Your π¨π³/π¨π¦ Briefing Friday, October 14th, 2022
Notes from π¨π¦-π¨π³ Committee, π¨π¦ MPs in Taiwan, Joly in Japan, the 20th Party Congress & Hong Kong Immigration Soars
Welcome to Maple Kingdom, here are the top 5 stories we are tracking this week.
Summary of the Canada-China relations meeting, including a whoβs-who of participating members
Liberal MPβs Taiwan visit feels quiet, focused and deescalated
Joly in Japan and Korea focus government priorities on Pacific
Survey of the 20th Party Congress Report, and what it means for China
New immigration statistics on PRC citizens coming to Canada
The Special Committee on the CanadaβPeopleβs Republic of China Relationship kicks off
Last week was the first meeting of the 44th Parliament, where three branches of the Canadian Government discussed China with a selection of MPs from across Canada.
The session lasted 3 hours, and we listened through in order to highlight both the questions and intentions of the participants. Weβll talk through the members here:
Michael Chong
Hard-Charging. Chong is well known to readers of this Substack, as heβs been attempting to raise his profile on China over the last couple months. MC had a good amount of time on the mic and focused on three goals:
Tying the delays of the Indo-Pacific Strategy to National Defence. In a series of questions, he tried to show that Canada is less safe because of the delays that Global Affairs has imposed on strategic documents.
Nailing Global Affairs on the presence of Police Stations on Canadian Soil. He spent considerable time trying to get a response from the rather slippery Global Affairs folks, who were never going to comment on what is almost certainly an active RCMP investigation.
Nailing China on Coal Production Increases. MC is looking to ensure that both carbon offshoring and new Coal production in China is not just swept under the rug. His questions show the complexity of the climate debate is not lost on him.
Heather McPherson
Determined and Researched. Heather McPherson is a fierce advocate for Hong Kong, and showed up in force on this subject, asking pointed questions to the immigration team around how the backlogs in processing immigration VISAs are affecting Hong Kongers in Canada. She had a better understanding of the specific issues than the immigration team, and she dived into a specific issue for Hong Kong that was not properly understood via the immigration team; that there are many HKers who want to come to Canada but cannot do so because they have a criminal record that prevents Canada from giving them permanent residency.
Additionally, McPherson advocated for better border controls for goods made using forced labour, and had done her homework on the Uyghur situation and the total abdication on the side of Canadaβs border services.
Overall, she fought for the recognition of issues in immigration and trade, the two key issues in the China relationship.
Raquel Dancho
Tactical and focused. The Global Affairs team looked nervous answering her questions, and she had a very good back-and-forth that skillfully navigated the question of the Chinese Police Stationβs legality.
She was focused on the following goals:
Successfully Pushing Global Affairs to Admit the Stations are Illegal. By first asking if there were any agents accredited with the government, and then determining that these stations were not traditional cooperative policing efforts, and finally pushing to confirm that if they are in fact as reported, then they are illegal, she did by far the most work to create some scandalous soundbites.
Questioned why Canada is losing Pacific Influence. She was able to clearly articulate the disappointment many Canadians feel about our participation in Asian political agreements, and nailed the sentiment of much of the committee with a perfect encapsulation of the issues:
βour attention to Asia is episodic, so other countries are going to ask, what can Canada bring to the table?β
Created a connection between ignoring the region and losing influence and prestige.
Jasraj Singh Hallan
Bomb thrower. He began by straight-up asking the Global Affairs team if they thought that the situation in Xinjiang is a genocide, which resulted in a non-answer answer in reply. He then brought up issues surrounding the immigration backlog, specifically the use of Huawei technology to process biometric information, which nobody had an answer to.
From there, he threw out a comment that an ex-CSIS agent mentioned that there were Canadian officials at all levels of government who were working on behalf of foreign governments. He did not receive confirmation from global affairs on this issue.
Expert Witnesses
In addition to these questioners, three expert witnesses gave testimony around the relationship. One was Lynette Ong, who we recently interviewed. Gordon Houldon joined to give a sense of what the current factors holding back the relationship included, and finally Aileen Calverley joined to speak specifically to the situation in HK. Overall, the witnesses were the most insightful piece of the meeting and start at minute 93, for those interested in hearing their statements.
Liberal MPβs Taiwan visit feels quiet, focused and deescalated
As we discussed previously, the Taiwanese Friendship delegation is now underway, with a delegation of elected Canadian representatives meeting with some counterparts on the island nation with an aim to promote trade and mutual prosperity.
The reaction from China seems muted, as the entire state apparatus is currently focused on the 20th Party Congress. The delegation arrives just as the former head of the Beijing embassy Jim Nickel is not beginning his tenure as the boss in Taiwan, and heβs been tweeting some images of the delegation as the trip has progressed.
Weβve been in dialogue with a member of the delegation who is interested in doing an interview off the record with MK; weβve attempted to avoid anonymous interviews for the moment, so weβre holding out for someone who wants to talk on the record. If you, dear reader, are interested in sharing your story of the delegation in Taiwan, please let us know by replying to this email.
Joly in Japan and Korea focus government priorities on Pacific
MΓ©lanie Joly is finishing a whirlwind tour of Japan and Korea this week, working to create both trade and security partnerships in the region in advance of the release of the Indo-Pacific strategy this winter. The decision to visit here in advance of any released strategy, and to explicitly suggest in press conferences that these allies are helping to inform the Indo-Pacific strategy, shows that the documentβs summer draft is far from the completed document.
The release of both the Indo-Pacific strategy and a dedicated China document look good for a mid-November release to the public, which would align with the end of the 20th Party Congress without being released during holidays in Canada. Although timing is impossible to predict, China-Canada watchers weβve spoken to have bet on the last 2 weeks of November as the most probable timing.
The 20th Party Congress Report
The most important document produced for the end of the 19th Party Central Committee (now entering into the 20th) and functions as a report card of sorts for the last 5 years (although parts will stretch back 10 years).
The areas covered in the report include:
Party Building and Leadership
Economic Strategy
Internal Communist Party Development
Cultural Development (roughly speaking, the stateβs role in development)
Social Development (how the state guides this)
Defense
Environmental and Climate Issues
Foreign Policy, (Esp. Belt and Road)
These reports are the most significant documents produced by the CCP and typically guide all other policy vehicles into the future. Look for a lot of coverage of them in the coming weeks, as experts break down what is released from the congress.
Weβll have comprehensive coverage next week of the foreign policy and trade announcements, as well as some of the new appointees, especially who will replace the current premier Li Keqiang.
New statistics on Chinese citizens immigrating to Canada
Immigration Canada recently showed a sharp uptake in Chinese immigration to Canada. Here are the latest stats, courtesy of Glen Linder at Citizenship & Immigration:
China is Canadaβs #2 Country for permanent residents and #1 for students.
There were 12,753 permanent resident immigrants from China in 2021, up 250% from 2020 and nearly to the 14,500 who came in 2019.
Taiwan had 1,571 permanent resident immigrants in 2021, up from 1,063 in 2019
The Hong Kong study permit received 1,571 applicants in 2019 but a whopping 7,775 in 2021
The Hong Kong permanent residency applicants soared from 1,800 in 2019 to 12,362 in 2021. This increase shows the outflow of talent and younthful energy across HK from the implementation of the National Security Law more than 2 years ago.
This Weekβs Reading:
Chinaβs Central Bank Boosting Economy ahead of Congress: explainer on how Chinaβs government is leaning into growth during dynamic zero Covid
Flamboyant Chinese billionaire buys three B.C. malls: Vancouver malls being bought up left and right by a very curious Chinese national.
More Angst around Arctic Defence Preparation: many pieces on Canadaβs northern border forthcoming with Russia as the central foreign policy concern globally.
Opinion: Canada Should Strip HK of Special Trade Rights: China βdouble dipsβ with their HK trade delegations.
Opinion: Canada Must Learn to Accommodate China: a piece against the New Cold War mentality.
SCMP: Leaving Hong Kong for Vancouver, Canadaβs latest immigrants find familiarity and novelty a surprisingly nuanced take from a propagandist.
Xiβs Quest for Order: Good piece explaining the changes in leadership.
A Chinese reporter stole a Canadian Youtuberβs clip to push Russia's disinformation about Ukrainian war, but the internet chased him down: great quick read from our friends at Found In Translation
Closing Business
Thats all for this week!Β Thank you to our new subscribers, and a special thank you to all those who wrote us messages recently asking questions and engaging on the issues.Β Weβre really glad to see the beginning of a community spirit around our substack, and once we meet some internal engagement goals weβve set for ourselves, weβll start exploring the possibility to host discussions over Substack.
As always, thanks to all our readers, and if youβre new here, reach out:
Weβll be back with a double-issue next week: our interview with B Michael Frolic, and our regular weekend briefing.Β Thanks for reading!