Officials meet despite Huawei controversy
Vancouver mayor says city’s relationship with China too vital to dismiss
The mayor of Vancouver met China’s consul general Wednesday, a day ahead of schedule, citing the country’s importance to his city’s economy, despite some constituents having demanded he cancel or postpone the meeting amid international tensions.
The meeting, which the mayor had said was originally scheduled for Thursday, was the first official one between Tong Xiaoling, Vancouver’s top Chinese diplomat, and Kennedy Stewart, who was elected as mayor on Oct. 20.
Stewart had come under pressure to call off the encounter in light of the Vancouver airport arrest of Meng Wenzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Techologies and the subsequent arrest of a Canadian exdiplomat in Beijing.
“I’ll continue to engage,” Stewart explained of his decision to proceed with the long-planned meeting, in an interview Monday. China “is an important trading partner that I hope we can continue to have good relations with.”
The mayor’s communications director, Alvin Singh, said on Wednesday afternoon, that “The meeting happened this morning and … the topic of the trial did not come up.”
Vancouver brings in significant revenues from its Chinese economic ties, according to the Vancouver Economic Commission. It hosts the continental headquarters of HSBC bank — which was named in Meng’s B.C. Supreme Court bail hearing — and Vancouver International Airport’s 54 direct flights to China every week are the second most of any North American city, after Los Angeles.
Kennedy’s predecessor, Gregor Robertson, took part in a trade delegation to China in September last year. The mission’s aim was “promoting Vancouver’s innovative, creative and sustainable business sectors, attracting investment to support Vancouver’s knowledge economy, assisting the expansion of local companies into the Chinese market.”
The provincial government estimates that 15 per cent of B.C.’s annual exports — $6.7 billion worth of products — are sent to China. That makes China B.C.’s second-largest trading partner, after the United States. And exports have grown by 16 per cent over the last decade.
Additionally, Vancouver real estate companies have established offices in Chinese cities as high-end purchases have proliferated in recent years, fuelling a heated controversy in Vancouver over the degree to which investment from China has contributed to skyrocketing housing prices over the past five years.
Previous provincial trade missions to China have included realtors.