1/ Canada will ensure that "China’s approach of coercive diplomacy, its arbitrary detention of two Canadian citizens ... is not viewed as a successful tactic" - @JustinTrudeau
2/ What actions? Sanctions against rights violators , an immigration lifeboat for Hong Kongers and Uyghurs, and protecting ourselves from coercive foreign interference.
3/ Credit where credit's due, the latest statements by @JustinTrudeau, @HarjitSajjan, @BobRae48, and others have been wonderful. It's a step in the right direction.
Canada is beginning to grow a spine with respect to China, which is delightful to see.
4/ @FP_Champagne is "working on a new foreign-policy approach to Beijing that is expected to be unveiled later this year"
We eagerly await this new policy.
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1/ In the final (11th) chapter of aftershock.hk, @sumlokkei discusses covering the Battle of CUHK - which I witnessed myself about one year ago.
The citywide solidarity was breathtaking, and is something which I struggle to put into words.
2/ "Following a call to protect the campus, hundreds of people showed up with resources for protesters. Water, petrol bombs, and other supplies were passed from one hand to another, downhill to the frontline."
3/ Some of us were keeping the police busy in other parts of Hong Kong, so they could not focus their resources on CUHK.
It was absolutely a citywide effort to support the students at CUHK, who became the inspiration for my friends at HKU and other schools.
1/ Beijing sees an opportunity for global hegemony, admist a US that is "less engaged abroad, more divided at home, and uninterested in pandemic management or economic competitiveness"
2/ Doshi reports that Beijing sees Trumpism and Brexit as accelerating the decline of the west:
"Beijing was shocked that the world’s most powerful democracies were withdrawing from the international order they had helped erect."
3/ US failures with Covid have "reinforced preexisting Chinese views on American dysfunction and decline" and have given Beijing convidence to be "less concerned about the implications of its repression in HK and the damage done by its increasingly off-putting public diplomacy."
1/ In an essay for @ForeignAffairs, @HillaryClinton argues that the US must not only invest in military modernization, but also "renew the foundations of its national power" through domestic renewal.
2/ First, she acknowledges that both major parties have "long underappreciated the security implications of economic policies that weakened strategically important industries and sent vital supply chains overseas"
Indeed, Covid has made this painfully clear, as ...
3/ "the pandemic has underscored how much the US relies on China and other countries for vital imports—not just lifesaving medical supplies but also raw materials such as rare-earth minerals and electronic equipment"
1/ Started reading 'Hidden Hand' @HandCcp, which exposes the CCP's influence around the world.
Because this topics is so important to all of us and is something that @alliancecanhk is studying closely, I'll be maintaining this tweet thread throughout my reading
2/ I always wonder whether what I'm reading is made out of date due to events in our post-Covid world. This line from @HandCcp Chapter 2 certainly seems out of date:
"As a rule, the CCP tries not to antagonize too many people at one time"
3/ Also from Chapter 2, this line is more pertinent than ever, thanks to @joannachiu's excellent reporting:
"This principle [of winning over smaller, easily-convinced groups] helps explain the emphasis Beijing places on local councils"