(TibetanReview.net, May30’23) – Amidst an ongoing political maelstrom over Beijing’s alleged interference in the 2019 and 2021 Federal elections, former Canadian Prime Minister sees China’s paramount leader as a greater, long-term threat to democracies around the world than Russian President Vladimir Putin, reported the hindustantimes.com May 27. Stephen Harper, Canada’s Prime Minister from 2006 to 2015, has made his observation while addressing a gathering in Vancouver organised by the think tank Fraser Institute. “Xi Jinping (general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party) is a much more long-term, serious threat than Putin,” Harper has said. The release of the report on Feb 23 by the independent special rapporteur, former Canadian Governor General David Johnston, met with criticism from the opposition which called it an exercise in “whitewashing”. The special rapporteur was appointed on Mar 6 after a series of reports in the outlets Globe and Mail and Global News that Beijing may have tried to influence Federal elections in Canada.

Source: Hindustan Times May 30, 2023 18:16 UTC