The Conservative party’s outgoing leader, Andrew Scheer, said on Tuesday that the Trudeau government has been following a “policy of appeasement” regarding China.
For any observer not fully drinking the Trudeau Kool-Aid, it would be hard to argue with him.
Beyond Justin Trudeau’s refusal to call out China for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic, there are countless examples from his cabinet ministers.
Trudeau’s foreign minister recently had trouble saying the word “Taiwan” when asked if he would thank the democratic nation for their donation of medical gear to Canada.
Francois-Phillipe Champagne actually refused to let the word “Taiwan” cross his lips despite being asked several times. He’s also refused to upbraid China’s ambassador to Canada for denouncing the actions of a Commons committee looking into COVID-19.
There was a time that Trudeau’s health minister told a reporter he was pushing conspiracy theories by asking about reports focusing on when China became aware of the coronavirus. The question was based on articles from The Associated Press, citing Chinese government documents, that showed Beijing officials knew they were facing a pandemic on Jan. 14 but waited until Jan. 20 to tell the public.
“I would say that your question is feeding into the conspiracy theories that many people have been perpetuating on the internet,” Health Minister Patty Hajdu said when asked about the reliability of China’s data on COVID.
On Monday, as the World Health Organization held its big meeting in Geneva, International Cooperation Minister Karina Gould was defending the government’s position on CBC. The minister was asked if the WHO should have been more skeptical of China’s claims and data given their pattern of lying in the face of embarrassing situations — like SARS and now COVID.
“I’m not sure that that’s the place for the WHO, because the WHO is a product of its member states, and I think that each member state can push for openness and for transparency,” Gould said.
Yes, and Canada should have been pushing for openness and transparency all along.
Instead, we have kowtowed to the wishes of the leaders in Beijing. When Australia, whose biggest trading partner is China, demanded an independent review of the COVID-19 outbreak, Beijing got angry.
China’s leaders wanted the WHO to conduct it even though they have been shown to be part of the problem.
China wants the WHO in charge because the country has great sway over the organization despite China only giving $18.9 million US last year compared with $59.2 million US from the Americans. Canada gave $6.9 million US.
Australia was able to rope in support from the European Union — and eventually 62 other countries — to support a motion for an independent review. Canada joined at the last minute as allies of China, and eventually China itself, agreed.
We weren’t the ones taking a stand.
Which brings me back to Scheer’s comments about Trudeau looking to appease China.
“Don’t be fooled by Mr. Trudeau’s phony statements about China right now. We have been raising the alarm about this government’s failure to stand up for Canada and its policy of appeasement to the regime in the People’s Republic of China,” Scheer said.
The moves have not gone unnoticed by more traditional allies, some of whom are working together to remove global supply chains, especially for things like protective equipment from China.
That initiative, called the Economic Prosperity Network, includes Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, the United States and Vietnam but Canada was not invited.
Countries that we used to stand with have noticed that under Trudeau, the Canadian Liberal Government would prefer to stand with China.
A final word for those who think that is a good thing in any way.
Over the weekend, pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong were carried out of their legislative chamber so that Beijing friendly politicians could get down to the business of passing a law making it a crime to insult China’s national anthem.
This is the regime Canada increasingly wants to stand with and to partner with. Canada is anything but back
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments always welcome!