Canada‘s House of Commons Finance Committee recommended in a report Tuesday (16) that Canada withdraw from the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Committee Chairman Wayne Easter of the ruling Liberal Party said it was Time for the Canadian government to “wake up” to the facts on its China Policy.
The finance committee questioned whether the ADB would actually help Asian countries improve their quality of Life, or whether it would simply be used by Beijing to promote its “One Belt, One Road” plan to expand the Communist Party’s global economic and military influence. In an interview Tuesday, Easter said Canada needs to recognize the serious threat the Chinese Communist Party poses to Western democracies; the Canadian government should know how to confront the Communist Party’s infiltration of Canada and its growing influence in the country, which includes intimidation of Chinese Canadians and China’s access to advanced technology through Canadian universities. Estelle criticized the fact that Canada has so far allowed universities to collaborate with Chinese telecommunications equipment giant huawei on research projects.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government contributed $995 million (HK$7.76 billion) to the ADB in 2017, but it has since been opposed by opposition Conservatives and called for withdrawal, and Canada’s foreign ministry has warned that Beijing created the ADB in part to “use its economic power to gain regional influence and export its governance model to around the world.”
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