A very special musical interlude for a very special almost-quitter.
This song was meant for Justin (not safe for the office or some such thing):
Canadian content but just as apt:
Does anyone remember the 16 tons of personal protective equipment Justin handed to his Chinese bosses?
I do:
The Chinese navy deployed a group of 60 ships and 30 coast guard vessels off the coast of Taiwan this week in what appears to be their largest show of force since 1996, according to the Wall Street Journal Tuesday. The move comes as Biden has increasingly winded down his duties in anticipation of passing his responsibilities to Trump, punctuated by him appearing to fall asleep during a meeting with African leaders in Angola Dec. 4.
China’s infiltration into agricultural IoT (Internet of Things) networks represents a critical yet underexplored dimension of its global technological strategy. Through key players such as Huawei and Alibaba Cloud, Beijing has embedded IoT technologies into agricultural systems in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. These initiatives, often framed as development partnerships aimed at improving food production and supply chain resilience, concurrently enable the collection of extensive agricultural and environmental data with profound strategic and geopolitical implications.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld on Friday that the US could ban TikTok over concerns with National Security. The law forces the divestment of Chinese company ByteDance from the social media platform.
Investigative journalist and author of Willful Blindness Sam Cooper has again gone public discussing a Chinese research paper that analyzes Beijing’s impact on Canadian elections.
Down by the harbour in Longyearbyen, the crew of the Polargirl prepared for the day’s voyage, a round trip across the fjord to the Russian coal-mining settlement of Barentsburg on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago.
One would-be traveller, her suitcase set down in the snow, explained that she planned to spend the night in Barentsburg and return the next day before Masha, the Russian guide, shook her head sadly.
Let us take a moment to remember what our bought-and-paid-for government would rather we forget with this number here by Sue Medley:
Also, because it feels appropriate:
Indeed:
The French foreign minister said Wednesday that the war in Ukraine will not overshadow France’s commitments to the Indo-Pacific region, where India and its allies view China’s rising influence with suspicion.
Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and her Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar discussed the security situation in the region and the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including concerns about food security and rising inflation, officials said.
Colonna said the two countries share the same concern about China’s role in the region.
“We spoke a lot about the general situation in the Indo-Pacific and the many challenges that have emerged because of China. We have basically the same analysis, we also share the same concerns, because we know the role the Chinese are playing and we want to make sure that there is no imbalance in the Indo-Pacific,” Colonna said at a news briefing.
Jaishankar said that it was important for like-minded countries to work together in the region to ensure peace, security and prosperity. “We consider France as an Indo-Pacific player that has a long-standing presence in the Indian Ocean,” he added.
Indian and Chinese soldiers last week began pulling back from a key friction point on their disputed border as part of efforts to lower tensions in a more than two-year standoff that has sometimes led to deadly clashes. The two countries have stationed tens of thousands of soldiers backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets along the de facto border, called the Line of Actual Control.
In June 2020, India said it lost 20 troops and China said it lost four soldier when the two sides fought with clubs, stones and fists.
Jaishankar said Wednesday that the disengagement of troops was completed.
**
The Chinese ambassador called on Japan for caution in dealings with Taiwan at a symposium in Tokyo on Sept. 12 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of normalization of ties between Japan and China.
“We hope (the Japanese government) is cautious in its words and actions with regard to the Taiwan issue, not sending a wrong signal to people supporting Taiwan’s independence, as well as not participating in any provocative moves that use Taiwan to keep China in check,” said Kong Xuanyou, the Chinese ambassador to Japan.
Despite repeated calls from the Biden administration, the Canadian government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to formulate a public foreign policy strategy to deal with China. Canada has the world’s ninth-largest economy, a population of nearly forty million, a major Pacific Ocean coastline, and fully benefits from the U.S. missile defense architecture, to which it makes no contribution. Yet it is a disappointingly meek U.S. ally. Ottawa has been pursuing a virtually neutralist strategy of avoiding committing to any U.S. effort to harness the coalition of democracies to confront the Chinese threat to Taiwan. Washington needs to be aware that any Canadian foreign policy on China will be heavily influenced by domestic electoral politics.
China imposed sweeping power cuts to households and factories in Sichuan province, including those belonging to major electronics companies where drought conditions have strained the region’s hydropower-based energy production capacity.
While the Biden administration focuses on its progressive agenda, they have taken their eyes off the ball, that being the substantial investments communist China has made in American real estate, in particular farmland.
For example, a bio-fermentation company based in China, Fufeng Group, recently purchased some 300 acres of land in North Dakota for $2.6 million. Plans are for the company to build a milling plant in the area.
Three hundred acres of land doesn’t seem substantial, but when added to the 191,000 acres of land China already owned in the United States, it raises the question of what exactly the communist nation is up to.
Despite repeated claims of ignorance of his son’s overseas business dealings, records have revealed that, as vice president, Joe Biden met in the West Wing with two Chinese energy executives tied to Hunter Biden’s company.
It is the 15th meeting between Joe Biden and Hunter-tied businessmen to be uncovered thus far.
White House visitor logs from July 2014 show that, with just one day’s notice, executives representing Wanxiang, a Chinese energy company, managed to secure a White House meeting with then Vice President Biden, according to the Daily Mail.
A Chinese food manufacturing company has bought 300 acres of North Dakota farmland just 20 minutes from Grand Forks Air Force Base.
Given Beijing’s goal to supplant the U.S. as the world’s predominant superpower in the not-too-distant future, the purchase is something to take note of.
Well, it’s actually true.
The Trudeau Foundation is partnered with a scholarship program at Xi Jinping’s alma mater.
He recused himself from his “dealings” with the Trudeau Foundation in 2014, yet he sent messages to graduates of the program in China in 2018.
How did he know? https://t.co/nzdNQRx5oE pic.twitter.com/xfDzQm5l4g
— Andy Lee (@RealAndyLeeShow) July 30, 2022
After a Chinese state media account tweeted a threat to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s airplane out of the sky, the Chinese military began conducting drills in the sea near Taiwan using live artillery.
The People’s Liberation Army had its “live-fire exercises” close to the Pingtan islands off Fujian province, Xinhua News Agency reported.
