Dec 26, 2021: While interviewing for a local media outlet, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Western democracies must stand together against the China, saying China is “playing us off each other.”

“We need to do a better job of working together and standing strong so that China, you know, can’t play from angles and divide us against each other,” he said in an interview with Global Television. The interview aired over the weekend.

The prime minister described the Western powers competing for access to China’s market – using China’s growing middle class as an example of Canadian vs. Australian beef sales – and referred to how China was often allowed to dictate terms.

“We’ve been competing and China has been from time to time very cleverly playing us off each other in an open market competitive way,” he said.

Trudeau said Western nations must “show a united front… so that China can’t play the angles and divide us, one against the other” and use “coercive diplomacy.”

Relations between Canada and China soured in December 2018, when Beijing arrested two Canadians – former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor- in response to a Canadian arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wenzhou on a US warrant. China also blocked some Canadian imports at the time.

The three detained were released in September after Meng struck a deal with US prosecutors over the allegations, ending his fight for extradition. Earlier this month, Ottawa joined US-led countries in a diplomatic boycott of the February Winter Olympics in Beijing over China’s human rights record. Ottawa is also considering banning Huawei from its 5G networks.

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