The Liberal government was upset with Canada’s top general when he nixed training operations in the country by China’s People’s Liberation Army, secret documents reveal..Global Affairs officials told Gen. Jonathan Vance the cancelation would be viewed in Beijing as revenge for the arbitrary arrest of two Canadians, the Globe and Mail reported Wednesday..The Globe said it had seen documents “marked secret and for Canadian eyes only,” that show officials at the highest levels of Global Affairs were upset Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff, had cancelled winter exercises with the PLA in 2019..The U.S had raised concerns about joint military exercises that could benefit the Communist PLA, according to the documents the Globe viewed..The PLA is the world’s largest army with 2,035,000 active soilders..“Should Canada make any significant reductions in its military engagement with China, China will likely read this as a retaliatory move related to the Meng Wanzhou case,” said a February, 2019 memo to Ian Shugart, then deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, outlining the case for a letter he would be sending to Jody Thomas, deputy minister of the Department of National Defence..The Globe reported a senior government official said Vance, on the urgings of the U.S., cancelled winter exercises with the PLA and later all military interactions..Vance did allow Canadian Armed Forces personnel to compete at the 2019 Military World Games held in Wuhan, China, that October. Wuhan is where the COVID-19 virus is thought to have started..Shugart is now Clerk of the Privy Council, the country’s top bureaucrat, who reports directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau..The memo was written just months after Canada-China relations soured after Beijing arrested two Canadians, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor, in apparent retribution for the arrest of Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei in December, 2018..Canada had been acting on a U.S. extradition request..The documents obtained by the Globe were released through access-to-information law, although the department of Global Affairs later said they had not been properly censored before release due to human error..Alexandre Drago, Global Affairs’ access-to-information director, asked the Globe not to report from the unexpurgated documents, saying they contain “confidential and secret classified information that should not have been released outside of government” and information that is “injurious to Canada’s national security, national defence and international relations,” as well as to individuals..According to the memo to Mr. Shugart, the U.S. Pentagon had already pressed the military to rethink interactions with the PLA. By the time it was written, the Canadian military had elected to cancel Chinese participation in winter survival training at CFB Petawawa..It was to have included six to eight high-ranking People’s Liberation Army members.. Mossleigh pub briefly opens before authorities move in .The Globe reported the memo described it as a decision taken “unilaterally” by the Canadian military, apparently meaning the Forces did not consult Global Affairs first..“We understand that [this cancellation] was driven principally by concerns voiced by the U.S. that the training could result in unintended and undesired knowledge transfer to the PLA,” the Globe reported memo said..“Unilateral decisions to postpone and/or cancel previously agreed DND/CAF co-operation with the PLA risk being interpreted by China or others in an unintended (and unhelpful) way. [This] could also damage Canada’s long-term defence and security relationship with China,” the memo to Mr. Shugart said..“Given the heightened scrutiny, any decision by Canada to reduce/cut ties should be carefully considered to avoid sending any unhelpful or unintended messages.”.The deputy minister of Foreign Affairs asked the Department of Defence to check with Global Affairs before cancelling or postponing any future engagements with the PLA, the Globe reported..“This should follow consultations with Global Affairs and be paired with careful communications strategies to avoid becoming inadvertently linked to the current situation.”.The documents also include internal deliberations about how China would react if Canada sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait..The documents obtained by the Globe can be seen here..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.TWITTER: Twitter.com/nobby7694
