Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu (叢培武) on Tuesday pushed back at growing calls in the West to disengage from China, saying this would risk unraveling globalization.
Cong, speaking at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, also pitched closer cooperation with Canada — ostensibly an olive branch after two years of frayed diplomatic relations over tit-for-tat arrests of a Huawei executive and two Canadian nationals, or an attempt to hammer a wedge in a US-led alliance taking on Beijing.
“We are worried that because some people here in Western countries are preaching the idea of decoupling” with China, Cong said.
“This is dangerous, because for us, we believe this is the age of globalization, and for us, we will continue to open up for the outside,” he said.
China, now the world’s second-largest economy, and the West has grown increasingly at odds with it over a wide array of issues, from trade and intellectual property to Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong and the Uighurs in Xinjiang.
Canada in particular has drummed up support from allies to pressure China into releasing its two citizens, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that the two were “arbitrarily detained” and tried on “trumped-up” espionage charges.
Cong said that “decoupling” from China would lead to lost business opportunities and disrupt global supply chains.
“We should be united in fighting against this kind of protectionism, and also for free trade, and I think that’s another area where China and Canada share at least similar language, so let’s hope that we can [act] together in this regard,” he said.
Cong specifically proposed greater Sino-Canadian cooperation at global forums such as the G20 and on agreed-upon international issues such as climate change.
“I think China and Canada can do a lot of things together. We have a lot of common interests,” he said.
Pressed about Kovrig and Spavor, who were tried in secret last month, Cong dismissed reports that they had been mistreated in Chinese jails, saying: “There’s been nothing like that.”
He renewed calls for Canada to release Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟), saying that Canada must “right this wrong.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese