Employees work on the production line at a factory of Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio in Anhui province, China. Canada wants China to lift tariffs on Canadian agricultural and seafood products, which were imposed last fall in response to Canada’s 100-per-cent tariff on imported Chinese EVs.Florence Lo/Reuters
Charles Burton is a former diplomat at Canada’s embassy in Beijing, a senior fellow at the think tank Sinopsis.cz and member of Doublethink Lab’s China in World Global Index Committee.
There are increasing signs that Mark Carney’s cabinet, which is anxiously trying to mend our crumbling alliance with the United States, is quietly pursuing a major policy shift in Canada’s relations with China.
Foreign Minister Anita Anand reinforced the notion after meeting with her Asian counterparts in Malaysia in early July. “It is important for us to revisit our policy – not only in the Indo-Pacific but generally speaking – to ensure that we are focusing not only on the values that we have historically adhered to,” she said.
“Foreign policy is an extension of domestic interest and particularly domestic economic interests,” she added. “This is a time when the global economy is under stress.”
The Asian century is here, but Canada isn’t ready
In the 35 years since Chinese tanks crushed the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy demonstrations – killing some 4,000 citizens in Beijing alone, mostly young, politically idealistic students – the discussion within Canada has become whether we should forget such history and focus on growing trade with superpower China on its terms, downplaying concerns over its threat to Canada’s security, sovereignty and democratic values that support rules-based international order.
As federal officials engage in bare-knuckle tariff talks with U.S. negotiators, Canada obviously needs to restructure its trade and security partnerships to build a buffer from Donald Trump, who is manipulating commercial gravity to pull industries to relocate to the States. One aim is to reduce Canada to the status of a toothless neighbour forced to grant more U.S. access to, say, our fresh water and critical minerals.
Watching this unfold, China is ramping up specious propaganda that it respects fair trade through the World Trade Organization, supports measures that mitigate climate change, and provides loans and aid to developing countries through its Belt and Road program and its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The message is clear: China is a better and more ethical partner for Canada than Trumpian America.
Let’s free ourselves of the U.S. and forge closer ties with China
In June, Mr. Carney and Chinese Premier Li Qiang agreed to “regularize” communications between the countries and revive the moribund Canada-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission, which was created when Stephen Harper was Canada’s prime minister.
Canada wants China to lift its punishing tariffs on Canadian agricultural and seafood products, which were imposed last fall in response to Canada’s 100-per-cent tariff on imported Chinese EVs. If it becomes obvious that Mr. Trump’s abrogation of the 1965 Canada-U.S. Auto Pact is inevitable, Ottawa may decide to let China’s state-subsidized, inexpensive spy machines on wheels flood our market and devastate Canada’s auto industry.
China and the U.S. appear to be equally treacherous options for Canada, and for many countries.
When Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met recently in Beijing with Xi Jinping, the Chinese Leader made the standard comment that Western nations dealing with China should “seek common ground while setting aside differences.” Mr. Albanese actually concurred, saying, “That approach has indeed produced very positive benefits for both Australia and for China.”
Canada has an opportunity to reset our relationship with China – and, in a rare twist, on our terms
Unfortunately the “differences” that Mr. Xi talks about result in harms to Canada, not China. For Ottawa, the price of enhanced trade would be dear: Let China mine critical minerals in Canada’s North, give open access to Canadian high tech and dual-use military technologies, abandon implementing a foreign influence transparency registry, accept China’s incursions in the Canadian Arctic, and cease Canada’s modest freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. And those are just for starters.
The Trump administration likewise has a deep agenda and savours capitulation. Mr. Trump wants Canada to beg to become the 51st state, extending U.S. territory all the way to Greenland. Is it even possible to negotiate an economic and defence deal with Washington, salvaging some semblance of benefit to Canada, while paying no mind to Mr. Trump’s threats to devastate Canada’s economy?
Caught in a bind between superpowers, it will not likely be long before Mr. Carney follows Mr. Albanese to Beijing. He has been to China and met Mr. Xi before. But getting in bed with the Communist Party of China could make a bad situation for Canada irreversibly worse.