''Claws of the Panda: Beijing's Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada'' is a 2019 book by Jonathan Manthorpe about Canada's foreign relations with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC) and the influence of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Manthorpe argues that Canada and the PRC have a clash of values and that Canada has been a victim of multiple abuses by Beijing including spying, abductions, human rights abuses,

intellectual property theft An intellectual property (IP) infringement is the infringement or violation of an intellectual property right. There are several types of intellectual property rights, such as copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, plant breeders rig ...

, monitoring and intimidating

Chinese Canadians Chinese Canadians are Canadians of full or partial Chinese people, Chinese ancestry, which includes both naturalized Chinese immigrants and Canadian-born Chinese. They comprise a subgroup of East Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of ...

and Chinese dissidents, and other attempts to influence Canadian policy. His thesis is that the PRC has been able to implement such policies for a number of years due to naivete by Canadian policy makers. In the book, Manthorpe advocates for a change in Canadian foreign policy towards the PRC. It was published around the same time as a period of strained relations between the two countries following the arrest of Huawei's deputy chair and CFO

Meng Wanzhou Meng Wanzhou ( zh, c=孟晚舟; born 13 February 1972), also known as Cathy Meng and Sabrina Meng, also informally known in China as the "Princess of Huawei", is a Chinese business executive. She is the deputy chair of the board and chief fin ...

in Canada in December 2018 and two subsequent arrests of Canadian citizens (Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor) in the PRC. Canada accused the PRC of arresting Kovrig and Spavor in retaliation for the Meng arrest. Manthorpe has clarified that the book is "not a book about Canadians of Chinese heritage" and was concerned about the book being used to provoke sentiment against Chinese Canadians. He also mentioned that it was "wrong, and ultimately dangerous, to view the CCP's infiltration of Canada as racial".

References

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External links

CBC radio interview
with Manthorpe about the book Canadian non-fiction books Books about international relations Canada–China relations 2019 non-fiction books Cormorant Books books

See also

References

External links