Honourable senators, I’m speaking to a motion that I believe is critically important in relation to the challenges we are facing in our relationship with the People’s Republic of China. Senators may recall that I moved a similar motion in the last Parliament that sat languishing until it eventually died with prorogation. The situation has certainly become much more dire since then on many fronts, which is why I believe the passage of this motion is critical.

First, we need to accept and acknowledge that it is increasingly evident that the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party pose a threat to Canada’s national interests, its values and even to Canadians of Chinese origin within Canada.

I think senators are increasingly aware of the actions that China has taken which undermine global security. I need only refer to some of the recent military pressures initiated by the Chinese regime.

First, there are the sweeping territorial claims that China has made in the South China Sea, claims which ignore the ruling of the Hague tribunal in 2016 and which are accompanied by a campaign of island-building and corresponding militarization of those same islands.

Second, there is a simultaneous campaign of exerting continuous military pressure in the East China Sea to support sovereignty claims over Japanese-held islands in those waters.

This past summer, it was reported that the Chinese military incursions into the Senkaku Islands were occurring on a continuous basis. Japan, you will all recall, is a nation that has renounced war in its own constitution but is now being compelled to devote unprecedented attention to the modernization of its military capabilities.

Third, we have renewed Chinese military pressure against India, pressure which has led to direct clashes between Chinese and Indian troops along the two countries’ disputed border.

Most ominously, there is the unprecedented military pressure being directed against Taiwan. Just last month, Taiwan’s defence minister reported that its air force had been forced to scramble its fighter jets 2,972 times against Chinese military incursions during 2020. The scope of that activity is, to say the least, alarming. So, too, are the recent statements by Chinese President Xi Jinping that the Chinese military must prepare itself for war.

These developments in and of themselves represent a significant threat to global stability and hence to Canadian interest in the Pacific. However, at the same time, we are confronted with the spectre of covert activities domestically. In 2019, the nonpartisan National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians found:

The People’s Republic of China utilizes its growing economic wealth to mobilize interference operations: “with deep coffers and the help of western enablers, the Chinese Communist Party uses money, rather than the Communist ideology, as a powerful source of influence, creating parasitic relationships of long-term dependence.”

We have evidence of pressure being exercised against Canadians who are potentially vulnerable to tactics by the regime. Chinese-Canadian actress Anastasia Lin has talked about her experience related to the Chinese’s use of influence networks abroad. I quote:

Beijing backs numerous front organizations and civil-society groups in Western societies, including Chinese student and professional associations. These groups act as extensions of the state and party apparatus. They are mobilized to influence the outcome of local elections and influence government policy in the West.

Madam Lin faced immediate personal consequences for her statements. Her mother informed her that Chinese national security agents had questioned the family business in China. I quote:

My mom told me that her colleague was visited by Chinese Secret police, and they asked about me, in recent years.

By now, senators are familiar with the human rights abuses being carried out by the Chinese state in Hong Kong against the minority Uighur population and against other dissenters. However, the extension of such activities to communities within our country should not and cannot be tolerated. We should have no doubt that these activities by the Chinese state are global in scope.

Earlier this year, I drew the attention of the Senate to a 2018 workshop that was hosted by CSIS and drew on the analysis of international experts on Chinese policy objectives and its strategic intentions.

An extensive report incorporated some of the following conclusions. The Chinese regime is driving a multidimensional strategy to lift China to global dominance. The strategy integrates diplomacy, asymmetrical economic agreements, technological innovation and escalating military expenditures. Trading partners are finding that China uses its commercial status and influence networks to advance regime goals. Whether a Chinese company is a state-owned enterprise or a private one, it will have increasingly explicit ties to the Chinese Communist Party. China will use its commercial position to gain access to businesses, technologies and infrastructure that can be exploited for intelligence objectives or to potentially compromise a partner’s security. The use of increasingly aggressive diplomacy, and the development of influence networks, is being witnessed worldwide. Chinese diplomats have threatened retribution to chastise foreign governments that resist Chinese state objectives or initiatives.

In both Denmark and Germany, Chinese ambassadors have warned “consequences” should either country ban Huawei from their 5G network. Such statements are designed to deter democratic governments, and in some cases they do deter those governments. The argument could be made that ours is one of those governments, colleagues.

Last year, shortly after his arrival to Canada, China’s ambassador threatened this very chamber because of our motion calling on the government to impose Magnitsky sanctions against Chinese officials. A few weeks ago, that same ambassador threatened the safety of 300,000 Canadians living in Hong Kong. Now in the last week, he has done it again, telling the media that Canadians have been disrespectful to China’s Communist Party and should be careful when talking about the People’s Republic. Is that any way for any ambassador to behave, colleagues? Why is he still here representing China in our country?

I can tell you that coercion has not worked in Australia. They didn’t stand for it. Australia was the first country to ban Huawei from developing its 5G network. Australia has also been increasingly willing to tackle Chinese intelligence and political activities within its borders. Colleagues, I can tell you that Australia’s trade exchange with China is far greater and they have far more at stake than we do, yet they’ve stood up for principle.

Predictably, China has retaliated. No doubt Australian journalists in China are facing expulsion and investigation. As Senator Frum who has worked as a journalist in China can tell you, that’s the least a journalist can expect when they’re reporting things the Chinese don’t want to hear.

Earlier this month, seven different categories of Australian commodities were banned from China, similar to the tactics they used against Canada. “Quality issues” have suddenly been discovered by Chinese officials with Australian barley, beef, coal, cotton, lobster, timber and their wine. Australian wine is pretty good if you ask me. Australian products have been subjected to anti-subsidy and anti-dumping measures or deliveries have been delayed.

It is clear that the Chinese regime does not respond well to criticism when its activities are called out, and they certainly don’t do business the way we do. However, we must not be deterred by this thuggish behaviour. Instead, I believe we must emulate Australia and develop a firm and well-thought-out approach to respond to the challenges we face. We need to begin those efforts by taking a firm stand in relation to Chinese state involvement in Canada’s 5G network, colleagues.

As I have noted before in this chamber, 5G is the next generation of mobile broadband. It will be integrated in every new and existing industry in our country. In light of CSIS’s assessment of Chinese state objectives, it is vital that the government finally take a position on the integration of Huawei in our 5G network.

Australia took its decision on this matter more than two years ago. There’s simply no justification for the government’s continued dithering on this matter when so much is at stake. I believe it is also vital that the government table a robust plan, just as Australia has done, to combat China’s growing foreign operations right here in Canada and its increasing intimidation of Canadians and Chinese Canadians living in our great country.

Other countries are taking the international and domestic activities of the Chinese state very seriously. They’re taking it seriously because the implications are sweeping and far-reaching. The Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has argued that the period we are now in represents the most dangerous time since the 1930s.

What alarms me is that our own government has been incredibly unwilling to respond to the reality of what we are facing. They don’t deny it, but they do nothing about it. Prior to the 2015 election, the Prime Minister referred to China as the country he admired most. He admired it, he said, because of its “basic dictatorship,” that’s a quote, and its resulting ability to “turn . . . on a dime.”

The naïveté of those words, colleagues, is stunning. While in some of his more recent statements he has at least started to acknowledge that the Chinese state may not be what he thought it was. We are still confronted with ministers in his government, though, unwilling to respond forcefully to Chinese state provocation. Some ministers are actually even dependent on Chinese mortgages.

Most recently, our Minister of Foreign Affairs refused to use the word “genocide” in relation to what China is doing to its own Uighur population. Colleagues, it is abhorrent that we don’t recognize it and call it what it is, despite the fact that the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights found that it’s exactly what’s taking place there: genocide. We can’t keep burying our heads in the sand.

Some of the statements ministers have made in relation to the admission of political dissidents from Hong Kong are equally vague. Recently the Minister of Immigration refused to confirm whether Hong Kong citizens who may have been convicted of offences, such as unlawful assembly and freedom of speech, would be admitted to Canada.

Even here, in this chamber, we have senators who have wanted to give China a pass, choosing instead to blame others and encouraging Canadians and our government to go along and get along. Senator Woo, for example, will be taking part in a webinar coming up on Tuesday entitled “Towards a Rethinking of Canada-China Relations.” On the surface, it seems like Senator Woo and I actually agree with each other insofar as there needs to be a rethink about our relationship with China, but I think we differ on what that rethink looks like. Take, for example, Senator Woo when he says:

In recent years, Canada-China relations have been unduly shaped by US-China strategic competition, resulting in Ottawa having conflicts with Beijing that have more to do with great power rivalry than with our national interest.

What exactly does that mean, colleagues? There’s no evidence that the downturn in our relationship with China has been unduly shaped by U.S.-China strategic competition. That downturn has occurred because of the simple nature of Chinese policy, which is imperialistic, coercive and in conflict with our interest and our basic values.

I challenge any colleague to question the lack of alignment between our values as a democracy and that of the Chinese regime. I can tell you that I’m deeply disturbed by what appears to be Senator Woo’s attempt to discount or downplay the actions of the Chinese regime, actions that include the arbitrary detention of two of our citizens for more than two years now and threatening the safety of others. And those citizens have still not gone before a court of law.

Furthermore, when it comes to what’s in our national interest, I’m looking forward to hearing from Senator Woo and what he thinks, because he needs to be clear. When it comes to our national interest and the United States, 75% of our trade is with the United States of America — one of the great democracies, by the way, on this earth. Our security and defence are directly dependent on the United States. Our cultures, way of thinking and our values are similar. We are long-standing allies who share democratic values based on freedom and the rule of law. I can tell you, neither in the United States nor in Canada do we put journalists in jail because they don’t agree with the government or because they criticize. Canadian and American societies are interconnected on nearly every level. In short, our two countries understand each other at a deep level. The idea that there is some option to balance between the United States and China is completely ludicrous.

I fear that what Senator Woo and, no doubt, others don’t want to accept is that regardless of what happens in the Meng case, there is no going back to the way things were. We are just at the beginning of a turning point where the reckoning is going to come for totalitarian regimes like China.

The reality is the PRC policy is moving in a strongly imperialist and aggressive direction. The sooner we come to terms with that, the sooner we face the reality of what the Chinese regime is, the sooner we can get on with formulating a more realistic approach that defends our interests and those of our democratic allies.

History shows that a vacillating, wishy-washy approach will not deter totalitarianism. We’ve already tried the appeasement —

I would like to have five more minutes, but I see even in the Senate democracy had its limits.