The Spectator

Letters | 7 February 2019

issue 09 February 2019

Fawning over China

Sir: In reading your recent leading article on Huawei (‘Red-handed’, 2 February), I feel I should point out that it is not solely the British government who have been wrong-footed by the rise of China.

Here in Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau has long desired to open up Canadian markets to Chinese companies, going so far as to express admiration for the country’s ‘basic dictatorship’. The Chinese press even bequeathed him with
a charming nickname: the Little Potato.

Now, in the face of the Huawei charges, Mr Potato has been forced to change course and has fired his ambassador, John McCallum, after he defended Huawei’s Chinese executives rather than supporting Canadians who have recently been imprisoned in China. Someone apparently forgot to rewrite his script.
Malcolm Coady

St John’s, Canada

Troubles ahead?

Sir: Matthew Parris seems to display a disturbingly one-eyed view of Brexit (‘Those who warn of Brexit unrest invite it’, 2 February).

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