Bloggers note : With Transcript.....
VIDEO ..
s the prime minister is finishing up
his meetings at the asean summit and is getting ready for the G20 questions keep arising about Canada's relations with China and earlier in the day he along with Canada's foreign affairs minister Melanie Jolie were asked what worries them most about China and president Xi Jinping here is part of Minister Jolie's one thing that was highlighted is how is trying to influence International Norms in its favor which really departs from our own interests and values and so that's my main concern as foreign minister because it creates more instability in the world and it's a threat to peace and Security in general now these comments Come Just As Canada has been hinting at a tougher stand against China so for more on this we're joined once again by Charles Burton he's a senior fellow at the McDonald Laureate Institute and a former Canadian Diplomat to China joining us from Ottawa Mr Burton always good to see you thank you thank you for having me on let's begin with what we just heard from Minister Jolie about this concern about China's increasing influence that it's bad in terms of democratic values but it's just generally bad for security in the region as well what did you make of well I think the government is gradually coming round to the idea that we cannot continue to make compromises to China on non-economic areas so that we can achieve more access to the Chinese market and create Canadian Prosperity through trade and investment and I mean it's more than than they're saying so far I mean after all the House of Commons came up with a unanimous resolution that China is engaged in genocide there have been very dangerous military activities in the Taiwan Street um you know I just China's interference in our election these Revelations have come out which could have affected the actual result of the election and um any number of areas economic coercion hostage diplomacy of covert and saver which suggests that it's more than as the minister put it increasingly disruptive China is an actively destructive force attempting to to destroy the international rules-based order and establish itself as a global hegemen whether they can succeed in that venture or not you know remains to be seen but it's clear that the United States and our other allies want Canada to step up much more in terms of recognizing what's going on and contributing to the measures to try and bring China better into compliance with the accepted Norms of diplomacy and trade and hopefully stop the genocide well on the issue of potential interference in our elections so this was reporting that I saw initially with global news saying that there seemed to be credible evidence from multiple sources that China was trying to interfere and push the election results or at least certain candidates one way or the other now the Prime Minister was asked about that today and he said that they had put together a committee to make sure there was no interference or that the outcomes of the election were not affected by this alleged interference but he did say we have to be on guard about this so how big of a threat is this that and how exactly would China be trying to interfere with well I think at the time of the election there was a concerted campaign of disinformation against a certain um candidates particularly candidates of ethnic Chinese origin in our democracy who were urging that that we have um a foreign interference transparency scheme act in other words an act that would require that people in the policy process people of influence in our China policy process who are recipients of benefit from a foreign power in other words from China should have to declare that publicly uh you know certainly this leaked thesis report that Sam Cooper of global news came up with suggests that China was actively involved in 11 campaigns illegally providing funds and that China not only has placed people into the um into the Electoral campaign offices but that China has placed people in the offices of members of parliament well obviously you know what we'd like to see would be who those 11 candidates were if they illegally received money knowingly from a foreign source that they should be made accountable in law and if cesus has identified people Insider democratic system who are not working for for Canada but are working for a foreign power that that should be attended to as well so you know what we want is more than just rhetoric and words but we'd like to see action and you know some arrests made if in fact illegal activity has occurred as appears that is troubling and on that front you know we've heard from the Prime Minister on this issue today we've heard at least a couple of times this week from Minister Melanie Jolie but we've also heard from the leader of the conservative party Pierre pauliev who was talking about this issue earlier in the week and said quote that Trudeau has failed to protect our democracy in respect to Chinese interference is that just playing politics sir or what do you make of those comments and criticisms well we know that Mr Trudeau received the thesis report 10 months ago so why has there been no action since I guess that is a valid political partisan concern but this matter will be becoming before the House of Commons procedure and house Affairs committee and the full investigation will be made by that committee and will get our um you know we'll try and get to the bottom of it and find out exactly what's going on and what we can do to prevent this happening in the next election if there's no accountability for those who have actively influenced our electoral process then presumably they will try to do it even more next time and so you know we really need to put some resources into this and there has to be some political will to make those who have made serious errors in terms of of collaboration with a foreign power accountable for this and and ensure that in future people who might want to take Chinese money to further their electoral prospects will think twice about it before I let you go Mr Burton the last time you and I spoke the issue of for lack of a better word Chinese police stations that were operating here in Canada you you and I discussed that you addressed that there were three of them subsequently we've learned that the RCMP is investigating this but it's been very difficult to get clear information about what exactly is going on and who is being targeted by these police officers what exactly are they here to do and I wonder if again I could ask you to put a finer point on this what is our federal government doing about these alleged but we have no evidence that the government has done anything presumably cesus has informed the authorities of what's going on uh these stations exist in many other countries and other nations have been much more proactive in closing them down and bringing those accountable for them what I'd like to see would be anybody who is working as an agent for a foreign regime involved in harassing and menacing people here in Canada should be brought up before the law and the Chinese diplomats in the embassy and consulates throughout Canada who are responsible for this kind of thuggish activity should be declared persona non grata and sent back to to Beijing you know we just we just can no longer tolerate this kind of behavior by the Chinese regime thinking if we if we just turn a blind eye to it that China will not retaliate against us economically on other matters you know it's it's about a lot more than the Canadian bottom line and trade with China we really have to put much more emphasis on projecting our democracy sovereignty and security and I'm hoping that that's the direction the government is now moving okay we'll wait and see Charles Burton thank you so much fo
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