By Philip Yeung, A Chinese-Canadian Contrarian and university teacher
Justin Trudeau is quite an eyeful. He is a good-looking leader, alongside out-of-shape Donald Trump, bulging Boris Johnson or frumpy Modi. He gives Canada a handsome face. But unfortunately, that's his only asset. Canadians were puffed up when Melania Trump shamelessly drooled over his lady-killer good looks. But there is not much between his ears. Sex appeal may make ladies swoon. But in world affairs, it is no better than pornography.
Trudeau and Boris share one thing in common: both are good before the TV camera, strutting their funky style. Both, alas, are wrong for the job---two shallow men uninformed and uncaring about the human condition. It's all about the soundbite. It's all about spin over substance.
Politicians trading on their style are good at distraction. When troubles brew or break out, their first instinct is to divert attention. Scapegoating comes in handy.
When news about the massacre of three thousand indigenous children in Western Canada splashed, Trudeau at first made the right noises. But what he did next is so revealing about his character. Our jaws dropped when he cheekily phoned the Pope and asked the pontiff to apologize to native Canadians. Granted, these atrocities were committed inside Catholic residential schools. But it was a conversion-to-Christianity program supported by the government. The cruelties were inflicted under the very noses of officials.
True to form, Trudeau scanned the horizon and saw the Pope. He knows asking the Pope to apologize is hot international news. He forgets that the culprits were Canadians first and Catholics second. Calling on the Pope merely diverts attention and lets someone else carry the can.
Trudeau is practiced in the politics of distraction, the biggest of which is over China. Canada and China are major Pacific partners, with China second only to the US as its trading partner. Canadians also have an enduring romance with China, from the idolized Norman Bethune to the China-born Chester Ronning to Trudeau's own father who defied the mighty US to pursue an independent policy towards China.
Justin Trudeau ruptures this proud Canadian tradition. Over what? Over a case that smells like a naked geopolitical power-play by America. Is it worth it? An unjust case that has destroyed a strategic partnership with China. Never has so much been ruined by so small a matter. The strategic costs are disproportionately huge. It is an utter idiocy! Making a mistake is one thing. But the capacity for correction is the essential quality for leadership. By this yardstick, Trudeau is an unfit leader.
Single-handedly, he has turned co-honeymooner China into a bitter divorcee. This is his biggest foreign policy failure. He has turned Canada's hard-won strategic neutrality into an abject dependency as an American stooge. The world now sees Canada as a card-carrying member of an anti-China cabal. Overnight, Canada has lost its unique global identity, and disqualifies itself as an impartial mediator. What an achievement!
Forget about who's right and who's wrong in the China quarrel.
Step away for a moment and ask yourself: what is Canada's role in world affairs? As a trusted moderating influence on American excesses, or as its yes-man?
The father is an ice-breaking leader. The son is a bumbling, sniveling follower, a black sheep whose only asset is looking good, but not smelling so hot.
The irony is exquisite: the father ushered in a blossoming Sino-Canadian relationship, only to have the son bulldozed it in a single tricky move. Bereft of an ounce of strategic awareness, his worst sin is that he is unable or unwilling to undo his fatal error. Is Justin truly Pierre's son? I wonder. If he is, he is an unworthy one.
Most Canadians believe: What the father had put together, let no son put asunder.
Canada's trouble with China began when Trudeau fell into a trap set by the unhinged Trump and arrested Huawei's CFO for alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran. But Canada stands with the rest of the West on the other side of the issue. The US tried to coax over 20 other countries into it, but Trudeau is the only one stupid or weak enough to bite, even though Canada has no dog in the fight.
One stupidity followed another. Trudeau obsequiously called Trump as he was exiting the White House and thanked him for his support over China. This is like thanking the burglar for breaking into your house. Talk about adding self-inflicted insult to self-inflicted injury.
It is a curse of democracy that looks always trump competence. Voters tend to be forgiving when bad things are done by good-looking leaders. Sex appeal dilutes misdeeds and stylishness distracts. Besides the Trudeau name has cachet. It even has magic and nostalgic value.
Now, Trudeau has rallied 40 countries to condemn China over its alleged violations of human rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. This lets him play statesman on the world stage. He is doubling down when he should be piping down.
We now know that Trudeau is no problem-solver.
Canada's Covid crisis is among the worst-managed in the West. He is too caught up in a quarrelsome housewife's shouting match with China.
Worse, Trudeau hasn't outgrown his youthful fad with Indian gurus. As Prime Minister, he went to India looking silly in an Indian guru garb.
Then he let his fad dictate his political picks, stacking his cabinet with two politicians of Indian descent, thereby intensifying the China hate, without any counterbalancing China expert on board. Despite his lineage, Trudeau knows nothing about the art of governance. He is a perpetual adolescent playing with politics in an adult world.
Trudeau has a thin pre-prime minister CV which, incredibly, includes a stint as a barroom bouncer. He should have stayed in that job where no brains are required. Canada is paying a dear price for his lack of political apprenticeship.
Canadians have the right to ask: Where are you leading us internationally? Antagonizing the world's most populous nation and second-largest economy runs counter to Canadian interests and identity.
Having painted Canada into a corner, how will he wriggle out of it? If he continues to think like a bouncer and act like a bouncer against China, while living in guru land, Canada's international relations will remain frozen in a long dark Arctic winter.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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