Carney’s Beijing Visit Sends a ‘Deeply Troubling Signal’: China Watchers Alarmed by PM’s Trip
Udumbara
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Chinese Canadian pro-democracy activist Sheng Xue says the timing of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to China next week “sends a deeply troubling signal,” given the United States, Canada’s closest ally, is taking action to curb the regime’s reach in the Western Hemisphere.
Sheng said by developing deeper relations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at a time when the United States is seeking to address authoritarian-aligned regimes in the West such as the one in Venezuela, Canada risks undermining coordination with its closest ally. Venezuela remained “economically viable largely because the Chinese Communist regime purchases the majority of its oil exports and provides critical financial and political support,” Sheng said.
Sheng says that given the position the United States is taking on regimes like China, Canada shouldn’t be going in the opposite direction. “At a moment when democratic nations are increasingly confronting the global expansion and coercive behavior of the Chinese Communist tyranny, Canada appears to be moving in the opposite direction,” Sheng told The Epoch Times.
She noted that Canada “should have learned painful lessons” from past engagement with Beijing, including the arbitrary detention of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, interference in Canadian elections, intimidation of Chinese Canadian diaspora communities, transnational repression, intellectual property theft, and economic coercion.
“The CCP has consistently demonstrated that it operates as a communist tyranny, not a responsible international partner,” she said. “To overlook this record in pursuit of short-term economic gains is both strategically naïve and politically dangerous.”
Sheng said Beijing will exploit Carney’s visit for “domestic and international propaganda” by portraying it as evidence that Canada is “abandoning its principled stance” and returning to “pragmatic cooperation” with the CCP.
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‘A Double-Edged Sword’
Henry Chan, a spokesperson for pro-democracy group Saskatchewan Stands With Hong Kong, says when Canadian politicians visit China, “it’s always a double-edged sword.”He told The Epoch Times on Jan. 8 that Carney’s visit to China presents a risk of Ottawa giving up more to Beijing than it gets in return, while at the same time the move could upset the United States.
Chan also said that while Canada and the United States share many of the same values, China does not value human rights, the rule of law, or democracy. “They are quite hostile to us in terms of interfering in our democratic system, in our nominations, and pursuing transnational repression on Canadian soil,” he added.
Pursuing Trade With Beijing
Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig said in a Jan. 7 post on X that although Carney is seeking to “recalibrate relations” between Ottawa and Beijing through his visit to China next week, “the reality is that many of those challenges remain and are not going to go away.”Kovrig said the risk of increasing trade with China is that the CCP has “a well established track record of using economic relationships, particularly economic dependence, for political leverage.”
Sheng also said Beijing will use the meeting with Carney to try to “extract concessions,” such as in technology transfer, resource access, market entry, or silence on human rights abuses, while offering little in return. “Such engagements historically benefit the CCP far more than democratic counterparts,” she added.
“More broadly, I am concerned that Prime Minister Carney appears insufficiently attentive to the depth and scale of [CCP] penetration and influence operations in Canada,” Sheng said, adding that economic engagement cannot be separated from national security, democratic sovereignty, and human rights considerations when dealing with communist regimes.
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Strained Relations
Carney has been seeking to repair ties with China since early on in his term as prime minister, amid trade tensions with the United States and a push to double Canada’s non-U.S. exports over the next decade.Relations between Canada and China broke down in 2018 when Canada executed a U.S. extradition warrant for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who was accused of fraud. In retaliation, China arbitrarily detained Kovrig and Spavor, keeping them in custody for more than 1,000 days.
Chan noted that China also has a “strategic partnership” with North Korea and Russia. “Do we want to be framed in those contexts?” he said.
Sheng said that Canada needs to deepen cooperation with trusted democratic partners, diversify supply chains, and firmly resist totalitarian influence. Canada’s long-term economic recovery and resilience will not be achieved by depending on Beijing, she noted.
“Any engagement with Beijing must be highly restrained, transparent, and grounded in clearly defined red lines — not wishful thinking,” Sheng said.
