Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyB
The US and Australia are happily going headlong into labeling China an enemy.
|
Thing is, China *is* the enemy of Canada. Their leadership wants to exploit Canada's markets,steal Canadian technology, and muzzle Canadian media.
Has normalizing relations led to Chinese government reform, as was the theory behind opening up trade and diplomatic relations since the shunning of China began shifting towards that normalization in the 1970s? No, instead we now rely on that system's continued functioning to supply myriad goods cheaply. We have (unsurprisingly) chosen money over principle through the magic of pretending we could have both.
However, the Chinese are also dependent on the West to buy those goods, and the time to use that power is now, before their internal markets mature enough to lessen that dependence to a point where they can survive censure and disengagement. Symbolic gestures like tightening visa restrictions are a start - especially if those gestures carry consequences to us, as it signals Canada is serious enough about our displeasure to be willing to suffer a bit to convey it.
PS: We also shouldn't be resigned to China trying to recover national pride with its bellicose military posturing and aggressive diplomacy. Invoking the wrongs and humiliation of bygone colonialism to justify a yearning for prestige and power is laughable when performed by a regime that is colonizing Tibet and Xinjiang in the present day. They certainly learned one lesson well from the colonizers: make your hypocrisy brazen and back it with guns.