Juno News - November 20, 2020


Action is needed on the China file


Episode Stats

Length

3 minutes

Words per Minute

207.64221

Word Count

797

Sentence Count

21

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 I've been thinking for a while now that it is only a matter of time before the
00:00:08.960 Liberal government starts inching in the right direction on the China file.
00:00:12.600 I mean we can only be insulted so much. China can only do so many things to
00:00:18.480 Canada and to our allies until eventually any government is gonna wake
00:00:22.640 up and go okay fine we admit we got a problem here. When I first started really
00:00:28.440 thinking that the Liberals were gonna pivot was when those poll numbers came
00:00:31.740 out. Only 17% of Canadians held a favorable view of China and that view had
00:00:36.500 been plummeting the past couple years because of everything that's been
00:00:39.180 happening with China and I thought surely the Liberals they're not gonna let
00:00:42.440 themselves be so offside on such a major issue where the rest of the nation is on
00:00:47.360 the other side of the coin the other side of the question and sure enough they
00:00:50.760 have started inching in the right direction although kind of in inconsistent
00:00:54.280 ways. So we heard from Francois-Philippe Champagne the foreign affairs minister a
00:00:58.260 number of weeks ago he made the comment that the China of 2020 is no longer the
00:01:02.560 China of 2016. I don't know why he said 2016 I feel like because that's around
00:01:07.920 about the time the Liberals got into office and maybe he's saying oh it's
00:01:11.400 okay that we had a different view then but now you know we're changing our view.
00:01:15.140 I mean really it's 2012 is the year that things should have become clear that China
00:01:19.960 is not actually trending to be more liberal and more democratic and more favorable
00:01:24.560 towards human rights and all of that as a lot of people predicted in the 1990s they said
00:01:28.780 oh it's just gonna get better with China. 2012 changed when Xi Jinping got into power
00:01:33.380 and he made it clear that's not how I roll that's not the direction we're headed in. So
00:01:38.200 a lot of China watchers say it became pretty clear soon after Xi got in giving speeches
00:01:43.380 and releasing all these different statements and so forth around about 2013 you should have
00:01:47.420 been pretty clear about where things were headed. But I digress Francois-Philippe Champagne
00:01:52.220 okay he said sort of kind of the right thing. Justin Trudeau as well seeing something interesting
00:01:57.520 on Thursday he was pressed on the Meng Wanzhou issue and how China still says you gotta let
00:02:02.000 her go and he said well no sorry we're a country that believes in the rule of law we're not gonna
00:02:06.520 let her go and by the way China's aggressive diplomacy it's not gonna work out well for them
00:02:11.480 they're gonna find it's gonna backfire for them and well we have to stand up to that.
00:02:15.500 I thought oh okay I would have used much stronger language than that but you know whatever I'll take
00:02:19.960 what I can get nice to hear Trudeau actually stepping in the right direction. But then it's
00:02:24.660 kind of funny because just the day before there was a motion in the House of Commons saying
00:02:28.000 the two easiest words that we should be able to string together ban Huawei. All the cool kids are
00:02:33.820 doing it all of our allies are doing it they're pressing us to do it it's kind of logical it's in
00:02:38.380 our interest the liberals just can't bring themselves to do it and most opposition MPs voted in favor of
00:02:43.460 that the liberals would not they voted against that motion. I mean I don't know why they're still
00:02:48.460 sitting on this file it's really obvious I would be able to make the decision so easily you have a
00:02:53.080 press conference you know you hold up the Huawei deal you tear it up on the live television say there
00:02:58.840 you go we've just banned Huawei. So Justin Schro and other cabinet ministers they're starting to say
00:03:05.120 interesting things pivoting on the China file fine but they've got to start acting as well it's not
00:03:11.440 just about saying the things get off the pot on the Huawei file and just ban them. Lots of concerns about
00:03:17.040 TMAC resources that is that underperforming gold mine up in Nunavut in the Arctic Circle the Chinese
00:03:23.120 government state-owned enterprise they're trying to buy it. Why are they buying something like that
00:03:27.740 there's much bigger fish to fry they could go after bigger gold mine operations well I think it's
00:03:32.620 kind of obvious. Arctic Circle they've got an airstrip they got a seaport there it's a strategic
00:03:37.380 interest we gotta say no to that plain obvious. So happy to hear Justin Trudeau saying things about
00:03:43.660 standing up to China correct language indeed want to see the actions though want to see the right decisions.