A Statement from the Canadian Peace Congress. Download PDF version.

The Canadian Peace Congress denounces the short-sighted and dangerous war-mongering that the United States government and allied Canadian and other Western governments have been waging for months against the People’s Republic of China, its people, and its government.

The Canadian, American, and Chinese people have in common a desire to avoid war at all costs. People all over the world want to live in peace, not in an atmosphere of ‘cold war’ confrontation. They want to see their children grow up healthy and happy in a world of prosperity, security, and peace. The forces of Western imperialism want to demolish this vision for a just and peaceful world, and this is why educating and organizing against this monstrous force of empire is such an urgent priority today.

Western countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK have been waging an increasingly belligerent hybrid war against China. The aggressive tactics these countries have engaged in include Canada’s unprovoked kidnapping of Huawei executive officer Meng Wanzhou, the U.S.’s hostile actions against various Chinese hi-tech firms (Huawei, TikTok, etc.), undertaking dangerous military operations in the East China Sea and the Straits of Taiwan to provoke and encircle the PRC, and the near-constant barrage of Western supremacist propaganda against China in almost all Western media.

The Canadian Peace Congress recognizes the U.S. government’s ‘Pivot to Asia’ and numerous other policies and actions from Western governments as an aggressive development with potentially disastrous ramifications for the whole world. This strategy of military and political-economic encirclement, combined with a policy of brinkmanship, threatens the lives of 1.4 billion people in China and more than 6 billion people in the rest of the world. China has signalled that this is unacceptable behaviour that will be actively countered. The Canadian Peace Congress recognizes that nations have the right and duty to defend themselves against foreign aggression.

The United States and its allies are counting on its nuclear superiority to bring China to its knees. This is a policy of wishful thinking and madness. Sanity demands that the United States agree to never be the first to use nuclear weapons. China already pledged to No First Use policy since 1964. Meanwhile, the United States has refused to pledge to the No First Use policy. On the contrary, the U.S. and the NATO alliance (of which Canada is a member) maintains an explicit strategic policy in favour of the “pre-emptive” (a.k.a. ‘first strike’) use of nuclear weapons.

At this moment in time, a robust peace movement is needed to counter the increasingly hostile actions of US/NATO imperialism. The Canadian Peace Congress calls on working people across Canada to get involved in the peace and solidarity movement, to stand up against the reactionary voices of an increasingly desperate ruling class.

The Canadian Peace Congress demands the Canadian federal government reverse course on China, and instead pursue a foreign policy of peace, cooperation and mutual respect. The People’s Republic of China has long advocated “Peace, Development and Win-Win Cooperation,” which – when contrasted against rampant militarism and hostility – offers Canadians and all humanity a more fruitful, peaceful, and harmonious future.

Furthermore, the Canadian Peace Congress demands that the Canadian government leave NATO, a fundamentally aggressive and militarist ‘alliance’ controlled by US interests. This organization is increasingly bellicose and oriented towards “great power conflict” with emerging world powers such as Russia and China. Canada must chart its own path forward and pursue an agenda of peace and prosperity for all nations.

Finally, the Canadian Peace Congress demands that Canadian military budget be slashed in order to meet the needs of working people in Canada, particularly at a time of deepening economic crisis. It is counterproductive to our common interests to fund expansive militarism while austerity measures undermine social programs at home. Education, healthcare, housing, and low-wage, precarious work are the most pressing issues facing Canadians, not war and aggression.

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