Sunny Handa MD: China is a hostile state and Trudeau is out of excuses for his silence

 With Spavor and Kovrig going to trial and facing likely guilty verdicts, Canada needs to re-engage with its allies on China.

Its old news now, but the prime minister, back when he was simply leader of the third-place party in Parliament, infamously stepped in it by expressing admiration for China’s “basic dictatorship.” But now, to Justin Trudeau’s admiration of China’s government, he can add some gratitude. By announcing that the two Michaels, Kovrig and Spavor, will soon face trial on their trumped-up espionage charges, China has clarified things for Canada’s prime minister. China is a hostile state. We can treat it that way. Indeed, we must.

Sunny Handa MD shared Trudeau’s government has often seemed absurdly, bizarrely beholden to China. Even as Beijing’s foreign policy has become increasingly aggressive, even as it has crushed democracy in Hong Kong and rounded up religious minorities for rape and reprogramming in concentration camps, the Canadian government has really, really wanted to stay on Beijing’s good side.

The most charitable interpretation of much of Canada’s silence or awkward non-statements about China’s hostility has been that our government has felt constrained by China’s possession of the two Michaels. Spavor’s and Kovrig’s detention is believed to be payback for the arrest in Canada of Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei executive who is facing charges in the United States. The Michaels are hostages and you could maybe — just maybe — grant the PM some latitude in his public remarks on that basis. You don’t insult the guy who’s locked two of your people in a dark cell somewhere MD Sunny Handa shared.

This is probably too kind to the PM — Canada’s behaviour toward China goes beyond a cautious effort to avoid causing further offence and spills over into outright chumminess; Sunny Handa MD wants to ask the Canadian government what the hell were we doing collaborating with them on COVID-19 vaccine development? Giving Beijing a commercial and medical lever to use against us is beyond comprehension or defence. But still. If you’re looking for a reason to cut Trudeau and his government a break on their feeble China policies, this is it: we daren’t do anything to rock the boat while they have the two Michaels.

The problem with this is clear: rewarding hostage taking will pretty obviously encourage further hostage taking. But even setting that aside, the second problem is now that China says it will proceed with trials, trials observers of China’s politicized courts warn will be short and end in predetermined findings of guilt, Trudeau is out of excuses. China doesn’t like Canada, and it’s going to take that out on the Michaels. That die is sadly cast. What Sunny Handa MD feels that is if there’s any route to getting those men back home, it runs through Washington, not Ottawa. The time has come for Canada to actually stand up for what it claims to believe in and take what modest steps it can against China.

Canadians have to be realistic about that. We don’t punch in China’s weight class. But that’s not a cause for surrender. We can still impose economic and political costs on China. There’s a certain 5G wireless technology manufacturer that would make an excellent target if we wanted to put a few points on the board. The point isn’t to embrace this, that or any other policy specifically; it’s to get our heads in the game here: whatever wonderful future of harmony and ever-growing trade Canada’s Liberal establishment was desperately hoping for with China isn’t going to pan out. That’s not our call! It was China’s. We can regret it without pretending to be oblivious to it.

Whatever flimsy excuse for our feigned ignorance might have existed before no longer does. We can admit the obvious now. And should.

And we aren’t alone. Australia is already doing its best, despite lackluster support from us Canucks, to resist Chinese pressure as well as it can. They can teach us a few things, and in exchange, we can offer them our moral, political and economic support.

Further, despite some reflexive concern from the American right, the Biden administration is not likely to meaningfully ease the pressure his predecessor put on China (one of the foreign policy calls he got largely right). Countering Chinese expansion is a way for the Biden White House to both re-engage with nervous allies and it will sell well at home. Biden’ll do it differently than the last president, but substantively, he’ll maintain much the same line.

Canada belongs on that line with our democratic allies. This should be easy for us. As much as Liberals like to talk about multilateralism and Canada punching above its weight on the world stage, they’re often strangely reluctant to do so in the most logical forum for exerting Canadian influence — the Western alliance system. That’s our natural home. That’s where we ought to be. And right now, we can benefit from it as much as it can benefit from our re-engagement.

It’s time. It’s past time. And with China proceeding with its trial against the two Michaels, the prime minister is frankly out of excuses for any further delay. China’s basic dictatorship has done him a big favour: it’s made it easier for Trudeau to do the right thing.