By Philip Yeung
If you are wondering what V stands for, it is a victory-over-the-vampire symbol.
This week, rationality finally returns to the tangled ties between China and Canada.
Prime Minister Mike Carney flew to Beijing to "recalibrate the relationship" — de-risking America and re-coupling with China.
He is there to protect his country's sovereignty and repair a relationship that had long withered under a bumbling actor moonlighting as a leader.
Justin was juvenile in playing the adult's diplomatic game. Like a silly, giggling adolescent, he went guru-gawking in India. Back in Canada, he tumbled into a Trump trap, meekly executing America's arrest warrant on Huawei's CFO, a move shunned by every other US ally. Instantly, bilateral ties were plunged into icy waters.
The relationship was ruptured almost beyond repair. When China reacted, Justin blamed the victim, forgetting that he had stupidly turned himself into a Trump tool, sleepwalking into a low-level strategic blunder.
Pre-Justin, the relationship was on an even keel. The two countries share a romantic past, dating back to Norman Bethune, the Canadian doctor revered as a national hero in China. Another Canadian dear to Chinese hearts was Chester Ronning, the late China-born Canadian ambassador.
I remember the day when Ronning came to the University of Toronto to speak to Chinese students. He spoke nostalgically about his Chinese childhood days and his bottomless love for the good people of China.
When he returned to Canada, he ran for political office. His opponent preyed on his Chinese past, race-baiting him, singling out the embarrassing fact that he had been breast-fed by a Chinese milk mother and thus guilty of having Chinese blood in his veins.
Ronning wittily turned this logic on its head. He proudly admitted to having had a Chinese milk mother. But then, he added, "my honorable opponent grew up on cow's milk." That settled the argument and the race.
The bilateral romance bloomed under Pierre Trudeau. Canada became the first western country to establish diplomatic ties with China.
But his son Justin aborted the honeymoon. As the two countries drifted apart, China stopped looking huggable to Canadians, thanks to Justin, the author of a monumental diplomatic disaster
Canadians of Chinese extraction are honored in history, having played a sacrificial role in Canada's nation-building project. Hundreds of Chinese laborers lost their lives in laying the tracks of the treacherous Canadian Pacific Railway.
Chinese culture also lives in Canadian stomachs. Take-out Chinese food is indispensable on hockey nights. From coast to coast, the sole Canadian symbol is the humble Chinese restaurant. There is always one in the remotest corner of Canada.
Chinese immigrants numbering two million are model Canadian citizens. But the goodwill went sour under Justin Trudeau, a showy simpleton, known mockingly as the "Paris Hilton of Canadian politics"—all looks and no brains.
In defrosting the relationship, Carney redefines it as a strategic partnership. Hopes are high that happy days will return under this insurance against Trump anarchy.
China doesn't ask for much, just a regular dose of respect. Despite differences in governance models, China has basically no quarrel with Canada. People-to-people courtesy minus the ideological labels is all it takes.
With fear of being annexed as America's 51ststate, the Trump threat is very much in-your-face. With its dependency on the US market, Canada lacks leverage. But hope is on the horizon.
In his ice-breaking move, Carney sweeps away trade barriers across the board, allowing 49000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into Canada annually at pre-Trump levy levels. Gone are the toxic tariffs, the two-edged sword favored by a rogue state.
The door to the vast Chinese market now swings open. Instead of Venezuelan oil, Canadian oil smells just as sweet. So does a free-flow of China-bound Canadian agricultural and fishery products.
Carney won't go crawling to Trump. Nobody in the Trump orbit, friend or foe, has survived intact. All spineless Justin got for his subservience was getting battered, bruised, and belittled.
China is a risk-free, by-the-book player who stands ready to replace America as its largest trading partner. This is US-proofing Canada. It no longer has to worry about being squashed while sleeping next to a rogue elephant.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | The world is getting weirder and weirder
Opinion | Vital lessons for China from Venezuela
Comment