Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[YZT580]

Australia seems to understand China and its actions


Canada's feckless government needs to show some spine on China
When dealing with an international bully, restraint is rarely effective. Neither is handwringing, or keeping your head in the sand


In a recent letter to the prime minister I joined several other Canadians to suggest that the government propose to swap Meng for the two Michaels. That suggestion prompted moral outrage from the prime minister and others who claimed that it would violate the rule of law. None of the critics offered a practical alternative and yet all of them know that hostage swaps and other unusual means have been used countless times by many countries, including Canada, to resolve seemingly intractable international problems.

He starts by saying Canada should develop some spine and then he totally contradicts himself by saying we should do a prisoner swap and send her home which is where this thing all started in the first place.  Canada is in the same position as the US was in 1940 when it was sending iron, coal, and scrap steel to Japan where they were converting it into war materials: the elite were reaping the profits from marketing the very products that would shortly be killing their sons.  Our folks in Ottawa don't see any problem with trading with China.  They are addicted to saving a few pennies at the expense of their future and their freedom.  For 20 years or more we have been listening to the lie that China will become more westernised through contact: we just have to be patient.  The news says otherwise.  As the song says: Got along without you, before I met you gonna get along without you now.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Pretty tough stuff from our foreign minister:

50th anniversary of Canada-China diplomatic relations

From: Global Affairs Canada
Statement

October 13, 2020 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:

“Today, Canada and China mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

“In 1970, the Government of Canada took an international leadership position by extending a hand to establish diplomatic relations with China, despite our different systems of government.

“The reason was simple, and the rationale widely shared: the community of nations could not sustainably isolate one-fifth of humanity from its international institutions. Dialogue, as challenging as it was, had to prevail over ignorance and fear. 

“We continue to believe in the importance of our relationship. At the same time, this anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the foundation of our bilateral relations and the path ahead. Indeed, 50 years on, Canada takes a sober view in examining our relationship, considering the importance of mutual respect and reciprocity, adherence to rules and principles, including human rights, and achieving results that are in Canadian interests. It is unacceptable that any citizen be arbitrarily detained. Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor must be brought home. This is something for which all Canadians stand united. The use of coercive diplomacy causes Canada to re-examine its approach, with a focus on multilateral cooperation.

“As a Pacific nation, Canada recognizes that its future is tied to peace, stability and prosperity in the region. As we build a new framework for relations with China, Canada will work with partners to hold the Chinese government accountable to its international obligations. The common future of Canada and China depends on the rule of law, respect for rights and freedoms and for people in all their diversity. At the same time, we will continue to seek dialogue and cooperation where it makes sense to do so.

“The bedrock of our relations—in the beginning and as it is now—remains the people of Canada and China. Together, we share long-standing connections that took root well before the establishment of diplomatic relations. These connections and the extraordinary contributions of Canadians of Chinese origin to Canada will outlive political cycles and continue to bring diversity and depth to our relationship for decades to come.”
https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2020/10/50th-anniversary-of-canada-china-diplomatic-relations.html#shr-pg0

Mark
Ottawa

 

[a_majoor]

Strategy page on the evolution of the PLA:

https://strategypage.com/htmw/htworld/articles/20201012.aspx

Forces: The Chinese Aspirational Army

On paper the Chinese army looks pretty impressive, with 78 combat brigades and nearly as many specialized brigades. Over the last decade the Chinese army has been converting its divisions to brigades, many of them independent brigades like the American Brigade combat teams. That conversion is still underway, although by now nearly all the regiments that formerly comprised the major subunits of divisions have been converted to brigades.

The task of turning all those new brigades into well-equipped and trained ones is still underway. There are three types of combat brigades. The most potent is the heavy brigade, each with about a hundred tanks and dozens of tracked IFVs (infantry fighting vehicles) plus detachments of engineers and other specialists. The problem with these heavy brigades is that not all of them have the latest tanks. China has not built enough of its most modern tank to replace all the older models. As more of the latest tank enter service heavy brigades receive them and have to go through months of training to learn how to get the most out of them.

Then there are the medium brigades that are mainly infantry in wheeled IFVs. These are similar to American Stryker brigades but China only has a few of those so far, so most still older IFVs rather than the latest “Stryker class” wheeled IFVs. The heavy and medium brigades often have up to 5,000 troops, including all the smaller specialist detachments that make these brigades the equivalent of a small division.

Finally, there are dozens of light infantry brigades. Many of these are simply infantry who are transported by truck but the light brigades include some mountain brigades and several air assault (via helicopter) brigades. The Chinese Air force has seven airborne infantry brigades (4,000 troops each and the navy has three marine brigades (6,000 troops each).

snip

While China wants an army that can perform as well as Western forces, they won’t get it until they convert to an all-volunteer force and upgrade initial combat training to Western standards. China is switching to Western training methods but is not yet willing to spend what it takes to pay all the troops what they are worth. Currently the two-year conscripts are paid are paid $30-40 a month. The lowest ranking NCO makes more than twice that and the top NCOs (Sergeant Major) makes ten times what a conscript makes. For an all-volunteer force pay for everyone would have to go up to maintain differences between rank. That would begin at the very bottom, where new recruits would make two or three times what they get now. Living conditions (housing and food) have been improving rapidly during the last decade but career troops need to make enough to support a family.

 

[CBH99]

Those numbers are on a scale most western countries, minus the US, could even fathom.

And if you think the USMC was tired of being "America's 2nd Army..." -- PLAAF seems to have about as many infantry units as most Western countries.


I guess the good thing is that we'll never have to face off against China in an all-out ground war.  Geography forbids it.  India & Russia, maybe not so likely...


Like us, their geography dictates that they be an expeditionary force for the most part.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Pretty tough stuff from our foreign minister:

Mark
Ottawa

And from PM Trudeau:

Trudeau vows to stand up to China’s coercive diplomacy

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada intends to work with allies to challenge China’s “coercive diplomacy,” and warned that its use of arbitrary arrests, repression in Hong Kong and detention camps for Muslim minorities is “not a particularly productive path[emphasis added, see end of post].”

In marking the 50th anniversary of relations between Canada and the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Trudeau spoke more strongly than ever before about Beijing’s increasingly repressive and aggressive actions at home and abroad.

“It has put a significant strain on China-Canada relations,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters when asked on Tuesday how relations had changed since his father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, opened diplomatic relations with Communist China in 1970.

The Prime Minster, who has been hesitant to publicly criticize China, called attention to the arrests of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the crackdown on civil rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong, as well as the treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang province, where more than one million are being held in so-called education camps.

“We will remain absolutely committed to working with our allies to ensure that China’s approach of coercive diplomacy, its arbitrary detention of two Canadian citizens alongside other citizens of other countries around the world is not viewed as a successful tactic by them,” he said...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada intends to work with allies to challenge China’s “coercive diplomacy,” and warned that its use of arbitrary arrests, repression in Hong Kong and detention camps for Muslim minorities is “not a particularly productive path.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-trudeau-vows-to-stand-up-to-chinas-coercive-diplomacy/

As for "productive" our woke-ish Liberals still don't seem able to comprehend the mindsets of very hard men. Stalin and his CPSU saw the gulags (http://gulaghistory.org/nps/onlineexhibit/stalin/) as in fact quite "productive" for the USSR from their point of view; no doubt Xi's CCP sees the camps for Uyghurs as equally productive for the PRC.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CBH99]

And from PM Trudeau:

As for "productive" our woke-ish Liberals still don't seem able to comprehend the mindsets of very hard men. Stalin and his CPSU saw the gulags (http://gulaghistory.org/nps/onlineexhibit/stalin/) as in fact quite "productive" for the USSR from their point of view; no doubt Xi's CCP sees the camps for Uyghurs as equally productive for the PRC.

Mark
Ottawa

If the rest of the world looks elsewhere for trading relationships, and builds up other countries to be the 'cheap crap manufacturer for Earth' - vastly deteriorating the world's trade with China - I have a feeling the CCP will find a way to replace Xi with someone more progressive.

Call me hopeful, or silly - probably both - but I doubt Xi will still be head of the CCP 3 years from now.  :2c:

 

[MarkOttawa]

If the rest of the world looks elsewhere for trading relationships, and builds up other countries to be the 'cheap crap manufacturer for Earth' - vastly deteriorating the world's trade with China - I have a feeling the CCP will find a way to replace Xi with someone more progressive.

Call me hopeful, or silly - probably both - but I doubt Xi will still be head of the CCP 3 years from now.  :2c:

Meanwhile Xi doing his best to Mao-ize his hold on power:

Xi Jinping to tighten grip on power with new rules for top policymaking bodies

  *Draft gives details of Xi’s scope as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party and how the top organs should operate
    *Observer says it’s part of a long-term project to make regulations on almost every issue, with personal power ‘always embedded’

China’s ruling Communist Party is expected to pass a binding regulation on how its policymaking bodies operate at a plenum later this month, a move that will further strengthen President Xi Jinping’s grip on power.

More than 300 Central Committee members will discuss and approve the regulation at the party’s annual political meeting to be held in Beijing in the last week of October. The committee is in charge of party affairs and passes major party decisions when it meets at least once a year.

A draft of the regulation published by state media on Monday [Oct. 12] gives more details of the scope Xi has as general secretary of the party than previous documents. It also covers how the party’s top decision-making bodies operate – the 25-member Politburo and the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee.

Deng Yuwen, a former deputy editor of Study Times, a newspaper affiliated with the party’s top academy, said the regulation gives Xi more control.

“This regulation has more details of how the Central Committee should work than the Communist Party’s constitution,” Deng said. “It further elevates the status [of Xi] above other Politburo Standing Committee members as the general secretary is more like a convenor under the constitution.”

...the general secretary has exclusive power to set the meeting agendas of the Politburo and its Standing Committee. Under the constitution, the general secretary only has the power to convene Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee meetings...
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3105380/chinese-president-xi-jinping-set-tighten-grip-power-new-rules

Mark
Ottawa

 

[a_majoor]

Those numbers are on a scale most western countries, minus the US, could even fathom.

And if you think the USMC was tired of being "America's 2nd Army..." -- PLAAF seems to have about as many infantry units as most Western countries.

I guess the good thing is that we'll never have to face off against China in an all-out ground war.  Geography forbids it.  India & Russia, maybe not so likely...

Like us, their geography dictates that they be an expeditionary force for the most part.

Perhaps luckily for us, China is a "Continental" power, so a great deal of its military force needs to secure the borders against bordering nations, and a lot of Chinese military and paramilitary power is devoted to internal security (i.e. deployed against its own population). Geographically, there are very few land routes the Chinese can use to deploy the PLA (crossing vast deserts, the Himalayan mountains or the frozen Siberian tundra would be a huge challenge for anyone), while free access to the Pacific and Indian oceans is constrained by the First and Second Island chains and the Straight of Malacca - China will have huge difficulties in force projection or being an "expeditionary force" against determined opposition.

The bigger threat to us is Chinese "Unrestricted Warfare" doctrine, using economics, cyber, propaganda campaigns, establishing nodes of influence in our Universities, business and among politicians, lawfare and other unconventional tools well below the threshold of military response to confuse and weaken us - death by a thousand paper cuts rather than an epic battle in the Western Pacific Ocean.

We have our own tools like tariffs and "decoupling", and certainly need to step up our own diplomatic, information and economic game alongside ensuring our military forces are capable of meeting potential threats from the PLAN and PLAAF (and possibly actions by PLA SoF units) to really meet the threat. While not the same as the Soviet Union, I suspect the CCP and its organs and structures are also brittle and can be made to fail, much like the USSR collapsed. But it will be a long and sustained process, and I don't think enough people are even aware of what is going on, even at the highest levels, to effectively marshal our resources in the West.

 

[CBH99]

Perhaps luckily for us, China is a "Continental" power, so a great deal of its military force needs to secure the borders against bordering nations, and a lot of Chinese military and paramilitary power is devoted to internal security (i.e. deployed against its own population). Geographically, there are very few land routes the Chinese can use to deploy the PLA (crossing vast deserts, the Himalayan mountains or the frozen Siberian tundra would be a huge challenge for anyone), while free access to the Pacific and Indian oceans is constrained by the First and Second Island chains and the Straight of Malacca - China will have huge difficulties in force projection or being an "expeditionary force" against determined opposition.

The bigger threat to us is Chinese "Unrestricted Warfare" doctrine, using economics, cyber, propaganda campaigns, establishing nodes of influence in our Universities, business and among politicians, lawfare and other unconventional tools well below the threshold of military response to confuse and weaken us - death by a thousand paper cuts rather than an epic battle in the Western Pacific Ocean.

We have our own tools like tariffs and "decoupling", and certainly need to step up our own diplomatic, information and economic game alongside ensuring our military forces are capable of meeting potential threats from the PLAN and PLAAF (and possibly actions by PLA SoF units) to really meet the threat. While not the same as the Soviet Union, I suspect the CCP and its organs and structures are also brittle and can be made to fail, much like the USSR collapsed. But it will be a long and sustained process, and I don't think enough people are even aware of what is going on, even at the highest levels, to effectively marshal our resources in the West.

Couldn't agree with you more on every single thing you said 

 

[blacktriangle]

Perhaps luckily for us, China is a "Continental" power, so a great deal of its military force needs to secure the borders against bordering nations, and a lot of Chinese military and paramilitary power is devoted to internal security (i.e. deployed against its own population). Geographically, there are very few land routes the Chinese can use to deploy the PLA (crossing vast deserts, the Himalayan mountains or the frozen Siberian tundra would be a huge challenge for anyone), while free access to the Pacific and Indian oceans is constrained by the First and Second Island chains and the Straight of Malacca - China will have huge difficulties in force projection or being an "expeditionary force" against determined opposition.

The bigger threat to us is Chinese "Unrestricted Warfare" doctrine, using economics, cyber, propaganda campaigns, establishing nodes of influence in our Universities, business and among politicians, lawfare and other unconventional tools well below the threshold of military response to confuse and weaken us - death by a thousand paper cuts rather than an epic battle in the Western Pacific Ocean.

We have our own tools like tariffs and "decoupling", and certainly need to step up our own diplomatic, information and economic game alongside ensuring our military forces are capable of meeting potential threats from the PLAN and PLAAF (and possibly actions by PLA SoF units) to really meet the threat. While not the same as the Soviet Union, I suspect the CCP and its organs and structures are also brittle and can be made to fail, much like the USSR collapsed. But it will be a long and sustained process, and I don't think enough people are even aware of what is going on, even at the highest levels, to effectively marshal our resources in the West.

Well said.

 

[Weinie]

Perhaps luckily for us, China is a "Continental" power, so a great deal of its military force needs to secure the borders against bordering nations, and a lot of Chinese military and paramilitary power is devoted to internal security (i.e. deployed against its own population). Geographically, there are very few land routes the Chinese can use to deploy the PLA (crossing vast deserts, the Himalayan mountains or the frozen Siberian tundra would be a huge challenge for anyone), while free access to the Pacific and Indian oceans is constrained by the First and Second Island chains and the Straight of Malacca - China will have huge difficulties in force projection or being an "expeditionary force" against determined opposition.

The bigger threat to us is Chinese "Unrestricted Warfare" doctrine, using economics, cyber, propaganda campaigns, establishing nodes of influence in our Universities, business and among politicians, lawfare and other unconventional tools well below the threshold of military response to confuse and weaken us - death by a thousand paper cuts rather than an epic battle in the Western Pacific Ocean.

We have our own tools like tariffs and "decoupling", and certainly need to step up our own diplomatic, information and economic game alongside ensuring our military forces are capable of meeting potential threats from the PLAN and PLAAF (and possibly actions by PLA SoF units) to really meet the threat. While not the same as the Soviet Union, I suspect the CCP and its organs and structures are also brittle and can be made to fail, much like the USSR collapsed. But it will be a long and sustained process, and I don't think enough people are even aware of what is going on, even at the highest levels, to effectively marshal our resources in the West.

The key points in your argument, (and the key takeaways) are economic, first and foremost, and then diplomatic and informational. Should China's economic development falter, (and we hold the key to this), Xi would be ousted fairly quickly. The CCP relies upon and is sustained on a promise of accelerating social and economic development for China. Should this be derailed, more pragmatic factions within the party would quickly emerge and oust the extant oligarchy. This would have several knock on effects that would be beneficial.

 

[a_majoor]

The key points in your argument, (and the key takeaways) are economic, first and foremost, and then diplomatic and informational. Should China's economic development falter, (and we hold the key to this), Xi would be ousted fairly quickly. The CCP relies upon and is sustained on a promise of accelerating social and economic development for China. Should this be derailed, more pragmatic factions within the party would quickly emerge and oust the extant oligarchy. This would have several knock on effects that would be beneficial.

Absolutely. But the other side of the coin is we need to unfetter our own economic power, productivity and growth as well. Eliminating cancerous deficits and debts which burden entire generations to come, and looking carefully at the regulatory environment (I once read that the average small business owner in Ontario spends 30 hours each month doing paperwork and accounting for various levels of government - almost an entire working week is consumed in these tasks. If we are only working 3 weeks out of every month in productive labour, while our potential adversaries are devoting the entire month (or a much larger fraction), then we are already well behind the 8 ball without any adversarial effort at all....) are likely the two highest impact actions any Western government could take.

 

[CBH99]

Absolutely. But the other side of the coin is we need to unfetter our own economic power, productivity and growth as well. Eliminating cancerous deficits and debts which burden entire generations to come, and looking carefully at the regulatory environment (I once read that the average small business owner in Ontario spends 30 hours each month doing paperwork and accounting for various levels of government - almost an entire working week is consumed in these tasks. If we are only working 3 weeks out of every month in productive labour, while our potential adversaries are devoting the entire month (or a much larger fraction), then we are already well behind the 8 ball without any adversarial effort at all....) are likely the two highest impact actions any Western government could take.

I don't mean to derail this thread at all. 

Thucy just brought something up in his post, and I was actually JUST having this conversation with a work colleague a few hours ago - so I thought I'd share my b**sh*t crazy conspiracy theory here, just because it's related to the post above.



We talk a lot (in general, as a country) - as most other developed countries do - about our current national debt, borrowing, interest, and that we will never pay down our debt with the way things are being done now.  It's mentioned quite frequently by folks of all political and economic beliefs that we are passing our debt onto future generations, and the government will eventually no longer be able to afford the things it currently does as the debt will be unserviceable.

My absolutely ill-informed, nonsense filled, 'conspiracy theory' hunch on this is that... within 15 to 20 years, the entire world will have to seriously reform, and rethink, the way countries borrow & service national debt.  Aka - national debt will either be forgiven entirely, or drastically restructured.


No western or developed country can possibly hope to repay our national debt, even if our borrowing stopped right now.  At no point is any government going to post such record surpluses, year after year - while being able to afford everything it needs to - to be able to pay down any meaningful amount of their national debt.

Heck, the US is currently running a deficit of almost a TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. 


The conversation about national debt, and passing the debt onto future generations - that conversation I believe had more merit a few decades ago.  And maybe it still does.  I just don't see any way that any developed country would ever be able to pay back what they owe. 

And since it is not in the interest of ANY country on earth for another country to go bankrupt because of this situation, and most countries are in the same boat - I just have a feeling that a massive restructure of the system will take place before any country starts to seriously hammer away at their national debts.



Let me respectfully remind all of you - this is my completely uninformed opinion, and should be taken as such.      :Tin-Foil-Hat:

 

[blacktriangle]

Ok, I'll take the bait! Money will stop mattering once the masses have finished transferring what wealth and labour potential they hold up the food chain to the truly powerful, who will use it to consolidate their influence and control of valuable commodities as well as the high-skilled labour needed to sustain their lifestyles. In a generation or less, they won't need the average worker anymore, so this is probably one last push to squeeze Jane & Joe Public for what they can, before they are either offered just enough subsistence to discourage open revolt, or are thrown to the wolves completely. All the while ensuring people cut back on consumption in the meantime, gotta save the resources and environment for the people that really matter as well as their descendants, right?

Debt, climate change etc. Nah. Population will be the real struggle. And no one really wants to talk about that one. More people than ever before, and less need for them in society. I wonder what would be an easy way to control population that might present itself in the coming years? 

:Tin-Foil-Hat:

Happy?  ;D

 

[Brad Sallows]

>I wonder what would be an easy way to control population that might present itself in the coming years?

Prosperity.  Prosperous societies have lower birth rates.  Don't know exactly what all the mechanisms are - there are undoubtedly multiple factors in play - but I can easily suppose that most of them hinge on prosperity making all sorts of good things available - abundant inexpensive energy, technologically advanced medical care and pollution mitigation, reliable and easily available birth control, more leisure options, etc, etc.  Most people don't naturally want to have 12 kids and spend their lives scraping by; prosperity gives them options.

 

[shawn5o]

Seems like he's going all the way


President Xi Jinping tells China's troops to focus on 'preparing to go to war': reports
Xi's remarks come at a time when China's relationships around the world — including with Canada and the United States — are increasingly fraught

Tyler Dawson
National Post
Oct 14, 2020  •  Last Updated 2 hours ago  •  3 minute read

As tension between China and Taiwan intensifies, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his nation’s troops to begin preparing for war, according to a report in Xinhua, the state-run news agency.

“(You should) focus your minds and energy on preparing to go to war, and stay highly vigilant,” Xi is quoted as saying in a report in the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper.

Xi made the remarks during a visit to inspect the marine corps at a military base in the Guangdong province. The purpose of his visit to the region was to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

But his remarks come at a time when China’s relationships around the world — including with Canada and the United States — are increasingly fraught.

Link

 

[a_majoor]

I will reserve remarks about the deficit/debt for a different thread (either revived or a split from this one), as the implications are far greater than "just" current great power competition, even if it materially affects the issue.

On the other hand:

https://strategypage.com/on_point/2020101594758.aspx

On Point: Huawei and the CCP's War for Information Dominance
by Austin Bay
October 15, 2020

Long-term strategic struggles, like the U.S.-versus-China confrontation, do not submit to bombshell headlines and snapshot predictions. When very large and powerful political, economic and cultural organizations conflict, years judge the slow war process of achieving strategic gain or suffering damaging loss, not talking heads on 24/7 news outlets.

Some 30 years ago, the Chinese Communist Party and its intelligence agencies bet digital-information delivery dominance would be a decisive advantage in a long-term struggle for global dominance. I emphasize delivery, for dominating the material and physical (equipment and infrastructure) means for delivering digital information gives the dominator an edge in providing, denying or subverting content -- be it news, opinion or entertainment. Control the system, or be able to easily penetrate, manipulate or corrupt it, and you can secretly collect data on users, spy on users and, if you happen to be a CCP totalitarian, engage in intimate, personal blackmail in order to advance other political and economic schemes.

Denying the CCP global-information delivery dominance and its advantages is the strategic goal driving America's bid to ban equipment made by China's giant Huawei Technologies corporation, with its 5G communication systems a critical target.

Huawei also operates as an intelligence agency "cutout company," spying for the CCP. In August, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the company "an arm of the CCP's surveillance state." He also sketched the strategic struggle when he announced new economic and diplomatic measures to protect Americans' security and privacy "and the integrity of our 5G infrastructure from Beijing's malign influence."

The rest of the article is at the link, and it is interesting to see the details of how the CCP uses various forms of leverage to advance Huawei into nationa  systems and infrastructure.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Now this threatening “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy is unacceptable in the true sense of the word; PM Trudeau’s gov’t must make a substantively firm response. Like PNG the ambassador:

‘Chinese envoy warns Canada against granting asylum to Hong Kong protesters
Cong Peiwu dismisses ‘coercive’ diplomacy claim connected with imprisonment of Spavor, Kovrig in China

The Chinese ambassador to Canada warned the Trudeau government today not to grant asylum to Hong Kong residents fleeing a widely criticized national security law imposed by Beijing.

“We strongly urge the Canadian side not (to) grant so-called political asylum to those violent criminals in Hong Kong,” Ambassador Cong Peiwu said in a video press conference from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa.

He said that would amount to “interference in China’s domestic affairs, and certainly it will embolden those violent criminals.”

Hong Kong was supposed to operate under a “one country, two systems” deal after Britain handed its former colony over to Beijing in 1997 under an international agreement. But human rights and pro-democracy advocates say Beijing’s new national security law is undermining freedom in what is known as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

“So if the Canadian side really cares about the stability and the prosperity in Hong Kong, and really cares about the good health and safety of those 300,000 Canadian passport holders in Hong Kong, and the large number of Canadian companies operating in Hong Kong SAR, you should support those efforts to fight violent crimes,” Cong said.

Cong also flatly rejected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion that China is engaging in coercive diplomacy by imprisoning two Canadian men in retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese high-tech executive on an American extradition warrant. Meng Wanzhou is living under house arrest in Vancouver while her case wends through a British Columbia court…’
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/china-canada-ambassador-hong-kong-spavor-kovrig-meng-huawei-1.5763677

Mark
Ottawa

 

[dimsum]

Now this threatening “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy is unacceptable in the true sense of the word; PM Trudeau’s gov’t must make a substantively firm response. Like PNG the ambassador:

Mark
Ottawa

Wait, what did Papua New Guinea do?!  :rofl:

 

[FJAG]

China unveils its terrifying weaponised 'drone troop' that can be launched from the back of a truck and strikes ground targets 'precisely'
-A state-run firm recent tested a group of attacking unmanned aerial vehicles
-Dubbed the 'drone swarm', they can be deployed from a truck or a helicopter
-The flying weapons can change formation to attack the enemy on the ground
-The details were released by its developer with propaganda footage of a drill

China has flaunted its latest military drones: a team of small attacking aircraft that can work together in midair to pinpoint and destroy targets on the ground.

The troop, dubbed the 'drone swarm' by its developer, can be launched from the back of a truck or a helicopter and strikes the enemy precisely, a propaganda video shows.

This is the first time China has put into use a group of unmanned aerial vehicles that operate as a unit to complete military tasks, according to their state-controlled manufacturer.

...

See article here

:worms: