National Post (National Edition)
Canadians urged to study in China despite arrests
O T T AWA • Eight days after Chinese authorities imprisoned Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, a senior Canadian foreign ministry official urged Canadian students to apply for a program to study in China.
Sarah Taylor, the directorgeneral of the north- Asia bureau at Global Affairs Canada, made the pitch for the 45- year- old Canada- China Scholarship Exchange Program during a Dec. 18 event at the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa.
“My department is proud to support the CCSEP and is eager to see a broader representation of Canadians from across the country, at the university and college level,” Taylor said in prepared remarks released under Canada’s access- toinformation law.
T he government continues to promote the lucrative exchange program, which has a final application deadline of next Friday, even though it has elevated its travel advisory to China with a warning that Canadians are at “risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws.”
David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said Taylor’s remarks might have been well-intended but Canada simply can’t continue to conduct business as usual with China.
“It sends the message to the Chinese that, no matter what we say, we want the relationship to continue as if nothing had happened. I simply can’t see us holding such an event with any other country if they were holding two of our citizens hostage,” said Mulroney, who served as Canadian ambassador to China from 2009 and 2012.
Adam Austen, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs, said Canada continues to call for the release of Kovrig and Spavor after their arbitrary detentions, but the exchange program is good for relations.
“These exchanges provide international academic experience to both Canadian and Chinese students and researchers — and foster cooperation between our two countries,” he said.
Kovrig and Spavor were detained nine days after the RCMP arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, which is seeking her extradition on fraud charges.
China denies the arrests of former diplomat Kovrig and entrepreneur Spavor are retaliation.
There was little mention of the diplomatic dust-up at the Dec. 18 event at the Chinese Embassy, which was attended by a several dozen people, including leading Canadian academics and business leaders.
Taylor said that strong “people- to- people connections have been the bedrock of our dynamic bilateral relationship” and that both countries view “education co-operation” as a strategic priority.
“And that priority is easy to see. China is Canada’s most important source of international students with more than 140,000 Chinese students on campuses of Canadian institutions,” she said.
Canada’s continued engagement with China on the education exchange is indicative of its “national myopia” in relation to the People’s Republic, said Mulroney.