Rowdy groups waving the red flag of communist China and yelling obscenities has become a common sight whenever there are demonstrations in solidarity with the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, not only in Canada but also in Australia and New Zealand.
But it was taken up a notch when two people in full People’s Liberation Army honour guard uniforms holding a Chinese Communist Party flag goose-stepped in the face of pro-Hong Kong demonstrators in Auckland on Nov. 2. New Zealand’s Stuff publication later revealed the two were Chinese international high school students, and said the police couldn’t immediately confirm if there are laws around non-military members wearing military uniforms in public.
In October 2018, a similar incident occurred in Kamloops, B.C., when members of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) at Thompson Rivers University held a flag-raising ceremony while wearing military-style Chinese uniforms.
Active on most major university campuses in western countries, CSSAs often publicly declare that they are funded or supported by the local Chinese consulate and are known to hold pro-Beijing events. In September, the CSSA at McMaster University was banned by the student union due to its intervention in a human rights event on campus related to the Uyghur minority group in China.
In another such case to extol the People’s Liberation Army in Canada, a Chinese military veterans’ group organized a choir performance glorifying the Chinese communist revolution and military in the Toronto area in October.
Events in Canada to support Beijing’s line on various issues are increasingly making the news. But what came as a big surprise was Ottawa’s decision to send Canadian soldiers to take part in China’s military games at a time when Canadian citizens remain behind bars in China, and only a few months after two Chinese fighter jets buzzed the Canadian navy fleet in international waters in the East China Sea.
David Kilgour, a former secretary of state for Asia Pacific, says it should have been obvious that taking part in such an event was inappropriate.
“Of course [Beijing] is going to use it for propaganda purposes. Somebody at Global Affairs or National Defence should have stopped the proposed participation beforehand,” he said.
Kilgour says it’s normal to make welcoming remarks to representatives of most countries, but not today’s China.
‘Number One Issue’
Former Canadian ambassador to China David Mulroney says there’s a need for an in-depth examination of what China’s rise in the world means for Canada.Mulroney is hardly alone in urging more reflection on China’s place in the world and the implications for Canada.
“China is the number one issue that Canada faces, because China is very aggressively trying to change the world order,” Brian Lee Crowley, managing director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said in a past interview.
Crowley said dealing with China should be Ottawa’s top priority, as it’s not just an issue of international politics, given that China aggressively tries to influence domestic issues in Canada by attempting to control the Chinese diaspora and change Canada’s policies on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights, and free trade.
“Canadians have not yet understood how deeply China is trying to affect Canada,” he said.