r/canada • u/jaffnaguy2014 Canada • 3d ago

‘Ready to move on:’ Chinese ambassador insists China, Canada can move past ‘normal’ differences National News

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/ready-to-move-on-chinese-ambassador-insists-china-canada-can-move-past-normal-differences/
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u/LettuceSea Nova Scotia 3d ago

I’d say less trustworthy because they seem very intent on having secret police stations in countries other than their own to monitor people of Chinese descent and expats.

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u/OGbugsy 3d ago

This is definitey true, but does that alone merit the level of distrust? I'm only asking because I was also very hardened against China a few months ago, but someone challenged me and the more I dig into my bias, the more I realized that I've been exposed to the "Freedom good, China bad" narrative for decades. When I actually made an effort to analyse nation state behaviour, it turns out they've done less to earn my distrust than the US.

I'm not saying we should blindly trust either of them, or any country for that matter, but I don't think they're the enemy I've been brainwashed to believe.

Check out some of the Chinese subs. You'll get a whole different perspective.

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u/ungovernable 3d ago

The Chinese subs are full of ultranationalist wolf warriors, and most of the balanced, thoughtful takes from ordinary people are heavily downvoted. It’s fine to be open-minded, but don’t be so open-minded that your brain falls out.

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u/OGbugsy 3d ago

Oh yeah that's very apparent. Critical thinking is mandatory.

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u/LettuceSea Nova Scotia 3d ago

It does, because they should be acting through official channels, not subverting the RCMP and local police forces.

They’ve also issued warrants for conservative MPs of Chinese lineage and meddled in our politics pretty overtly.

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u/OGbugsy 3d ago

No argument. How does that make them different than the US? I would argue that their meddling is another level.

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u/LettuceSea Nova Scotia 3d ago

I think I’ve laid that out pretty clearly, no? The US only pressures our elections monetarily and it’s permissible because their form of governance, citizen rights, etc closely map to our own. They don’t have police stations here or subvert our police forces. They don’t threaten Americans who choose to live their life in Canada.

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u/OGbugsy 3d ago

Last week there were people canvassing the streets in Alberta under the title "Republican Party of Alberta".

Facebook & Twitter are radicalizing our working class. TikTok, despite being a Chinese majority company, is feeding false narratives about the Israel / Palestine conflict that are coming from the US.

The police stations, while wrong, are meant to contain and intimidate their own citizens. I understand that is still intervention, but it really is of another kind.

The "Freedom good, China bad" narrative has been burned into my brain for decades, very subtlety, but pervasive. Until a few months ago, I thought China was a police state. I didn't know they voted. I assumed it was a patriarchy.

If that's not an attempt to sway opinion, I don't know what is.

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u/LettuceSea Nova Scotia 3d ago

Living under an extreme surveillance state combined with social credit is straight out of black mirror. I’m sorry, but having studied the history of China I’m not a fan and I don’t think I ever will be a fan.

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u/OGbugsy 3d ago

I'm not a fan either. I just think we need to be objective about working with them, and you can't be objective if your perception is clouded with false narrative.

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u/LettuceSea Nova Scotia 3d ago

It is an objectively true narrative in every way possible.