Canada can learn what Beijing plans next from watching Taiwan
Epoch Times
Date: October 30, 2019
By: Omid Ghoreishi
OTTAWA—The West can learn a lot from observing how China is attempting to undermine
Louis Huang of Vancouver Freedom and Democracy for China holds photos of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who are being detained by China, outside British Columbia Supreme Court, in Vancouver, on March 6, 2019, as Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou appears in court. – Meng Wanzhou, the Chinese telecom executive at the center of an escalating row between Ottawa and Beijing, was due in court in Canada to get a date for a hearing into a US extradition request. Meng’s arrest in Vancouver in December on a US warrant infuriated China, which arrested several Canadians days later in what was widely seen as retaliation. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo credit should read JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images)
“China is trying to push out its influence on Western countries,” Chen, now chair of the Taiwan-based think tank Prospect Foundation, said at a panel discussion in Ottawa on Oct. 28. Titled “Blunting China’s Sharp Power: How democracies can defend against Chinese influence operations,” the discussion was organized jointly by Chen’s organization and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI).
For Canada, the issue of China’s rise and the communist regime’s hostile acts against Western democracies is all the more in focus in recent months, as Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor remain behind bars in China after Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and China continues to block Canadian imports.
“The Chinese Communist Party has an ongoing campaign to embed agents of influence in Canadian business, politics, media, and in academia,” MLI managing director Brian Lee Crowley said in his talk. “Beijing aims to turn Canadian public policy to China’s advantage, to acquire useful technology and intellectual property, and to be able to monitor and intimidate Chinese Canadians and others.” [FULL STORY]
