For all of the confusion about where the Ottawa-Washington meltdown will lead, one thing seems certain. The big winners of this diplomatic collapse will be China and other repressive dictatorships eager to become our new “strategic” partners and further undermine the world’s stabilizing democracy bloc.
Opinion piece by Charles Burton, former diplomat at Canada’s embassy in Beijing, senior fellow at Sinopsis.cz, a China-focused think tank based in Prague, Czech Republic. He is and author of 'The Beaver and the Dragon: How China Out-Manoeuvred Canada’s Diplomacy, Security and Sovereignty'.
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Beijing in particular wants to inherit Canada’s economic dependence. Establishing such a broader North American beachhead will only further President Xi Jinping’s resolute goal of displacing the U.S. as a global hegemon, and cementing a China-dominated world order whose very foundation is the rejection of democratic freedoms and human rights.
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If Canada ever reaches a point where attacks on our economy put families’ livelihoods at stake, then standing firm on our moral principles will give way to tolerating – or at least ignoring – human rights abuses in exchange for restoring Canadian prosperity through trade and investment with the likes of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China. As someone who has been sanctioned by both Beijing and Moscow for standing up for Canadian democratic and civil values in global affairs, this prospect is deeply troubling.
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When Mr. Xi makes a landmark trip to North America next month, it is expected he will add a Canadian stop, the first time in 16 years a Chinese head of state has visited this country. And this at a time when there have been calls for Ottawa to scrap restrictions on importing Chinese-made EVs, to locate Chinese auto factories here, and to even encourage Canadians to buy “Great Wall wine” instead of Californian.
In contrast to the belligerent threats that Canadians have been conditioned to expect from Washington, the Chinese President will project dignity and a tone of respect and goodwill toward Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Canadian business associates, who will be offering a warm welcome to the Chinese delegation.
But like Howitt’s “Spider and the Fly,” in which a cunning spider uses seduction and manipulation to lure a fly into its web, Canada should be wary of those who wield flattery and charm to disguise other intentions. Rushing to embrace China’s expansionist and calculating totalitarian regime will never work out well for Canada’s overall interest.
In the current hostile landscape, Canada could find itself deeply regretting coming out of an American frying pan into a Chinese fire.
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Canada must seek closer ties with like-minded democracies (what it does already). The 'Chinese path' is - at best - a short-term convenience, but in the long run a lost game for Canadians and the free world in general. Beijing and other dictatorial regimes aren't reliable partners, no matter what happens in the U.S.
Please don't believe everything you've learned from main stream media.
I'm surprised the results aren't 120%.
Guess who conducted the study?
A marketing firm, looks like.
You couldn't even bother to google it?
Harvard University.
I actually did Google it. It was a study done by alliance for democracy, a think tank started by some old NATO commander, working with latana, a marketing firm.
Harvard had nothing to do with this.
Shit, I got it mixed up with this long term Harvard study, which confirms the vast majority of Chinese citizens are satisfied with their government, my bad.
I think it's worth clarifying that this comes alongside countries with a weak 4th estate. One of the notable connections between countries that are more critical of their own democracy, is actually having a stronger independent 4th estate to keep that democracy accountable.
That is, it makes sense Russian people would also have very high approval of their government and believe it's democratic, which by Pravda (best source we have) they do. I don't think this reflects reality, rather it reflects a powerful state apparatus that pushes for social harmony over information freedom. It's easy to be less critical when your only news source can't mention Tiananmen Square for example.
Ya know, it's corporate employee survey season right about now. Fun fact: we actually exclude the survey results from my Chinese coworkers, because they always put down 100%, 5/5, everything is perfect, and that skews the survey results.
Otherwise, I generally would agree that life in china for the average person who keeps their head down (outside of working hours) is probably better than for the average US citizen. It's just that I'd believe the survey results if they were closer to 60%.
That sounds very racist, lmao.
You're right, we shouldn't believe them, you know better.
How is that racist? Are you like a malfunctioning AI or something?
And yes. 90+% support in a country is bad data. That doesn't pass the smell test even a little bit. I've lived in countries with official approval ratings greater than 90%, I do in fact know better.
You don't understand why excluding your chinese coworkers opinions from a survey is racist? You stupid, bro?
Right, it's bad data, they couldn't possibly just be happy with the results of their government, 👍.
Huh, turns out basic statistical concepts are racist. Lol. No, when every single Chinese worker replies 100% satisfaction on every survey, that data is useless. There is no point collecting that data.
Donald Trump officially claims that 95% of Americans support him. Maybe your chart isn't true, because it doesn't show 95% support.
Soviet union also had some pretty high approval ratings, I recall. I wonder how that's going?
.. Yeah when you disregard a certain populations data because you don't like what it does to the data, that is definitely racism, lmao. Thank you for clarifying that you are indeed, stupid.
Do you think a statement by a Deranged pedophile war criminal is the same as a comprehensive multi year study?
Thanks for clarifying again, I suppose.
Why don't you look up what happened to quality of life or happiness after Russia switched to capitalism and get back to me, lmao.
Do you know what a P test is? Go look that up.
Do you know what trap questions are? Go look those up too.
Your comprehensive multi year survey is at least believable, because the only claims it makes it an increase in happiness about the government. It does not claim 90+% support like your bullshit chart above.
What relevant does quality of life have to people lying on surveys?
Keep thinking about it, I'm sure you'll figure it out.
I guess you ran out of dumbass accusations, then. I'm surprised you didn't work in sexist somehow.
Were they all women, too?
I dunno, but if you're gonna accuse me of random isms, feels like you could throw a bunch more on the list
👍
"My country is democratic"
Remind me, when was the last time the ruling party lost an election in China?
Is a two party system any better where both side shame others from not voting to their favourite political cult? Aren't those who people advocating for a one party system?
Doesn't matter. I'm talking about China. The US having a shitty democracy does not do anything to legitimize China's lack of democracy.
How do elections work in China?
An oligarchy system is not a democracy no such a thing as shitty democracy and I don't think saying that legitimate chia lack of democracy
Assuming that the oligarchy system you are referring to is the US, I don't care. I don't live in the US, I didn't mention the US, and whatever the US does has no bearing on whether or not China can accurately be considered democratic.
Same thing is European counties to a lesser degree.
How many time are you going to pretend that I defend China? I am saying Chinese system is bad and the west system too
"The west" is far more than the US, and I have no clue why you keep bringing it up in the first place.
Lobbies are strong is the rest of the world. If you serve any lobby you are not a democracy because democracy is serving the general population
They lifted 800 million people out of poverty in 40 years. 90% of Chinese adults own their home.
Why would they lose an election?
This is the same cheap propaganda that is so widespread here. China is a dictatorship where people can't openly say their opinion about democracy nor anything else, at least not if the opinion differs from the Communist Party's narrative. And Beijing's human rights violations have been evident for decades.
Edit:
I remembered a study I read some time ago and could now find it. It's from 2024, and it essentially says that when Chinese citizens are surveyed anonymously, support for party and government plummets:
This is just one among many studies that show that 'perception' of democracy isn't that simple to illustrate just by something like a diagram as propagandists make it seem. It should be clear that directly asking citizens who live under a dictatorial regime what they think about their government will provide no useful answers in my opinion.
Cheap propaganda produced by Harvard University? Try harder, lol.
Edit: Got this graph mixed up with a Harvard study that also shows satisfaction with China's gov't.
Like it would be the first time Harvard was involved in shitty propaganda?
What's their motive for making China look good?
Thousand Talents money? Hypothetically, I'm not making a serious accusation. AFAIK "Harvard" isn't a monolithic entity, it's a bunch of independent researchers all doing their things, ostensibly guided not by the institutional convictions of Harvard but by truth... and sometimes money.
I'm just poking at your appeal to authority, basically.
I get it, I'm just saying they have more reasons to make China look shitty.
Which democracy?