Is China safe for Canadians?
China is absolutely safe for Canadians and for tourists of any nationality.
However, if you were to ask the federal politicians, you’d hear that China is a dangerous country where you must exercise a high degree of caution due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws. The mainstream news media pretty much echo what the politicians have to say on this issue.
Canadians who value independent thinking should dig deeper to better understand what’s really going on.
China is safe for Canadian tourists no matter what you hear from the federal politicians and the news media. “Arbitrary detention” is a term we often hear when the media and politicians talk about China, but the reality is far more complicated than the average person can appreciate. As long as you don’t go there to stir things up, such as by advocating for Taiwan’s independence in public spaces, nobody would bother you.
The current diplomatic tension between Canada and China has its direct roots in Canada’s arrest of Huawei’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou, in early December 2018, at the request of the US government during Trump’s first presidency. In retaliation, China detained two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, to pacify Chinese citizens who were outraged by what Canada did to Meng, a key executive of a hugely successful high-tech company widely admired by the Chinese.
Before Meng’s arrest, relations between Canada and China had been very cordial, so much so that Justin Trudeau was in Beijing in late 2017 to celebrate the opening of 2018 Canada-China Year of Tourism!
The case of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig was a political mess that could have been avoided should Mr. Jean Chretien or someone like him were the Prime Minister of Canada. As a matter of fact, Messrs. Chretien, his deputy prime minister John Manley as well as Trudeau’s own ambassador to Beijing, John MacCallum, all openly questioned the political wisdom in the arrest of Meng for Trump. Looking back, any rational Canadian would see that arresting Meng for Trump was nothing but a political blunder, for which our political leader in charge at the time would never publicly acknowledge – similar to Tony Blair’s argument till this day on the UK’s participation in the invasion of Iraq.
Upon return to Canada, Michael Spavor, the Calgary businessman, threatened to sue his fellow detainee, Michael Kovrig, the former Canadian diplomat, and the Canadian government for causing him harm. And the government of Canada paid him 7 million dollars to keep him quiet. All this information is in public domain for anyone to verify.
Travel advisories issued by one country against another are political in nature. They are routinely used as diplomatic weapons to settle political scores.
If your concern is whether China as a travel destination is safe for Canadians, you now should be able to draw your own conclusion.
Happy travels!
