John Chuckman
COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
"China warns Canada not to be 'naive' in thinking allies can help fix issues"
"I am confident that the Americans brought up the issue and President Trump brought up the issue of the detained Canadians in China." - Justin Trudeau
What naivete in those words. but more than naivete, there is a quality of dependency that I find quite saddening and unpleasant from a national leader.
When I say that, I'm also taking into account that Trudeau appealed to the very man who is almost certainly the most disliked person in China, and one utterly without any influence.
Just imagine, even in Canada, Trump is not widely liked, and I believe commands no great respect for the many unpleasant things he has said and the way he has said them.
How much more so must be the case in China?
And no one should have to point that out to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister of a country. If they were in command of the positions they hold, they would know it instinctively.
Why do they not? I won't venture to say, but while we have had many examples from our government of simply not being up to the job, this one for me is the ultimate.
Note further, that only within days, Trudeau and Freeland had a Canadian warship steaming through the Taiwan Strait. Surely everyone on the planet understands how China feels about that kind of activity. It is a rather strong public insult. Why?
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Response to a comment about Trudeau and Freeland being out of their league in world affairs:
Way out their league, indeed.
They resemble a couple of school kids doing a day of "Let's pretend we're the government.”
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Response to a comment about Canada having been obligated by treaty to respond to America’s extradition request for China’s Meng:
That's inaccurate, though a widely held and promoted view.
There is always a matter of discretion and judgment with extraditions. Always.
Our brain trust has failed to use it.
Again, absent a number of other things that could be done, Meng could have been quietly warned not to land.
Problem solved, actually, never created.
Trudeau and Freeland are simply inadequate and embarrassing.
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Response to a comment saying Canada should respond to China with trade restrictions:
Increasing the trade wars Trump has started is simply terrible advice.
Trump has proved such a master diplomat, hasn't he?
If he keeps in the direction he's going, there can be no question but he's going to pitch us into a vast global recession.
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Response to a comment saying, “It's ironic that China is fighting with Hong Kong to put in an extradition law, but wants Canada to ignore theirs”:
Oh please, it is tiresome.
Extradition treaties are not diktats. Not automatic pilots.
They are always open to judgment and discretion and interpretation in individual cases.
