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Written by: Daniel Xie

On November 24, 2020, the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, along with the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, the Canadian Peace Congress, and World Beyond War, hosted a Zoom Panel calling for the freedom of imprisoned Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in anticipation of the second anniversary of her arrest by the Canadian government, acting on behalf of extradition orders from the US. Canada-China relations have deteriorated markedly since that arrest, which have seen the arrests of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig by the Chinese government, and also weakened Canada’s economy, causing hardship for many Canadians. These events have unfolded over increasing Sinophobia within Canadian society, stoked by anti-Chinese voices even within Parliament.

The speakers included:

Paul Manly, who serves as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nanaimo—Ladysmith. A member of the Green Party of Canada and the party’s foreign critic.
John Philpot, a Canadian criminal defence attorney and expert in international criminal law. He has 35 years' of experience as a lawyer, activist, and speaker in the international peace movement around the world.
Atif Kubursi, Professor Emeritus of Economics at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. He has previously served as Acting Executive Secretary and Under-Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
Cathy Walker, the former National Health and Safety Director of the CAW (Canadian Auto Workers Union).
KJ Noh, a veteran journalist, political analyst, educator, and peace activist specializing in the geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific..

Niki Ashton, the NDP MP for Churchill–Keewatinook Aski and the sponsor for the “Free Meng Wanzhou” parliamentary petition, e-2857, was slated to speak at the event, but could not make it. A transcript of her planned speech was shared with event attendees. In that transcript, Ashton states that she is concerned about the rise of Trump-style Sinophobia and a new cold war with China.

Ashton states that Canadians must do something to combat the rise of the global far right, particularly given the rampant redbaiting and Sinophobic attacks being deployed by Conservatives. Her transcript finishes with her stating that Canada should work for a positive peace of social and economic justice based on a multilateral world order. She further states that the need to foster peace and diplomacy in the post-COVID world must transcend whatever political differences we have with China.

This panel has faced a barrage of accusations from anti-Chinese voices in the government and media. The Conservative critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship, Raquel Dancho, attacked Ashton and Manly in Parliament for “amplifying Chinese Communist propaganda”. National Post journalist John Ivison accused all the panelists of being useful idiots for the Chinese government:

Panel Agrees: Canada can no longer follow US dictates

Moving on to the panel itself, the panelists called out the United States government for violating international law in order to corral the Canadian government into accepting their dictates, and the Canadian government as complicit in these efforts. John Philpot notes that the US’ use of political agreements, sanctions and extradition laws, which have been used in this case to get China to comply with American sanctions on Iran, are weapons used to cow the countries in it’s sphere of alliance to stop any diplomatic dealings with other countries under threat of sanctions. To Philpot, sanctions and the interpretation of the rule of law by the US are weapons used to force other nations into accepting American dictates.

Meng’s arrest as violating international law in the service of US dictates was also something focused on by KJ Noh when it came his turn to speak. Noh notes that Canada has sought to bend international law backwards to satisfy the dictates of the US by enforcing and interpreting American law and American extradition orders against Meng Wanzhou. According to Noh, Canada is not beholden to the sanctions Trump has imposed on Iran, and actually freely trades with Iran. Yet Justice Heather Holmes, in ruling against Meng Wanzhou, essentially interpreted the case in the context that the US wanted (namely that for this context, sanctions are applicable to Iran). This effectively violates Canadian sovereignty and makes Canada fully subservient to US dictates.

Noh also focused on the hypocrisy of Canada’s pretenses in upholding the rule of law in the Meng Wanzhou’s case, yet has previously overridden the rule of law themselves in kidnapping people against their will. He notes that the Canadian government has detained and tortured Mahar Ahar under the pretext of terrorism, overseen the deaths by freezing of indigenous peoples kidnapped and brutalized by the police in Saskatchewan, and abducted indigenous children for residential schools in the past. He also notes that no one in Canada consented to this new cold war with China, that there was no debate. Rather it was imposed on the Canadian populace. He ends his initial speech by calling for the Canadian government to break free from the dictates of the US and to repair ties with China before the consequences become catastrophic.

The costs of the deterioration of Canada-China diplomatic ties on Canadian workers was also a topic explored during this event, and it was the topic explored by Cathy Young. Cathy Young notes that for years Canadian and Chinese workers have had fruitful exchanges with each other in building bridges between Canadian and Chinese labour organizations. The arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Young notes, has not only severed ties between Canadian and Chinese labour organizations, but has also negatively affected trade and jobs thus weakening the strength of the Canadian economy. She notes that Huawei employs 1300 people in Canada, and these jobs could potentially be lost if Huawei is kicked out of Canada. Even worse, there has been an increase of racism in Canada against Chinese people, inflamed by the pandemic.

Walker, like Philpot and Noh, calls on Canada to have an independent foreign policy once again, to engage in a prisoner exchange, this will not only restore friendly relations, but also restore economic stability for our workers and reduce racism against the Chinese. In addition, Walker notes that one of the spouses of one of the Michaels is also advocating for Meng to be freed as a means to secure the freedom of the two Michaels.

Also discussed at this event was Canadian-Chinese relations in an increasingly multipolar world, and how Canada should embrace the economic opportunities offered by a multipolar world order exemplified by the rise of China. According to Atif Kubursi, the rise of China is connected to an increasingly multipolar world as nations seek various options to develop their economies and political systems. Kubursi notes that it’s folly to impose one unilateral system on the world, and Canada should not rely solely on ties with the US as China’s economy continues to grow. This is because since 2013, China has been the largest trading country in the world with the largest imports and exports, and a lucrative domestic market. China also sends it’s population to learn in Canada and invests in Canada. This trade could be very beneficial to both countries and many in Canada are dependent on products and tools from China.

Just recently, Kurbursi notes, China signed an economic partnership with various countries such as Australia and New Zealand to form a trading bloc⁠—the largest in the world⁠—and strengthen its influence on the world stage. Despite the economic opportunities opened by the newly created Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Canada has chosen, Atif notes, to march in lockstep with the US in isolating China from world affairs through measures such as the targeting of Huawei. The measures taken against Huawei, Atif claimed, were done to prevent China from gaining a technological edge over US technology.

Paul Manly and the Green Left’s Unfortunate Anti-China Blindspot

While the call for an independent foreign policy, rather than a foreign policy subservient to the US, is agreed upon by every speaker, one of the speakers strongly disagreed with the others regarding the need to deal with China diplomatically, favoring instead a more aggressive foreign policy directed against the Chinese government. That speaker was Green MP Paul Manly. While Manly agreed that Trump has egregiously violated international law in pushing for the extradition of Meng Wanzhou, Manly also claimed that despite any aspirations we may have in freeing Meng, Canada was shoehorned into a corner by the Trump administration, and that their hands are legally tied in fighting for Meng Wanzhou’s freedom.

This effectively means, to Manly, that Canada can’t do anythingto free Meng Wanzhou as long as the charges laid by the US remain on the table. He expresses hope that Biden willbe more amenable to the idea of freeing Meng Wanzhou. While agreeing with the calls for an independent foreign policy, Manly believes that it should include a tough line on China over it’s supposed “human rights violations”, and that China is equally culpable in this crisis for their arrest of the two Michaels, both of whom Manly was primarily advocating for in this panel.

The fact that many of these supposed human rights violations were either overblown, taken out of context to the reasoning they occurred in, or laser focused on by the US to stir up Sinophobia does not cross Manly’s mind. Nor does the fact cross Manly’s mind that China is perfectly willing to let the two Michaels walk free in exchange for Meng Wanzhou’s freedom, or that Biden’s own confrontational position towards the rising power of China, would present its own difficulties in pressuring the US to drop charges against Meng Wanzhou.

The other speakers thankfully, did not share Manly’s adherence to hawkish discourse, nor his naivety about Biden. Noh called out Paul Manly for not only spreading Sinophobic propaganda targeting China, but spreading misinformation regarding how Canada’s hands are legally tied, when Canada could free Meng Wanzhou on its own through Section 23 of the Extradition Act, which could be used to terminate the case by the Canadian government.

With regards to not sharing Manly’s naivete on Biden, Kubursi notes that Biden will very likely only differ from Trump in style but not substance, and this might be dangerous in the long run with regards to US hawkishiness against China. Cathy Walker expressed skepticism that we need to wait for Biden to give the signal before freeing Meng, stating that we should act independently of American dictates regardless of who is in the white house.

More Reading

This was not the first time that the progressive and left-leaning elements of the Green Party demonstrated an unfortunate blind spot regarding diplomacy with China. During the September 10 Green Party Leadership debate, Left leaning Green Candidates such as Amita Kuttner and Meryam Haddad both called for the sanctioning of China for its human rights abuses. Dimitri Lascaris was the only candidate to dissent from the anti-China chorus to some degree, having a foreign policy platform expressing greater openness towards working with China in an increasingly multipolar world, and stating during the debate that Canada has no moral authority to criticize China due to its own human rights violations, combined with support for various autocrats and it’s involvement in NATO.

The existence of Sinophobia on the Green left, as previously noted in the Canada Files’ coverage of the September 10 debate, may have been tied to xenophobic sentiments within their primarily British Columbian base. In British Columbia persisting Sinophobia manifests itself often with regards to the housing crisis in British Columbia, with Chinese immigrants being blamed for high housing costs.

In response to this Sinophobia, Progressive parties and organizations in BC such as the Greens have often failed to stand up for the Chinese-Canadian community in BC despite rhetorical statements otherwise, or run Chinese-Canadian candidates that could better represent their communities. In potentially submitting to social reactionary lines of thinking that any base the Greens would need to draw on would be knee deep in anti-China discourse and subsequently putting the grievances of Chinese-Canadians on the backburner in order to placate said base, the Greens enable further Sinophobia at home and a hawkish, confrontational policy with China abroad.

For an Independent, Diplomacy-oriented Foreign Policy

Ultimately, the Free Meng Wanzhou panel, in exposing the violations of international law by the US to enforce it’s sanctions on Iran, as well as Canada’s complicity in twisting international law to suit the US extradition orders, highlights the need for an independent and diplomacy-oriented foreign policy more than ever. The Canadian government has bent international lawin order to adhere to American dictates regarding China, and some elements of the Canadian government are marching in lockstep in sabre-rattling to increase tensions with China; a policy approach unfortunately shared by progressive politicians such as Paul Manly.

It falls to Canadians aware of their government to challenge anti-China and Sinophobic voices in the media, push for the freedom of Meng Wanzhou, the immediate resumption of Canada-China ties, and an independent foreign policy oriented on multilateralism and diplomacy, rather than sabre-rattling.

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