already see Chinese officials apparently coordinating Chinese students in Canadian universities to make counter protests against supporters of the pro democracy protests in Hong Kong. Who knows what else is going on in the background?
Unless and until the public engages in the issue, there will likely be no response by the current government, and probably not buy any future government as well.
Quote from: Thucydides on December 01, 2019, 11:17:13
Maclean's Magazine has published numerous articlea about Chinese influence in Canada and the Canadian government's lack of response. I did a quick search on "Startpage" using "macleans trudeau and china" and got a solid 2 1/2 pages of hits with articles outlining the problem ... these articles are not hidden in academic journals or behind paywalls ...
I wonder how different things would be if some people weren't so adamant about wanting the public to not trust MSM like Maclean's? #FakeNewsBoughtMediaUntilYouAgreeWithIt
Now here's something where Justin Trudeau could show that great Canadian "leadership" that the world, in some Canadians' minds, apparently craves--fat chance:
Opinion: The U.S. should boycott Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics
The evidence of abuses in the Chinese region of Xinjiang has been mounting over the past year. Testimony from former detainees, satellite imagery and publicly available local government documentation have all pointed to the building of concentration camps, the detention of a million or more Uighurs and other Muslim minorities and rampant abuses against the detained, including torture and sexual violence. Conditions outside the camps are not much better, with a security apparatus that is oppressive and omnipresent.
The recent leak of the Xinjiang Papers — more than 400 pages of internal Chinese government documents — provide proof that China's leaders are directly responsible for the abuses in Xinjiang. President Xi Jinping undoubtedly set the direction for that policy, with disastrous consequences for China's Muslims.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Xinjiang Papers showed China's intent to "effectively erase" the Uighur people. These are strong words and raise the question of whether China's leaders have genocidal intent. Some reported abuses in Xinjiang — including forced sterilizations and the separation of children from their families — could, indeed, constitute genocide.
The question is what to do about this. The State Department has worked to publicize the plight of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and has placed visa restrictions on culpable individuals. The Commerce Department has issued a list of Chinese companies complicit in the abuses, barring Americans from doing business with them. The publication of the Xinjiang Papers should encourage the Treasury Department to impose sanctions on senior leaders, including Chen Quanguo, the Xinjiang party boss.
But more must be done. If the United States and other nations are to be successful in convincing China to moderate its policies in Xinjiang, they should target Xi directly. Fortunately, the international community has good leverage to use against him: Beijing will host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
The International Olympic Committee should revisit its decision to award the Games to Beijing in light of the overwhelming evidence of Chinese crimes against the people in Xinjiang. Unfortunately, the IOC has shown that it's incapable of standing up for human rights. That means that the United States and other concerned countries must act.
The Trump administration, with congressional support, should begin working now to build an international coalition that will call on the IOC to move or cancel the Games unless China closes the camps and ends abuses in Xinjiang.
If the IOC refuses to play ball, which is likely, the coalition should be prepared to threaten a boycott of the 2022 Olympics and to hold parallel "Freedom Games" if Beijing does not rapidly alter course. If the Trump administration fails to act, Congress could call on the U.S. Olympic Committee to announce its own boycott. If the committee refuses, Congress should look into revoking its federal charter.
It would be nice to separate sports from politics, but China uses international sport to advance its political interests. Just as Hu Jintao employed the 2008 Summer Games to signal China's "arrival" on the world stage, Xi will use the 2022 Games to signal to his own people that his "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation"is well underway. The 2022 Olympics will be a grand propaganda spectacle in which participating countries will play supporting roles.
A cancellation, relocation or boycott of the Games would mark a significant international and domestic embarrassment for Xi. News of the reasons behind such a development would certainly make its way past China's Great Firewall. Using the Olympics as leverage could be quite effective because doing so would challenge Xi's leadership.
If the U.S. fails to find international partners, Washington should be prepared for a solitary boycott. To participate in the Beijing 2022 Games despite the atrocities being committed against the Uighurs would be to acquiesce to those abuses. By standing up for human rights principles, the U.S. could inspire others to follow our lead while showing abusers that, when it comes to defending human rights, America is no paper tiger.
Michael Mazza is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior non-resident fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-11-29/boycott-beijing-2022-olympics-uighurs-camps
Sure, not directly related to China:
ASIO takes lead as spy agencies are put on war footing
An elite intelligence taskforce led by ASIO, the Australian Signals Directorate and Defence intelligence will be created to put the country on a virtual war footing to combat national security threats from an unprecedented level of foreign interference and espionage.
The move will see the role of ASIO expand for the first time to share classified intelligence with Australian Federal Police on foreign interference. The pooling of intelligence — through security investigations conducted by ASIO and criminal investigations under the AFP — will help determine whether charges are laid against foreign targets or whether they are quietly thrown out of the country.
The taskforce will also bring in aerial and satellite intelligence-gathering used by the Defence Department's Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation, as well as drawing on Austrac's financial intelligence capabilities.
The formation of the unit, which will begin with initial new funding of almost $90m, comes amid the Chinese spy scandal involving claims by defector Wang Liqiang that he was a Chinese spy. The validity of Mr Wang's claims have been questioned as ASIO seeks to confirm his story while confirming that it is also investigating claims China sought to install an agent in Australia's federal parliament.
The government said the creation of the taskforce was not related to the recent claims of Chinese interference and that it had been in development for months. It was, however, signed off by cabinet last week.
Scott Morrison confirmed the establishment of the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce, saying it would elevate the intelligence agencies' abilities to detect and disrupt foreign interference attempts and bring prosecutions under criminal espionage offences passed last year.
"Our No 1 priority is to keep Australians safe," the Prime Minister said. "Our security and intelligence agencies have been clear that the threat from foreign interference has never been greater.
"This taskforce is our next step to combat those threats as they evolve and to identify and disrupt the very people who want to undermine our democracy and way of life. My government is constantly monitoring and reviewing the threats our country faces so our agencies have the right tools at their disposal."..
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/asio-takes-lead-as-spy-agencies-are-put-onwar-footing/news-story/85ca619855e98408a03689fbc8be012f
Story not behind paywall:
Spies called in to oversee taskforce amid heightened foreign interference threat
Australia's domestic spy agency ASIO will lead a new taskforce aimed at strengthening Australia's response to the threat of foreign interference.
The Government will spend almost $88 million to crack down on foreign interference
It comes amid warnings foreign interference poses a greater threat than terrorism
A spy-lead taskforce will oversee Australia's efforts to counter foreign efforts
The Federal Government plans to spend almost $88 million to establish a new Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce.
The taskforce will expand the resources of the National Counter Foreign Interference Coordinator — which sits within the Home Affair Department — to help "disrupt and deter anyone attempting to undermine our national interests".
"This threat has been evolving and we have been staying ahead of it by building that capability now over many years, and most recently this initiative, which improves the collaboration, ensures that the tools they have are world-class and they can work together to identify, disrupt and prosecute," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
The taskforce will be led by a senior Australian Security Intelligence Organisation officer, and include investigators from the Australian Federal Police and staff from a range of security agencies.
The Government intends for it to increase intelligence collection, assessment, law enforcement capabilities and collaboration and decision-making between agencies to result in more disruptions of possible interference.
It comes amid heightened national security concerns raised by allegations of Chinese espionage, influence over political parties and multiple cyber attacks on universities and federal agencies.
Shortly before retiring earlier this year, outgoing ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis said foreign interference presented a greater threat than terrorism.
The taskforce comes a week after it was revealed Chinese man Wang Liqiang was seeking political asylum in Australia after going public with allegations about Chinese spying.
The Government has dismissed suggestions the taskforce was in response to that case, and insisted it had been under development for months.
It also comes amid suggestions China was grooming Bo "Nick" Zhao to be a Chinese spy inside Australia's Parliament.
He was found dead in a Melbourne motel room in March after reportedly approaching ASIO.
"On the advice that I've received, I don't have any concern in relation to issues domestically... in relation to this particular matter," Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
"I think the [ASIO] director-general, though, will have something further to say in due course, and I'll let that investigation run its course...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-02/asio-to-lead-foreign-interference-taskforce/11756060
Of course this is all related to China. Will Justin Trudeau and our compradors ever wake up and smell the Maotai?
On the first anniversary of her detention, Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou waxes philosophical ...
"Time to read and paint: Detained Huawei executive pens poetic letter from house arrest"
Reading & painting -- just like all those Uighurs in Chinese custody, right?
Here's her full blog post if you're interested - text also attached if you don't want to click on a Huawei link.
huawei.com-Your warmth is a beacon that lights my way forward.pdf (26.18 kB - downloaded 5 times.)
Meng bemoans her sorry state, yet waxes philosophically on the opportunities it gives her for personal reflection and self-improvement. One wonders what Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor might say about their situations as they semi-rot in jail in China, not in a mansion with lots of freedom of movement and other liberties.
Funny old world. Know your enemies and stand fast. Got that, Justin and the Compradors?
« Last Edit: December 02, 2019, 20:58:19 by MarkOttawa »
And now the Globe and Mail, which has been hard on the China case for quite a few years, lets loose with both barrels:
Beijing's harshness is forcing Canada to rethink its China delusions
The one silver lining in the extradition case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, now entering its second year, is that Beijing's behaviour has awakened Canadians – including senior members of the Trudeau government – to the nature of China's Communist Party regime. Many in Ottawa and the business community had talked themselves into believing fantasies about the hard men who run Beijing. Some imagined that, although China might play rough with other countries, Canada would somehow be entitled to special treatment.
Instead, Beijing has spent the last year giving Canada a special education in how it sees our not-at-all special relationship.
We should be thankful for the lessons. The Trudeau government, and the entire political and business establishment, must study them carefully. It may allow this country to finally get over its China delusions.
China, and the Communist regime that runs it, are not going anywhere. We will have to deal with them, hopefully on peaceful and respectful terms, for a long time to come. But the starting point for the relationship has to be Canada being honest with itself about who we are dealing with.
When Canada followed the rules of its extradition treaty with its closest ally, Beijing had no hesitation in taking two of our citizens hostage – there is no other way to describe what happened to Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig – with the price of ransom being Ms. Meng's release.
All the decades' worth of treacly odes to Dr. Norman Bethune, Mao's pet Canadian; all the gratitude Canada supposed it was owed for early recognition of the Communist regime; all the alleged reverence for Trudeau père that allegedly would carry over to Trudeau fils – all turned out to be worth exactly nothing.
Totalitarian dictatorships are not sentimental. That's not something Canada should have had to learn.
The two Michaels are of course still locked up, and there is no sign of their release. Yet despite the importance of their condition, the long-term goal of Canada's China foreign policy is bigger than securing the safe return of two innocents.
Canada of course has to continue to demand their release. But it is essential that Ottawa understand that our prisoners in Beijing are also levers that can be used to pressure Canada into going silent on other matters – human rights, the rule of law, Chinese spying, Hong Kong, and a long list of worries that Washington and other Western governments have – in favour of focusing on what China wants, and how it wants Canada to behave so as to avoid being subjected to future hostage-takings.
Canada has never had a relationship like this. The Soviet Union was a superpower, but it was also a clear adversary. We joined the world's most important military alliance to oppose it, and it was part of a separate economic system, with which we had almost no trade. The lines between the two worlds were thick and bright.
China, in contrast, is part of all of the formerly "Western" or "developed" world's main institutions. It is our second-most important economic relationship, after the United States. And China is an economic success story; its growth over the past four decades has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
Yet China is also run by a regime that operates rather similar to how the Trump administration would if it were unfettered by such basic constraints as elections, independent judges, free speech or the rule of law [A STUPID BUT SADLY NECESSARY SOP TO MAINTAIN CREDIBILITY WITH CERTAIN CANADIANS].
While there was a time when its party dictatorship appeared to be moving closer to democratic norms, with the Communist Party dispensing with cults of personality and loosening party control, under Xi Jinping that trend is aggressively reversing. It is now clear that Beijing joined the international community's institutions without sharing the international community's practices and values.
To survive in this new world, Canada needs allies and alliances. Beijing has become expert at playing divide-and-conquer, punishing those who don't do as they're told and rewarding those that go along to get along. And too many, including Canada, have too often been too ready to go along.
From Sussex Drive to Bay Street, a lot of people would like nothing better than for the past year's nastiness to be forgotten. But that would mean forgetting all the valuable lessons learned.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-beijings-harshness-is-forcing-canada-to-rethink-its-china-delusions/
Hmmmmm ...
The founder of Huawei says the Chinese tech giant is moving its U.S. research center to Canada due to American sanctions on the company.
In an interview with Toronto's Global and Mail newspaper, Ren Zhengfei said the move was necessary because Huawei would be blocked from interacting with U.S. employees.
Huawei Technologies Ltd. is the No. 2 global smartphone brand and the biggest maker of network gear for phone carriers. U.S. authorities say the company is a security risk, which Huawei denies, and announced curbs in May on its access to American components and technology.
The Trump administration announced a 90-day reprieve on some sales to Huawei. The government said that would apply to components and technology needed to support wireless networks in rural areas.
Ren gave no details but Huawei confirmed in June it had cut 600 jobs at its Silicon Valley research center in Santa Clara, California, leaving about 250 employees. A Huawei spokesman said the company had no further comment.
``The research and development center will move from the United States, and Canada will be the center,'' Ren said in a video excerpt of the interview on the Globe and Mail website. ``According to the U.S. ban, we couldn't communicate with, call, email or contact our own employees in the United States.'' ...
China's worst nightmare coming true: Hong Kong style (and inspired) protests appear to be starting in the mainland:
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/12/chicom_nightmare_hong_kong_protests_spread_to_gigantic_guangdong.html
Chicom Nightmare: Hong Kong protests spread to gigantic Guangdong province
By Monica Showalter
The Chicoms have a problem.
Seems the Hong Kong protests they are so desperate to tamp down have started to ignite elsewhere, deep into China's cities.
Here's one the Chicoms really didn't want:
Protesters in southern Guangdong province, China, took to the streets last week to demand the communist government not build a polluting crematorium near their town, adopting slogans common to the Hong Kong protest movement, Time magazine noted on Monday.
The Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, which openly supports the anti-communist movement, reported the use of slogans such as "revolution of our times," which China considers seditious hate speech, and "just like you, Hong Kong!" in Guangdong. As China heavily censors coverage of the Hong Kong protests and bans all statements of support from the few permitted social media sites in the country, the adoption of the Hong Kong movement's slogans and tactics is a sign that people within Communist China are informing themselves regarding the protests through unapproved means.
The Guardian reports that the Chicoms stomped them out, like an out-of-control campfire. But the danger to the regime remains.
As I argued earlier, this is Beijing's worst nightmare come to life:
In short, there's evidence that amid that sea of millions of Hongkongers protesting communism from China, some of them are mainland Chinese. Message: the mainland Chinese are getting ideas. The Chicoms of Beijing cannot wall them out from Hong Kong nor can they stop this.
And this raises the specter of what happens when they return to China, because many of these Chinese have their families there, and they will. Are these Chinese going to return back to China and spread that democracy 'virus' they passionately embraced in Hong Kong, kicking off similar protests in Chengdu, Tianjin, Harbin, Shenzhen, Wuhan and other giant cities to duplicate what the Hongkongers launched? It actually seems plausible. What's more, it will be an awakening as Chinese finally come to the realization that they deserve the same freedoms their fellow Chinese in Hong Kong have enjoyed until recently. When ten or twelve Chinese megacities start holding the kinds of protests Hong Kong is holding, Bejing's old gray rulers will have a hell of a problem on their hands. And that is their worst, their very worst, nightmare.
Not only is China failing to keep the revolt in Hong Kong out of the consciousness of the Chinese people, protests now are taking inspiration from the Hong Kongers. And in the worst possible place: in Guangdong province, which is gargantuan and shares a common language with Hong Kong. Here's the Straits Times of Singapore's description of where this is happening:
Guangdong, China's most prosperous province, lies at the heart of the Greater Bay Area — a mega economic zone that includes nine cities in the province, Hong Kong and Macau — and is hungry for capital, talent and technology[.]
Rest of the article is at the link. One of the takeaway points in the larger article is the province is full of people from all different parts of China, much like Alberta has Canadians from all parts of the Dominion flocking there for jobs. If the protests take root in Guangdong Province, there are linkages from there to every other region and ethnic group in China. It will be interesting to see how the Chinese deal with this.
More diplomacy with Chinese characteristics:
Chinese ambassador warns Canada against adopting motion calling for sanctions
Ambassador Cong Peiwu reacted to comments by two Conservative senators
China's ambassador to Canada is threatening what he called "very firm countermeasures" should Parliament adopt a motion calling for sanctions against Chinese leaders.
Ambassador Cong Peiwu reacted today to comments by two Conservative senators who are planning to table a motion next week calling on the Trudeau government to impose sanctions on China for its alleged human rights abuses.
Cong told reporters in Montreal that if the Senate and House of Commons were to adopt such a motion, it would be a serious violation of Chinese domestic affairs.
"We firmly oppose this kind of behaviour. And I think it'd cause serious damage to our bilateral relations ... we'll make very firm countermeasures to this," he said.
"It is not in the interest of the Canada side. So we do hope that we stop this kind of dangerous activity."
Sen. Leo Housakos told Maclean's magazine earlier this week that he and Sen. Thanh Hai Ngo think Canada needs to show leadership on democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Canada-China relations have been strained since Dec. 1, 2018, when RCMP arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver's airport, at the request of the United States.
Days later, two Canadians — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — were detained in China on allegations of undermining national security, and the two men continue to be held in that country.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/china-cong-sanctions-1.5386020
Matthew Fisher lets Justin Trudeau and the compradors have it with both barrels:
COMMENTARY: Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been in a Chinese jail for one year
It will be one year this Tuesday that China has held both Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor hostage.
It is an anniversary that no Canadian will celebrate and few in other western countries know much about.
The detention of the two Michaels, what China has tried to do to try to thwart Hong Kong's democratic protests, and the jailing of one million or more Uighur Muslims in harsh reeducation camps, have moved the needle so much that only one Canadian in 10 has a favourable view of China, according to a Nanos poll published four months ago.
Despite Canadians' negative feelings about China, Beijing's jailing of the two Michaels on spurious allegations, and the stiff trade sanctions that China has slapped on Canadian agricultural imports, Ottawa remains hell-bent on its China First Policy. Prominent Canadians who have had close business ties to China, such as former prime minister Jean Chretien and Ottawa's new ambassador, Dominic Barton, continue to rally Canadian business leaders to cash in on the bonanza over there [emphasis added].
Kovrig, a diplomat on extended leave from Global Affairs Canada and working as a senior analyst for International Crisis Group in Hong Kong was the first of the Michaels to be detained during a visit to Beijing. Not long afterwards, Spavor, a Korean-speaking entrepreneur who encourages closer cultural and business ties with North Korea, was seized in a town by Chinese authorities on the China-North Korea border. It is alleged that both Canadians had endangered China's security.
The arrest of the two Michaels was in obvious retaliation for Canada having a few days earlier detained one of China's most favoured daughters, Meng Wanzhou, while a court in Vancouver considers whether to extradite her to the United States to face 13 bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges. The allegations stem from accusations that Meng, as chief financial officer of China's largest company, Huawei, which was started by her father, had violated American sanctions against Iran.
What appears to irk Canadians most is that although no charges have been filed yet against Kovrig and Spavor, they have been held under strong lights that are never turned off with no access to their families and only monthly consular visits. At the same time Meng was swiftly granted bail and has been living in her fancy Vancouver home. Other than wearing an ankle bracelet to make sure she does not leave the city, the billionairess has been free to swan around town while her father boasts that he has more money than Ottawa.
China's former envoy to Ottawa, Lu Shaye, publicly accused Canadians of being "racists" and "white supremacists" because Meng had been stopped as she changed planes while flying from China to Mexico.
Such insults by an ambassador would usually provoke outrage and probably result in his expulsion. But Canada's timorous response to almost anything that China says or does these days has Canada looking spineless, weak-kneed or faint-hearted. Pick your body part [emphasis added].
The strategy seems to be to endure any abuse that China's Communist dictatorship hurls, lest complaining distresses Chairman Xi Jinping. Publicly rebuking China might, of course, make the two Michaels' dreadful situation even worse. Sadly, it is hard not to conclude that of equal or greater importance to the Canadian government is that if it were to respond to China as China has to Canada, it could scupper the eternal hope of much greater trade with that country — though based on the current circumstances, this looks like a fatuous pipe dream.
READ MORE: Huawei's CEO wants to move research centre from U.S. to Canada: report
Huawei is heavily backed by the state and has 5G cell telephone technology that it is keen to sell in Canada and elsewhere. To curry favour with Ottawa, it made a bribe of sorts last week, announcing plans to move its North American research centre from the U.S. to Ontario.
Yet at almost the same moment China's new ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, fired another diplomatic rocket. Cong warned Canada of "very firm countermeasures" if it ordered sanctions against any officials responsible for actions against Hong Kong's pro-democracy demonstrators and the appalling treatment of Uighers. A gloomy subtext to these outrages has been growing concern over how China might respond to Hong Kong-style civil disobedience by millions of Taiwanese if Beijing finally makes good on its longstanding promise to invade their prosperous democracy...[read on]
https://globalnews.ca/news/6262649/michael-kovrig-michael-spavor-detention-china/
That diplomacy with Chinese characteristics on the Hong Kong front, Canada noted:
China launches PR blitz to combat 'foreign interference' in Hong Kong
*Beijing's ambassadors around the world are taking an assertive – and sometimes aggressive – stance against their hosts' views on the city's unrest
*Analysts say heightened activism aims to prevent further internationalisation of China's domestic issue
China's diplomats are waging an increasingly assertive public relations campaign to counter growing international criticism over its handling of the unrest in Hong Kong, now in its seventh month.
Diplomatic and political pundits believe the heightened activism among Chinese envoys underlines an overriding priority to prevent further internationalisation of what Beijing insists is an internal issue, in the wake of Washington's support for the city's anti-government protesters.
Already buffeted by a prolonged trade war, China's relations with the United States deteriorated further when President Donald Trump last month signed into law the Hong Kong Democracy and Human Rights Act, which American lawmakers passed almost unanimously.
More alarmingly for Beijing, Hong Kong protesters have been campaigning for other countries to follow Washington's lead and pass similar bills in support of their cause.
In response, ambassadors in Europe – where a major shift is under way in relations with China – and other countries along the geopolitical fault line between Beijing and Washington, are speaking out as never before.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
and his predecessor, Politburo member Yang Jiechi
– who both serve on the Communist Party's coordination group for Hong Kong and Macau affairs – have led the way in blasting what Beijing sees as foreign interference, as Australia, Canada and Europe have joined the US in voicing support for the Hong Kong protesters.
In Britain, China's longest-serving ambassador Liu Xiaoming
has been especially busy since the mass protests broke out in early June.
He was among the first batch of Chinese officials to comment after the initial rally – two days before any official statements were issued by Beijing's top bodies overseeing the city, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong.
Apart from giving speeches and penning opinion pieces for newspapers around the world, Liu has so far hosted three press briefings specifically on Hong Kong and taken more than a dozen interviews from British, American and Chinese media outlets, according to his embassy's website.
Liu's messaging has been clear and consistent – unswerving support for the city's embattled local government and police force and condemnation of foreign interference and the violence perpetrated by protesters.
His lead has been followed by Chinese envoys in other European countries, such as Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Finland and the Netherlands, who have also spoken out, sometimes repeatedly, on the issue.
Ambassadors in Canada and Singapore, as well as dozens of others in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America have issued statements to local media, vigorously pushing Beijing's official line on the demonstrations [emphasis added].
China's foreign ministry and its diplomats in recent months have become visibly active on Twitter, which is blocked in mainland China, with envoys to the US, Britain, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Austria joining the service this year...
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3041645/china-launches-pr-blitz-combat-foreign-interference-hong-kong
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A year ago I was in Brasil. I've thought about it a lot this week since it was such an amazing opportunity. It would not be possible to have a more welcoming experience than I had. A very warm and loving people took me into their hearts, homes and lives. And, it started the moment I set foot on Brazilian soil. It was truly one of my very best muraling adventures. So, I thought it was time for one more family portrait.
I observed right away that hugging was a part of every day life, every day in Brasil. While I was greeted at the airport by a young man who spoke no English, another woman who did speak my language decided it was time to practice a little. Before we parted ways, the young man hugged the older woman. I learned my lesson quickly. When I finally arrived at the last of three Brazilian airports that day, and had a crowd of eight people waiting for me, I dropped my luggage and the hugging began. It never stopped for the entire three weeks I was in Brazil.
The first mural was at a community school in the little town of Barbosa Ferraz and my volunteer painters were part of an agricultural group sort of like Future Farmers of America. I didn't know it until the end of the day, but my group of thirty volunteers came from all corners of the state. It was a national holiday and they celebrated like family. I was so surprised that this warm and loving group only saw each other a few times a year. They were so close!
Alessa painted a red tomato on the first mural. She couldn't have been any more proud of her work, and this portrait was taken of her in front of that confused fruit/vegetable. She and her husband Jeferson, lived in Barbosa Ferraz. They could not have been any more adorable and, fortunately for me, I saw them several more times since I painted two murals in their town. Alessa didn't speak a word of English and I didn't speak Portuguese. However, even if she weren't absolutely beautiful inside and out, I would have adored her because she was one of the few people I could speak to in Spanish. I was able to communicate with her without the aid of a Smartphone translation app (which is an awesome tool).
I was informed that even though I was born in the United States, I had the heart of a Brasilian. Believe me, that's high praise. People with that kind of heart were gracious, caring, loving huggers. There were no half-hearted, side-to-side huggers in Brasil. It's full body, full-strength, hold on tightly to make sure the other person knows just how loved they really are kind of hugging.
I also observed that if you have a true Brasilian heart, it is possible to cry at a moment's notice. Just talking about the fact that you cry over emotional subjects can (and usually did) bring on more tears. Giving a special person a gift, saying goodbye, celebrating a birthday or reading my blogs about Brasil required tissues at hand. Alessa had this kind of heart. I'm fairly sure there will be more tears as soon as I see her again.
I'll come prepared with the tissues.
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That you have built it is no guarantee that they will flock to take your course. Your learners have better things to do than take courses that do not appeal to them.
So what do you have to do to appeal to your learners? You have to excite them. You have to intrigue them. You have to provide solutions to their problems. And most importantly, you have to convince them that your solutions will change their life for the better.
How? By knowing what your learners expect from you. By knowing your learners, so you can deliver exactly what they need. By having a deeper understanding of them you can approach them like a friend and guide them like a mentor to make them change their behavior and attitudes.
Have conversations with them frequently. Hear about their needs, fears, goals, interests and expectations and figure out next steps from there. Each conversation will make you more effective at eLearning design.
Adult corporate learners have too little time on their hands. They are also surrounded by distractions. So if you cannot grab their attention right away, you will lose them soon. There is one foolproof way to hook them: convince them that your course has solutions to improve their life. Convince them of the value of your course.
By thoroughly knowing your learners, it becomes easier to grab their attention because their needs and goals are front and center.
Identify target audience needs clearly. Here are some tips.
Evidence and examples: The art of persuasion is not just about seizing the learner by his throat and making him gulp down your teach. Present real-life scenarios, case studies, expert testimonials to make the learner appreciate the relevance of altering his behavior or cultivating a new habit. Choose characters who match the demographic characteristics of most of your learners. Use examples to get them to see benefits of the new idea.
Reiterate the what's-in-it-for-me information in the course.
Experiential learning: Create a design where learners can learn by exploring and seeing for themselves the consequences of their actions and decisions. This increases the relevance of the course.
You don't want your learners to leave midway through the course, right? So you have to keep them engaged throughout the entire course. Know their motivations, expectations, fears, and challenges, to think like they do, so you can say what they want to hear. This will help give you the clues on how to connect with them.
Choose a few critical benefits of taking the course and refer to these often. Remind the learner how the lack of skill is hampering his climb the corporate ladder, and repeat. Being often reminded of the benefits of taking the course will keep the learner interested.
Write in a language that feels familiar and friendly to the learners. Use expressions that they are accustomed to hearing and analogies that they can relate to. Do not chide him for his woes; instead, show empathy. Assure him that his situation is not uncommon, and the solutions are right at hand. The adult learner wants to be talked to, not talked at.
Encourage exploration. Create opportunities within the eLearning course that allow learners to explore around. For instance, make learners click images or buttons to find clues, or introduce quizzes to reinforce the learning. Your learner will naturally and enthusiastically "pull" information when you subtly guide him towards it instead of shoving content down his throat.
Read 10 More Ideas to Create Engaging eLearning.
Each new learning experience builds on earlier knowledge. Optimize the learning experience you provide by tapping into the existing knowledge base of the learner. How? By conducting an Audience Analysis. This way you'll find out what your learners know (their current knowledge level).
Here is the golden rule: DO NOT assume that you know what your learners know because the learners themselves do not know what they know.
Understand the language skills of your learners, so you can present concepts, theories, and models lucidly.
Identify the base level of learner knowledge and skills, so there are no knowledge gaps and the learners can easily assimilate new information based on existing knowledge.
Understand prior learner experiences and the culture that they live in, so you can create analogies the learners can relate to.
Your learners won't sit through a course that feels alien to them. You have to make them feel special by providing personalized learning experiences. Your learner has to be convinced that you had him—his needs, aspirations, and challenges—in mind when you designed the course. Any run-of-the-mill whiff from your course and your learner will be repulsed.
Be careful with jargons because they are double-edged swords. Just as jargons can frighten away the uninitiated, not using common occupational terms with an audience who are aware of these could get you branded as someone who is not an expert. This will dent your credibility.
Use imagery and analogies that your audience is familiar with.
Use appropriate cultural references to bond readily with your audience. On the other hand, using inappropriate cultural references can offend learners or make you look like you are a stranger in their midst.
Go easy on the humor. Although humor can break the ice, it can backfire as well if you unknowingly touch a raw nerve or end up making fun of a touchy issue.
Respect your audience's time. Do not bore your learners with irrelevant content. This is especially true of courses geared for the C-suite.
Present content in modules and give your learners the freedom to take these at their own pace and place.
Your eLearning courses should be relevant to what your learners need.
It's just common sense: no one wants to feel like they're wasting their time. Not you, not your boss, and definitely not the employees expected to learn from your course.
Given that training is often perceived as a waste of time, being irrelevant is one of the primary reasons why employees do not put in the effort.
Therefore, you must first understand your target audience and then build content around their needs, circumstances, limitations, preferences, and wants. This means that you must move beyond the common descriptions handed out by SMEs, the manager, or even the client.
Spend time researching target audience demographics.
Carry out a thorough Training Needs Analysis.
Use the "backward design" technique to maintain relevancy.
Here are some more tips on how to create relevance.
Maximize your training budget by knowing your learners better than you know yourself. When you know whom your target learner is you can create courses that are truly useful, relevant and engaging. This means the training isn't a waste of resources.
Cookie-cutter learning solutions do not benefit all learners. So you end up wasting the learners' time that translates into lost productivity.
Cookie-cutter learning solutions do not address knowledge gaps. So at the end of the learning, the learners are still liable to make mistakes at work and disregard compliance policies. Errors, slips, mistakes, and policy violations can be costly.
When you have the learner at the center of your design, you can increase the speed and effectiveness of transforming bland concepts into powerful learning experiences.
If you want your learners to stay with you and then come back to you, give them what they want from you. You can be thoughtful and empathetic only if you know them well.


The training course will take place on Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 2nd May before Michelle makes visits to the school and community groups assisting the newly trained facilitators to deliver the programme while also putting on a festival for the children.
The Just Play Programme is currently making waves throughout the Pacific as it reaches more and more children in disadvantaged areas and gives them all the opportunity to have Fun while taking part in organised activities where equipment and resources are provided to make it all possible.
Ten participants have been confirmed to take part in the training course this week and will become facilitators to deliver the Just Play Programme in their respective areas. Michelle is looking forward to the opportunity of sharing this programme with the community of Atiu as well as seeing the excitement and enjoyment it is sure to bring to the children of the island.
The Just Play Kits which include bibs, balls, cones, whistles, rings and pumps as well as Teaching Manuals and resources have been freighted to Atiu ahead of the course and will be distributed to participating groups following the completion of the course.
We would like to acknowledge Air Rarotonga for their assistance in discounting freight costs to transport the equipment to Atiu.
Just Play is funded by the Australian Government (AusAid), UEFA, and Oceania Football Confederation.


text:
Author: NRDC
Hochul's State of the State Takes on Climate Change
Post author By NRDC
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Global Warming. Renewable Energy.
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Learning Curves and Enhanced Geothermal (Part 2 of 2)
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Saturday, March 23rd – 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Tulips are one of the first heralds of Spring! Join us and paint this first sign of spring on wineglasses: a way to make both your art and flowers practical.
A professional artist will walk you through the entire painting process. Beginners are most definitely welcome! Bring a friend (or two) and enjoy an afternoon of creativity and fun, or meet some new friends at Hollabaugh's!
Cost: $25 which includes all painting supplies needed to complete two wineglasses, along with some light refreshments from Hollabaugh's bakery!


text:
WS-SecureConversation is a Web Services specification, created by IBM and others, that works in conjunction with WS-Security, WS-Trust and WS-Policy to allow the creation and sharing of security contexts.  Extending the use cases of WS-Security, the purpose of WS-SecureConversation is to establish security contexts for multiple SOAP message exchanges, reducing the overhead of key establishment.

Features
 Establish a new security context in following modes:
 Security context token created by a security token service (WS-Trust STS)
 Security context token created by one of the communicating parties and propagated with a message
 Security context token created through negotiation/exchanges
 Renew security context
 Amend Security context (add claims)
 Cancel security context
 Derive key: parties may use different keys per side and function (sign/encrypt), and change keys frequently to prevent cryptographic attacks
 Maintain high secure context

WS-SecureConversation is meant to provide an extensible framework and a flexible syntax, with which one could implement various security mechanisms. It does not by itself guarantee  security, but the implementor has to ensure that the result is not vulnerable to any attack.

Pros/Cons
Following a pattern similar to TLS, WS-SecureConversation establishes a kind of session key. The processing overhead for key establishment is reduced significantly when compared to WS-Security in the case of frequent message exchanges.
However, a new layer is put on top of WS-Security, that implies other WS-* protocols like WS-Addressing and WS-Trust. So the importance of performance has to be compared to the added complexity and dependencies.
See the performance section in WS-Security.

External links
 WS-SecureConversation 1.4 Specification

Associated specifications
The following specifications are associated with WS-SecureConversation:
 WS-Addressing
 WS-Policy
 WS-Security
 WS-Trust

See also
 Family of WS-* specifications

References

Security

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia