Canada and Saudi Arabia announced the restoration of diplomatic relations last week. This news went a bit under the media radar with the tabling of the Special Rapporteur’s first report on Chinese interference. Even fortuitous, the coincidence is nonetheless telling.
In August 2018, Saudi Arabia declared a freeze on its trade relations with Canada. In barely 24 hours, the ambassador stationed in Riyadh had been expelled, the Saudi ambassador in Ottawa, recalled to the country. At the same time, the kingdom had organized the relocation of thousands of Saudi students present in Canada and the suspension of several medical partnerships, thus depriving Canada of an appreciable financial windfall.
The reason ? A statement from Chrystia freelandthen Minister of Foreign Affairs, on his Twitter account. She called for the release of Raïf and Samar Badawi. The next day, his ministry called for their “immediate” release, also on Twitter. Saudi Arabia had declared that it would not accept “any interference in its internal affairs and sovereignty”. Canada, by its reaction, had flouted this rule. Within three days, the ties were severed.
complicated links
Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the world is complex. This regional economic and political force in the Gulf aspires to play an important role on the world stage. Saudi Arabia blows hot and cold between the United States, the West, Russia and China, and reinforces, at every opportunity, its status as a key player in the region.
Of note, a re-establishment of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran has also been concluded. In March, Riyadh announced that it would join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is intended as a response to the Five Eyes (US, Australia, New Zealand, UK) intelligence alliance. United, Canada).
Canadian companies, such as Bell or SNC-Lavalin, have done lucrative business in the kingdom. The Harper government concluded “the largest export contract in advanced manufacturing in its history” there in 2014, with the sale of armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia. A 14 billion dollar contract, with the key, 3,000 jobs for 14 years.
This contract was won against France and Germany, two democracies which, like Canada, defend human rights. If Canada had abstained in the name of defending these rights, as some critics demanded, these jobs would have been created in European factories.
This agreement had been quite a political thorn in the side of the Liberals and the NDP during the election. The armored vehicle plant was based in southern Ontario, an important electoral strategic region. Justin Trudeau called the sale of “jeeps” to minimize the military aspect. The NDP had had difficulty denouncing the unionized jobs favored by its ally, UNIFOR.
A patent interference
Exposing abuses internationally is what is expected of a democracy. Canada often communicates its concerns, including to the Chinese regime. Saudi Arabia’s reaction was deemed grossly disproportionate. The kingdom had used nearly every tool in its arsenal to repudiate Minister Freeland’s statement. No diplomatic or commercial gradation.
These sanctions were not a message directed only against Canada, but against all those who would have wanted to venture into similar microphone diplomacy. In 2021, China similarly warned the world by sanctioning Lithuania for allowing a Taiwan representative office in Vilnius.
Prince Mohammed Ben Salman, the king’s son, nicknamed MBS, had to fight hard to consolidate his power as crown prince. The succession to the third generation was then uncertain between the king’s son and his nephews. MBS has requisitioned a golden prison, the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, in order to sequester his cousins, influential princes who are members of the elite. It was during this period that the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi took place and the detention of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, forced to resign during a trip to Saudi Arabia.
China is responding in much the same way by closing Canadian export markets such as beef, canola, pork and other agricultural or fishery products. The measures are more targeted, economic links oblige. They are also public and therefore facade, but, as revealed by the media, this has not prevented sanctions and behind-the-scenes operations.
Our intelligence services are wiretapping and shadowing, observing the comings and goings of meetings at strategic locations, recording this information in reports, which indicate that the Chinese regime has indeed tried to put pressure on deputies. Others mention operations and financing to promote or neutralize candidates during nominations or general elections, misinformation, intimidation suffered by Chinese-Canadians and the presence of Chinese underground police stations in the country.
A happy medium
According to David Johnston’s report, “the information from our services causes a great deal of uncertainty and is inconclusive” so much so that he rejects the idea of a public inquiry. This is an answer that is neither convincing nor reassuring for Canadians and their allies.
Should we understand, much like Saudi Arabia reacted to the Canadian message on the Badawi, that it will take an official communication on Twitter from the Beijing regime to have irrefutable proof of interference? The Trudeau government, in any case, does not react to memos, only to information emanating from the public sphere.
Unlike China and Saudi Arabia, freedom of the press exists in Canada. We can therefore count on whistleblowers, frustrated at not having been heard, to confide in the media. What Mr. Johnston has also strongly criticized in his report.
If Saudi Arabia had severed its educational and medical ties with Canada, the Trudeau government is struggling to make our universities, research institutes and laboratories understand that there are risks to our national security. to forge partnerships with the Chinese regime.
Same discrepancy with the only expulsion ordered by the Canadian government which took so long to be done. I certainly don’t admire Saudi Arabia for reacting in three days. Nor am I trying to insinuate that the Trudeau government should have taken the same actions. But between Saudi Arabia’s overreaction and the Trudeau government’s slow response to the Chinese regime’s actions, isn’t there a middle ground?
Doesn’t a country like Canada, which respects human rights, have a duty to act to protect its citizens and its democratic institutions when they are really attacked? We will have to wait for the next report of the special rapporteur to have the answer, in October.