Shortly after Ottawa joined the US in the campaign of not sending officials to the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made another provocation by urging Western countries to create a united front against China to “prevent the Asian state from using commercial interests to play them against each other.”
Although many believed the release of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou had “pulled out a thorn” between China and Canada, Trudeau’s latest remarks suggested that bilateral relations are still stuck in a dilemma, observers pointed out. They said that Trudeau’s government still fears it could be targeted by Beijing and it is trying to gain Washington’s support.
Trudeau’s remarks exposed his sense of crisis for fear of being abandoned by Washington, they noted.
Trudeau said in an interview with Global News aired on Saturday that China has been “playing” Western countries against one another as they compete for access to economic opportunities in the country.
“We’ve been competing and China has been, from time to time, very cleverly playing us off each other in an open market, competitive way,” he said.
Just a few days ago, Trudeau made a similar point in an interview with Canada’s CTV News, saying that it would be key that the like-minded countries and regions get united to confront the challenges posed by China in the future.
“Trudeau’s accusations against China are totally untenable. China has done nothing to break up the Western alliance. The key problem is that the US, as the ‘big brother’ of the West, often betrays its faith and even sticks a knife in its allies back,” Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Trudeau made such naive call just because he knew the Western allies and partners have their own considerations and cannot be united.
Florian Lupe, a German expert on China, told the Global Times that the remarks of the Canadian prime minister show the frustration of some countries, which always look to the West to jointly confront China after they have a dispute with Beijing, namely the so-called “unified China policy.”
But each country’s relations with China are different and each has its own interests, Lupe said, adding that the Chinese market is so huge and growing so fast that confronting China is not always an option.
Lü said that Canada has always felt a sense of crisis after it provoked China and sparked public anger over Meng’s case. Trudeau’s appeal for the so-called “united front” aims to urge the US not to abandon Ottawa but the fact is that the US will not hesitate to act for its own interests, said Lü, citing incidents such as the US and Australia “stabbed” France in the back after Canberra turned to Washington for nuclear-powered submarines.
Another incident in early 2021 also exposed the selfishness of the US, Lü said. Media reported that on his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order revoking the permit for Keystone XL pipeline which was meant to carry some 830,000 barrels of heavy crude oil each day from fields in Alberta, Canada, to the US state of Nebraska. Trudeau complained, but to no avail, Lü noted.
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on December 15, 2021. Photo: VCG
