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“I was concerned when I saw that same playbook being operated here in Canada, and our school system being used as a conduit for extending that influence.”

The Confucius Institute’s New Brunswick office could not be reached for comment.

But China’s embassy suggested in a statement the province could be imperilling the “rapid development” in trade and educational co-operation that New Brunswick and China have seen in recent years.

“We hope New Brunswick could grasp the opportunity of pragmatic cooperation with China instead of letting it slip from hands, meet each other half way and make joint efforts to promote the healthy development of the bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields.”

The province’s Liberals have criticized Cardy previously for recklessly endangering $137-million in export business by dabbling inexpertly in geopolitics.

“International diplomacy is something best left to the federal government and I think you’re in over your head at a provincial level when you try to wade into it,” education critic Chuck Chiasson said in March.

We have to start playing hardball back

But Cardy suggested Tuesday that others across Canada should follow New Brunswick’s lead. Despite dire warnings of economic repercussions, he said, his province’s trade with China has not suffered, lobster sales even increasing lately.

“It gets to a point where we in Canada and in New Brunswick, we have to start playing hardball back,” said the minister. “The world is getting to be a much rougher place and if we don’t stand up in it, we get pushed over. In this case we stood up, and we’re still standing.”