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The Niagara Independent, June 18, 2021 \u2014<\/em> It is increasingly evident that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s Communist China gambit has Canadians paying dearly for his naivety.<\/p>\n In 2013, the soon-to-be Canadian PM said: \u201cThere\u2019s a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say, \u2018We need to go green\u2026we need to start investing in solar.\u2019\u201d It is an oft-repeated reflection because Trudeau\u2019s admiration for the communist state has guided Canadian foreign policy with this government. Over the past six years, PM Trudeau\u2019s departure from Canada\u2019s established relationship with China has proven on many accounts to have been a costly gambit.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s review recent revelations concerning the countries\u2019 relationship.<\/p>\n There is much intrigue in Ottawa these days concerning the whereabouts of two Canadian scientists, Dr. Keding\u00a0Cheng and Dr. Xiangguo\u00a0Qiu, who worked in the country\u2019s highest-security infectious-disease laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We have learned that these scientists were collaborating with Chinese military researchers, conducting experiments on deadly pathogens. (Scientists from this lab have co-authored six studies on infectious diseases with the Chinese.) There are multiple questions surrounding research that was conducted in 2019 and the viruses that might have been shared with the Chinese Wuhan Laboratory. This Canada-China research will come under greater scrutiny because U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation on the possibility of a leak from the Wuhan lab.<\/p>\n The core question about the joint Canada-China research is whether it was a collaboration or a case of Chinese espionage relating to biosecurity and biodefence. However, the Trudeau government has stonewalled the special parliamentary committee looking into the issue. Health Minister Patty Hajdu contends that the research has \u201cnational security implications\u201d and is \u201ctoo sensitive\u201d to share with MPs. When Manitoba Conservative MP Candice Bergen raised the question of the nature of the countries\u2019 collaboration in the House of Commons, PM Trudeau accused her and Conservatives of racism.<\/p>\n National security concerns relating to China have been at the core of several recent reports to parliament. For example, the CSIS 2020 Public Report<\/em> cited China as one of the countries of concern: \u201c\u2026foreign states continued to covertly gather political, economic, and military information in Canada through targeted threat activities in support of their own state development goals\u2026Foreign governments also continue to use their state resources and their relationships with private entities to conduct clandestine, deceptive, or threatening foreign interference activities in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, a parliamentary committee heard from Alliance Canada Hong Kong, which warned Canadians about the widespread influence operations by Communist China. The ACHK cited Canadian universities and research institutions as especially vulnerable to foreign influence and the underhanded methods of China to obtain intellectual property. The Chinese Communist Party spends roughly $10 billion per year on so-called \u201csoft power\u201d tactics, in which it seeks to sway public opinion through academic and research and development.<\/p>\n China is \u201cexporting their authoritarianism overseas\u201d, looking to exert control over foreign politicians, academics, media, and other institutions in an attempt to grow its geopolitical position. ACHK executive director Cherie Wong told MPs directly, \u201cDissidents are not safe \u2013 not at work, not in their homes, not in civil societies, and not in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n This concern is seemingly ignored, as the Trudeau government continues its working relationship with Communist China. Today, Canada is now the only member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance that has not banned use of equipment from Huawei Technologies Co. in its 5G networks. Astonishingly, in February, we learned a Canadian federal agency is partnering with Huawei Technologies to sponsor engineering research projects including chip-to-chip communications over heterogeneous fabrics, intelligence computing memory systems, brain-inspired photonic computing and privacy-preserver graphic analytics. Top universities from Oxford to MIT to Stanford have halted all research projects with Huawei, but in Canada we are announcing new ventures.<\/p>\n And recall there was also that multi-million dollar federal contract for security screening equipment at Canadian embassies around the world that was given to a state-owned Chinese company.<\/p>\n More significantly, Canadians still do not know (and may never know) the sordid details of the failed vaccine deal the Trudeau government agreed to mid-2020 \u2013 the Sino vaccine that the PM touted would meet all our country\u2019s needs. The collapse of this deal has had lasting results of inadequate and unreliable vaccine supply in Canada.<\/p>\n On another matter, the Canadian Forces hosted joint military winter training maneuvers with the Communist China forces at CFB Petawawa. As was later learned, the Chinese troops were preparing for extreme cold weather conflicts along the India border \u2013 and it is speculated they were also training for the Muslim Uyghurs concentration camps. (A Globe and Mail<\/em> investigation revealed that when Canadian military brass cancelled this training exercise in 2019 PM Trudeau was furious over possibly frustrating diplomatic relations with the communists.)<\/p>\n Justin Trudeau has been consistently quiet on Communist China\u2019s abuses: the forced labour and systemic genocide of the Muslim Uyghurs, the imprisonment of democracy advocates in Hong Kong, the diplomatic and economic tactics being employed against Taiwan, and the trade disputes waged against Canadian canola and red meats.<\/p>\n An interesting aside: Statistics Canada reported that China was one of five markets where Canadian exports increased<\/em> in 2020. Canadian exports to China rose to $25.2 billion \u2013 up 7.5% from 2019. Canadian exports of farm, fish and food products spiked 38 per cent. One key reason is our exporters filled the void of Australian traded goods, which have been heavily sanctioned by Communist China for Australia\u2019s public criticisms of the country.<\/p>\n No review of Canada-China relations would be complete without highlighting the atrocity of Communist China\u2019s detainment of the two Michaels. Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been arbitrarily imprisoned since December 2018 \u2013 over 900 days and counting \u2013 and the Trudeau government has proven hapless in resolving this unacceptable political impasse.<\/p>\n Trudeau\u2019s gambit \u2013 from failing the two Michaels, to a failed vaccine agreement, to hiding possible covert Canada-China research \u2013 has resulted in deserved scorn from numerous political pundits.\u00a0 Licia Corbella stated, \u201cTrudeau\u2019s shameful support of the Chinese regime threatens Canada.\u201d\u00a0 John Robson wrote of PM Trudeau\u2019s \u201cwillful blindness\u201d to the evils of Communist China: \u201cIf you asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau whether Xi was a communist, he wouldn\u2019t admit it.”\u00a0 While, Chris Selley of the National Post <\/em>observed: \u201cWhen it comes to China and \u2018genocide,\u2019 Trudeau is a panda in the headlights.\u201d<\/p>\n Financial Post<\/em> columnist Diane Francis was most pointed when she accused Justin Trudeau of ignoring the Chinese Government\u2019s designs for world dominance as the serious national security threat that it is. Francis stated that Trudeau \u201chas chosen the path of capitulation and collaboration\u201d with Beijing and, for Canadians, Trudeau\u2019s infatuation with Communist China \u201cposes an existential danger.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris George<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of\u00a0CG&A COMMUNICATIONS<\/a>. Contact:\u00a0ChrisG.George@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n