Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[Kirkhill]

Here's what Chinese Canadians really think about interference, Xi and the federal response​

Six per cent of Chinese Canadians polled even said they had personally been pressured by an apparent Beijing representative

Author of the article:
Tom Blackwell
Published Mar 30, 2023 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read

Here's what Chinese Canadians really think about interference, Xi and the federal response

Six per cent of Chinese Canadians polled even said they had personally been pressured by an apparent Beijing representative

nationalpost.com

Yet six per cent of those polled said they had personally been pressured by an apparent Beijing representative to vote for a particular candidate or follow certain views. That sounds insignificant on first blush — but would represent more than 100,000 Canadians if extrapolated population-wide, notes Andrew Enns, Leger executive vice president.

And the number rose to 20 per cent among the 54 respondents who immigrated within the last 10 years, most of whom would have grown up in Mainland China under Communist rule.

Anecdotal. Not empirical. But disconcerting.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Some find the term "Chinese-Canadians" problematical. When (and it happens a lot) someone says "Oh, are you Chinese?" my wife will always reply, "No, I'm from Hong Kong." When someone ask, "Do you speak Chinese?" she will says, "I speak Cantonese, as my native language, English as my second language, since childhood, and I have picked up a bit of conversational Mandarin." She is happy to be of Chinese ethnicity but she does nor regard herself as being, in any way, a citizen of China; she was born as a British subject in Hong Kong and that's how she self-identifies - and yes, she has a British passport.

 

[Kirkhill]

Some find the term "Chinese-Canadians" problematical. When (and it happens a lot) someone says "Oh, are you Chinese?" my wife will always reply, "No, I'm from Hong Kong." When someone ask, "Do you speak Chinese?" she will says, "I speak Cantonese, as my native language, English as my second language, since childhood, and I have picked up a bit of conversational Mandarin." She is happy to be of Chinese ethnicity but she does nor regard herself as being, in any way, a citizen of China; she was born as a British subject in Hong Kong and that's how she self-identifies - and yes, she has a British passport.

Oh, are you European?

No, I'm from Scotland.

Do you speak European?

No, I speak Scots as my native language, English is my second language, since childhood, and I have picked up a bit of conversational French.

And yes, I have a British passport.

 

[dimsum]

Oh, are you European?

No, I'm from Scotland.

Do you speak European?

No, I speak Scots as my native language, English is my second language, since childhood, and I have picked up a bit of conversational French.

And yes, I have a British passport.

The difference being that "Chinese " can be applied to a culture as well as a country - and PRC vs ROC. Those two (well, three) aren't the same.

The analogy would be better if it was "oh, are you British" but even that isn't a great analogy.

 

[Kirkhill]

The difference being that "Chinese " can be applied to a culture as well as a country - and PRC vs ROC. Those two (well, three) aren't the same.

The analogy would be better if it was "oh, are you British" but even that isn't a great analogy.

I've even heard it being applied to Korean Canadians.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

A lot of the recent Chinese immigrants here are not even aware of the Cantonese history of Vancouver and Western Canada. I asked a young lady who said that she spoke Chinese and English, if she spoke Mandarin or Cantonese. she was utterly confused as she did not consider Cantonese "Chinese" and not heard it spoken.

 

[dimsum]

A lot of the recent Chinese immigrants here are not even aware of the Cantonese history of Vancouver and Western Canada. I asked a young lady who said that she spoke Chinese and English, if she spoke Mandarin or Cantonese. she was utterly confused as she did not consider Cantonese "Chinese" and not heard it spoken.

If she's not from southeastern China, that's not surprising at all.

Cantonese in China is just one of hundreds, if not thousands, of dialects. The percentage that speak it in China isn't high.

It's only well known outside of China because lots of Cantonese left and settled in other areas, so that dialect was what other nations' people heard at first.

It's like going to another country (as a Canadian) and people asking if you speak English, or Newfoundland English.

 

[YZT580]

The difference being that "Chinese " can be applied to a culture as well as a country - and PRC vs ROC. Those two (well, three) aren't the same.

The analogy would be better if it was "oh, are you British" but even that isn't a great analogy.

and there is a big difference. He said he was from Scotland therefore, no culture whereas a person from China goes all the way back to Attila as a member of a true culture......

 

[YZT580]

and there is a big difference. He said he was from Scotland therefore, no culture whereas a person from China goes all the way back to Attila as a member of a true culture......

sorry Kirkhill, I just couldn't resist

 

[Colin Parkinson]

If she's not from southeastern China, that's not surprising at all.

Cantonese in China is just one of hundreds, if not thousands, of dialects. The percentage that speak it in China isn't high.

It's only well known outside of China because lots of Cantonese left and settled in other areas, so that dialect was what other nations' people heard at first.

It's like going to another country (as a Canadian) and people asking if you speak English, or Newfoundland English.

It was also the language of Hong Kong and for the longest time HK was the face of China.

 

[Kirkhill]

sorry Kirkhill, I just couldn't resist

Not so wrong. The Scots were a bunch of Irish bandits. We know them as Tcheuchters. I'm proper Sassenach. We speak English wi' nane o' they fancy French words. And we wear breeks.

 

[RangerRay]

Terry Glavin: Beijing apologists have conjured a racist bogeyman. It's total nonsense

Dismissing worries over election interference as 'racism' is part of a well known China propaganda tactic

nationalpost.com

Beijing’s hyperactive United Front Work Department expends massive resources in cultivating deep ties to the super-rich elements in the Mandarin bloc, while at the same time bullying and intimidating the diaspora’s reformists, Uyghur refugees, pro-democracy Hongkongers, Falun Gong adherents and defenders of Taiwanese autonomy.

 

[RangerRay]

New counter-interference office must answer to Parliament, not a ministry: former CSIS officer

'For this new body to report to a minister is to repeat the same pattern of failure and political interference,' the ethics committee heard

nationalpost.com

 

[OldSolduer]

Terry Glavin: Beijing apologists have conjured a racist bogeyman. It's total nonsense

Dismissing worries over election interference as 'racism' is part of a well known China propaganda tactic

nationalpost.com

So if a "China Canadian Friendship Association" appears then its a front for the CCP. These guys all read from the same playbook.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Ahhh….. ummmm …. Yes Minister

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[JLB50]

Ottawa is going all in on ‘friendshoring.’ Here’s what that could mean. | National Newswatch

National Newswatch: Canada's most comprehensive site for political news and views. Make it a daily habit.

www.nationalnewswatch.com

I’m sure that this has been in the works for at least a little while, but I wonder if the Justin-Jolie team may be getting worried about what the electorate (not to mention our allies) may be apt to do next. In other words, “Hey, the horses are out…close the barn door quick!”

 

[OldSolduer]

Ottawa is going all in on ‘friendshoring.’ Here’s what that could mean. | National Newswatch

National Newswatch: Canada's most comprehensive site for political news and views. Make it a daily habit.

www.nationalnewswatch.com

I’m sure that this has been in the works for at least a little while, but I wonder if the Justin-Jolie team may be getting worried about what the electorate (not to mention our allies) may be apt to do next. In other words, “Hey, the horses are out…close the barn door quick!”

They are either naive or in someone's pocket if they thought China was a friend. It seems that the West rarely learns from its mistakes.

To some in Britain prior to WW2 Hitler was not a threat. Post WW2 some thought Uncle Joe Stalin - murderous SOB that he was - could be handled.
And one of them was PET - who thought China could be handled as well - or perhaps he was in on it.

 

[JLB50]

They are either naive or in someone's pocket if they thought China was a friend. It seems that the West rarely learns from its mistakes.

To some in Britain prior to WW2 Hitler was not a threat. Post WW2 some thought Uncle Joe Stalin - murderous SOB that he was - could be handled.
And one of them was PET - who thought China could be handled as well - or perhaps he was in on it.

I used to think that PET simply loved to rail against any kind of authority and to get attention for himself…kind of like, “look ma, no hands”. But the more I read about him the more I think he was more sympathetic to the authoritarianism that’s inherent in communism. Even after the Cultural Revolution in China killed hundreds of thousands if not millions of citizens, PET would hardly say a bad word about China.

I’ve read about some of the young UK, US and other intellectuals graduating from university in the 1930s during the Great Depression and how, having seen some of the terrible poverty and hopelessness in society, began to flirt with communism. Most of them soon began to see that communism was a sham. But there were still some who refused to accept that Stalin’s man-made famines (e.g. Holodomor in Ukraine) were intended to kill…and they did…millions. Those same people tolerated Germany invading Poland because, although many people forget, the USSR also invaded Poland to get their fair share. It was only when Germany later attacked the USSR that those same intellectuals said “we need to go to war with Germany…look what they’ve done to poor Russia”. Some of those intellectuals eventually realized what a mistake they made, while others (Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, et al) never gave up their communist ideals and turned traitor.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau seems to be one of those intellectuals who never seemed to accept the on-going evil of communism…only the terrible mistakes of capitalism. He never really grew up.

 

[JLB50]

An interesting personal tidbit. Back in the early 1990s my wife and I were in Gravenhurst, Ontario with some time to kill. We happened on some signs pointing to the boyhood home/museum of Norman Bethune, one of the heroes of the Chinese Revolution and a personal friend of Chairman Mao. With nothing better to do, my wife suggested we go there.

Once we arrived, we saw a tour bus parked outside. Going through the doors we found that the place was filled entirely with Chinese tourists who seemed to regard it with the deepest reverence. I got the impression that they were from Toronto and not, say, just visiting from China. Now I know that Bethune was a controversial figure but it had me wondering about those visitors and where their loyalties were. That was one of the first times I began to wonder if China was beginning to quietly export its Revolution to Canada

 

[OldSolduer]

An interesting personal tidbit. Back in the early 1990s my wife and I were in Gravenhurst, Ontario with some time to kill. We happened on some signs pointing to the boyhood home/museum of Norman Bethune, one of the heroes of the Chinese Revolution and a personal friend of Chairman Mao. With nothing better to do, my wife suggested we go there.

Once we arrived, we saw a tour bus parked outside. Going through the doors we found that the place was filled entirely with Chinese tourists who seemed to regard it with the deepest reverence. I got the impression that they were from Toronto and not, say, just visiting from China. Now I know that Bethune was a controversial figure but it had me wondering about those visitors and where their loyalties were. That was one of the first times I began to wonder if China was beginning to quietly export its Revolution to Canada

Norman Bethune has been trotted out as a hero for decades. NOW what I read somewhere years ago - I have no idea if its true or not - he only treated Communist soldiers - and the Nationalist soldiers were left to die. I could be wrong.

"Pierre Elliot Trudeau seems to be one of those intellectuals who never seemed to accept the on-going evil of communism…only the terrible mistakes of capitalism. He never really grew up."

He knew very well what was happening - and chose that side. Curse him and I hope its really hot where he is right now.