EDITORIAL: China troubles remain as pork ban ends
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It is unreservedly good news that Canadian pork and beef producers now have renewed access to China’s market.
According to business news outlet Bloomberg, Canada shipped half a billion dollars in pork to China last year. This is a market that matters and Canadians should breathe a sigh of relief that the five-month-long ban has concluded.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the news on social media Tuesday, adding: “Thanks to Ambassador (Dominic) Barton and the Canadian meat industry for their work on re-opening this important market for our meat producers and their families.”
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It would be nice if it were true that the work of Ambassador Barton and the industry were mostly responsible for this change in policy on the part of the Chinese government. But don’t count on it.
China has been turning the screws on Canada for the past year following the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is being held in Vancouver on very generous bail conditions.
The pork and beef ban was just one in a long string of actions and insults taken against the Canadian government by the leadership in Beijing. Why turn this one around now?
China has lost more than 100 million pigs due to African swine flu. This has seriously harmed the supply and demand of their popular pork market. There is good reason to believe that the lifting of the ban had little to do with their attitudes towards Canada and more to do with appeasing consumers who seek pork products.
Besides, the canola ban that was implemented before the meat ban remains in place.
The truth is that China is still bullying Canada. The arbitrary detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor is about to reach its one year anniversary. While they are held in poor conditions, Meng Wanzhou walks freely around Vancouver as she renovates her new luxury property.
This could all be reversed if Canada caved and gave China what they wanted — releasing Meng Wanzhou and approving Huawei’s participation in our 5G grid.
But Canadians have now woken up to the troubling authoritarian tactics of Communist China and would not accept this.
This is the reality the Liberal government must now navigate.
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