Canada Slaps 100 Percent Tariff on Chinese-Made EVs

This BYD electric car sells for US$12,000 in China

The big news today in Canada was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing a 100 percent surtax on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EV) from October 1, and that would extend to Teslas that were manufactured in Shanghai.

He said this tariff will "level the playing field for Canadian workers" and allow Canada's EV industry to compete at home, in North America, and abroad.

Would you buy this Mini EV for US$5,000?

A Chinese-made EV can range from US$12,000 to US$42,000.

Canada is following what the United States did back in May, though a senior government official said Canada was not enacting the tariffs because of American pressure. 

While the Canadian auto industry and workers are cheering this announcement, the biggest losers are consumers who are keen to wean off fossil fuels, but can't afford to buy EVs on the market now.

If Chinese-owned BYD (build your own dreams) cars were available in Canada, even more people would probably get on the EV bandwagon, for the country to be emission-free by 2035, but it seems Canadian automakers and workers have been dragging their feet in finding ways to make cheaper EVs.

"Unfortunately, Canada made a decision today that will result in fewer affordable electric vehicles for Canadians, less competition and more climate pollution," said Joanna Kyriazis, director of public affairs at Clean Energy Canada.

"Not only could today's announcement have a chilling effect on future EV sales, it could drive up EV prices and slow adoption in the near-term as well," she said.

Teslas made in Shanghai will be taxed 100 percent

Ironically though, Canada isn't allowing any Chinese automakers in anyway, though BYD could possibly skirt around the tariffs by opening up a factory in Canada or the United States. 

In the meantime, the Chinese are obviously not pleased with Trudeau's announcement, saying: "This move will undermine the normal economic and trade cooperation between China and Canada. It harms the interests of Canadian consumers and enterprises, and is not conducive to Canada's green transformation and global efforts to combat climate change," a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Will this result in increasing trade tensions between China and Canada? We hope not...

Australian-Chinese Journalist Released

Cheng was detained for three years before being released

Late last night Vancouver time it was a relief to see Australian-Chinese journalist Cheng Lei had been released after three years in detention in China and was now back in Melbourne.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong greeted Cheng with a hug at the airport.

"She was in extraordinarily good spirits. I think I was more emotional than she was," Wong said of Cheng. "I think she's pretty tough. She looked great."

Cheng (left) and Wong hugged at the airport

Wong said she had promised Cheng's two children, 11 and 14, that the government would do all it could to bring their mother home.

"It was really moving to meet Cheng Lei yesterday and speak to her kids who are not much older than mine," Wong said.

She added she encouraged Cheng to thrive and be healthy and happy now that she's free. "That's what all Australians want you to be," Wong said.

It is believed improved relations between Australia and China helped secure Cheng's release, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had "good, constructive" meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang about Cheng's case. 

In the last two weeks a deal was struck where Cheng would plead guilty to charges related to state secrets with no additional time in custody.

When she was working for CGTN, she was arrested in August 2020, with China's Ministry of State Security saying Cheng had provided a foreign organisation with state secrets she had obtained on the job in violation of a confidentiality clause signed with her employer. A police statement did not name the organisation or say what the secrets were.

Cheng has returned to her family

A court in Beijing convicted her of illegally providing state secrets abroad and was sentenced to two yeras and 11 months, the statement said.

Meanwhile Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the Chinese judicial system tried the case " in accordance with the law, fully safeguarding the rights enjoyed by the person concerned in accordance with the law."

However, in a letter that was made public in August, Cheng wrote how she only had sunlight in her cell for 10 hours a year, and to keep mentally fit, she recalled every place she had visited and moments, both special and simple, like the experience of sand between her toes to sunsets.

Nevertheless, Geoff Raby, a former Australian ambassador to China and a friend of Cheng, described China's explanation that she had been released according to the law as a "face-saving solution."

He said Wong and Albanese deserved credit for stabilising bilateral relations with China, and bringing up Cheng's case at every opportunity.

"Persistence and constantly coming back to this issue and advocating on her behalf in private but at very senior levels... trickles down through the Chinese system and I think the result we see thankfully... yesterday is a product of all that effort," Raby told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Wang Yi Replaces Qin Gang

Qin turfed out as Foreign Minister after only seven months

It was announced early this morning Vancouver time, but after only seven months on the job, Qin Gang is officially out as Foreign Minister and replaced by his predecessor, Wang Yi.

The Central Committee made the decision, and did not elaborate on what will happen to Qin, or his other responsibilities as state councillor.

There are still questions as to why Qin was removed and why Wang has taken over, though he is the most steady choice -- given this latest move is an embarrassment for China's foreign affairs and for Xi, who had fast-tracked Qin as top diplomat.

Qin's predecessor Wang Yi replaces him

"The suddenness and opacity surrounding Qin's dismissal demonstrates the volatility that has now become a feature of China's political system under Xi," said Jude Blanchette, the holder of the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Before the announcement there were numerous rumours flying around -- including that Qin had died of liver cancer, as the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said he had health problems. 

Richard McGregor, a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney who studies Chinese foreign policy, said Xi was too powerful to suffer much damage from Qin's downfall.

"If there's any substance to the rumours, it's a reminder that in the party system, your private life can be as much subject to regulation as your public duties," McGregor said. "Though in this case, the conduct of an ambassador has national security implications."

China expert Bill Bishop suggests perhaps Wang is a temporary replacement until a younger official is chosen, though he is the most stable choice for now.

Wang met with Kerry recently in Beijing

"The removal of Qin may have happened faster than it would have for other officials who are under investigation because his unexplained absence was affecting diplomatic work and the PRC's image," Bishop wrote in his Sinocism newsletter.

He has also dismissed the health reason, otherwise it would have been mentioned in the announcement.

"The fact that Wang is picked to replace Qin as the country's new foreign minister in the middle of a major personnel crisis in mainland politics says a lot about Wang's close ties with the top leader," said Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

But Wu said this was happening at a bad time for Beijing, when it was trying to ease tensions with the United States and its allies and reboot the economy.

"The saga has been a big embarrassment for China, that has exposed the non-transparent nature of China's close decision-making," he said.

The next time Qin is shown may be in court facing charges... and then perhaps never to be seen again...

Where's Qin Gang?

Anyone know where Qin Gang is these days?

There is a lot of background chatter wondering where Foreign Minister Qin Gang is. He hasn't been seen for three weeks now and there's a lot of speculation and rumour about what happened to him.

Qin, 57, is a career diplomat and more importantly someone in Xi Jinping's inner circle. In December Qin was fast-tracked to the Foreign Minister job after a brief stint in Washington.

However, Qin hasn't been seen since June 25 when he met with officials from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia in Beijing. 

Fu (left) likes wearing giant bows in her hair

At press briefings the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has tried to avoid answering the question of where Qin is, which is not only awkward, but also very telling.

As the former ambassador to Washington, he was expected to take part in talks with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and most recently climate envoy John Kerry in Beijing, but was no where to be seen. Could this explain why Yellen and Kerry were subjected to a lot of talk and no action? 

Qin was also supposed to represent in China at the Asean meetings in Jakarta last week, but it was announced that he was ill and was replaced by his predecessor Wang Yi.

The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell was supposed to come to China this past Monday, but Beijing abruptly cancelled the trip with no reason given.

Some rumours suggest Qin has Covid-19, but surely he would have recovered within two weeks at most with vaccines and access to Paxlovid.

Fu's selfie with baby son Er-Kin on a private jet

Others think if he had a heart attack, surely there would be a photo of him in hospital convalescing, maybe even with a thumbs up?

Nevertheless, there is a lot of speculation he may have had an extramarital affair with Fu Xiaotian, a TV presenter with Phoenix TV. She has a penchant for wearing giant bows in her hair like it was the 1980s.

She is known for interviewing top officials around the world and interviewed Qin in around 2022 and then interestingly nine months later Fu had a baby boy.

It is believed the child was born in the United States so he has American citizenship.

There were also pictures of her she posted of herself, the baby and supposedly her parents in a mansion in California that rents for US$60,000 a month. 

Fu has also posted pictures of herself on a Gulfstream private jet -- what reporter can afford to hire one, let alone media company shell out for it?

Her cryptic post on Twitter reads: "Last time flying out alone with this aircraft was from LA to DC for a work visit, and that both happily and sadly turned to be the very last interview I did with Talk with World Leaders. This time to fly out with this aircraft was also from LA, but with precious baby son Er-kin."

Fu hinting Qin is the father on his birthday

And she even posted pictures of her baby boy and apparently on social media has hinted her relationship with Qin by making posts around his birthday or when he was promoted to Foreign Minister.

"It is a very bad look for the PRC for their foreign minister to disappear for over three weeks," says avid China watcher Bill Bishop of Sinocism.

Indeed.

There is speculation Qin may be facing his downfall and people are wondering if this is what happens to someone who is close to Xi, then what? There are also rumours that perhaps when Qin was fast-tracked that he ruffled other people's feathers and someone may have gotten back at him by leaking information about Fu and the alleged extramarital affair.

The longer this goes the worse it looks for Qin and Xi, and by extension China.

One wonders where Qin is now and what he's in trouble for...

Balloon-gate Ends with a Bang

The moment the balloon was shot down by an F-22 fighter jet

The deed was done -- an F-22 fighter jet shot down the giant Chinese so-called weather balloon as it was hovering over the Atlantic Ocean, six miles off the coast of South Carolina.

Thus came the end of the balloon saga, following US President Joe Biden's order.

"I told them to shoot it down," he said on his way to Camp David. "They said to me, let's wait until the safest place to do it."

Biden gave a statement after the ballon was shot

And so it was shot down at 2.39pm EST, and the Pentagon said the Navy and Coast Guard would recover as much of the debris for further examination.

Meanwhile the Chinese expressed its "strong discontent and protest" about the downing of the balloon, repeating its explanation that it was a civilian aircraft that had inadvertently strayed into North American air space.

"In these circumstances, for the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction that seriously violates international convention," the Chinese foreign ministry statement said. 

"China will resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved, and retains the right to respond further."

The US told the Chinese the possibility of them shooting down the balloon -- it was floating over the US for seven days, thus giving the Chinese several opportunities to own up to the incident, but apparently its reason was not convincing enough.

The debris is being recovered for examination

Some experts say the balloon may have been literally a trial balloon to see how the US would react, and others say perhaps Beijing is testing its latest surveillance capabilities.

In any event, there is now a second balloon flying over South America... 

What is hard to understand is why this balloon mission was given the green light at this time, further ratcheting up tensions between China and the US. Is Xi Jinping looking for a fight on the last day of the Lunar New Year?