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Canada indeed urgently needs a lot more expertise on China so we can better realize our interests with that country, but we should pay for it ourselves.

We also need to get more resources to our police and security agencies to counter Chinese subversion. Any accredited diplomat who menaces or harasses people in Canada, including ethnic Chinese democracy activists or members of the Tibetan and Uyghur communities, in ways that are incompatible with their diplomatic status should be declared persona non grata and sent home.

Likewise, Chinese state security agents who enter Canada under false pretences for the same purposes should be tracked down and criminally charged.

Getting serious about defending against subversion is another important national security concern. Ottawa must expend more energy combating Chinese political, military and economic espionage, and put more resources into identifying people who transfer Canadian secrets and restricted technologies to agents of the Chinese state.

Beyond our own borders, democracy in Taiwan and Hong Kong should be celebrated, but we shun their progressive leaders who share our values because China tells us to – or else. Canadian leaders should continue to meet with the Dalai Lama periodically, as a legitimate expression of our concern over the situation of Tibetans in China. We must apply our human rights standards equally to all people.

Finally, it is shocking that there is even a debate over whether Beijing, through the China Communications Construction Company, should be allowed to purchase Canada’s largest publicly traded construction company, Aecon Group. This in itself reveals serious flaws in Canada’s China policy.