Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyB
Really, why are you insisting that visa restrictions must be the way to go, as if punishing the average Chinese student or business person and the Canadian schools and businesses that work with them is the only way the country can respond?
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TBH Canada doesn't have many options in it's arsenal of retaliatory actions they can take. We can't intimidate them. Can't attack them or push them around. We are greatly outnumbered in population so an attempted PR campaign wouldn't work. Truthfully our hands are tied unless it's a coordinated world-wide effort to suppress the CCP. But Canada has in the past issued visa restrictions to many authoritarian regimes who have played roles in human rights abuse. It's one of the few tactics we do have.
I should also point out that visa restrictions doesn't mean a ban on Chinese travelers as a whole. You might be mistaken in thinking I'm advocate for a full Chinese traveler ban to Canada but that is not what I mean. The term restricted could for example mean student visas are issued for only higher top tier students. Business/work visas issued for only certain companies. Approving maybe only 75% of tourist visa applications. Restrictions like these already exist for many countries and it allows the highly skilled and intelligent individuals we want to come here, while still showing that Canada stands for it's values and won't be an open country to those kind of regimes.
I also think that this kind of action is probably already being considered if things escalate between our nations. It will be likely be instituted at some in the future if the CCP continues to act aggressively towards us. Canada has done it in the past so it might be only a matter of time.