If there's any positive impact brought by Trump's actions after he took office, it might be that the "boomerang" has repeatedly struck those hypocritical Western countries that often claim to be "free democracies and supporters of human rights."

It's no surprise that Canada has been hit hard by Trump recently. On the 29th, provincial leaders from multiple provinces in Canada spoke out, condemning separatists in Alberta for "seeking support from foreign forces to split Canada," calling their actions "unacceptable."

Canadian Politicians Are Panicked

Among them, British Columbia's Premier David Eby directly labeled the actions of the Alberta separatists as "treason."

So, what exactly has caused these Canadian provincial leaders to become so angry?

These "Alberta separatists" come from Alberta, a western province of Canada bordering the United States. According to American media, the separatists believe their interests have long been ignored by the Canadian government, such as Alberta pays a lot in taxes but has little development opportunities; also, the Canadian government's environmental policies have suppressed the oil industry in Alberta...

Therefore, some of the Albertan separatists advocate for independence — polls show that 30% of residents may vote for an independence referendum. Additionally, a separatist group called "Free Alberta" plans to collect 180,000 voter signatures before May this year.

Alberta Independence Movement Rally

The reason why the Canadian provincial leaders are so angry about the Alberta separatist movement is because these "Alberta separatists" have made contact with the United States — on the 28th, the British newspaper Financial Times reported that since late April last year, the Alberta separatist group has met three times with U.S. officials to seek Trump's support for their independence movement, and both sides plan to meet again in February this year.

Given that Trump had previously threatened to make Canada the "51st state," it's no wonder that these "Alberta separatists" going to Washington for "external support" has triggered the sensitivity of the Canadian government, causing all provincial leaders to react strongly.

On the 29th, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau also mentioned this issue at the annual meeting, emphasizing that the U.S. must respect Canada's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and any external interference in Canada's internal affairs is unacceptable.

Imitating Trump's MAGA Hat, "Make Alberta Great Again"

The fierce resistance of Canada against the Alberta separatist movement can be seen as a "boomerang" that has struck itself.

For years, Canada has been one of the habitual interferers in China's internal affairs, constantly making comments on our Taiwan issue and Hong Kong matters under the pretext of "democratic values" and "rule-based international order," presenting a hypocritical image of a "justice guardian."

But now, when people in its own province are colluding with foreign forces to cause division, these Canadian politicians immediately changed their tone, not only collectively condemning but even directly labeling them as "traitors" — it turns out that Canadians do know that national sovereignty is inviolable and that external interference is unacceptable.

It should be said that the probability of Alberta's independence is actually not very high. After all, Scotland has been trying for many years, but hasn't really taken that step yet — these so-called "independence referendums" are essentially about creating incidents and generating topics to gain more resources and benefits.

By the way, Alberta has oil, and it is the largest foreign source of oil for the U.S. market.

In 2017, the Catalonia independence movement was quite active and almost succeeded, but what was the outcome? The Spanish government intervened quickly, taking strong measures to take over the regional affairs, and the EU, along with Germany, Britain, France, and other countries, all stood behind Spain, condemning the independence referendum as illegal and unrecognizable.

This approach of treating interference in another country's internal affairs as self-evident, while ruthlessly suppressing opposition when it comes to themselves, fully exposes the hypocrisy and double standards of Western countries regarding slogans like "self-determination of nations" and "respect for human rights."

The "boomerang effect" of Trump might just be a good opportunity for these countries to expose their double standards in the light of day.



Original: toutiao.com/article/7601094988436455977/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.