Realistic rights and trade talk will lay track for mature Sino- Canadian ties
Sino- Canadian relations began with Chinese workers laying the track for the railway that unified Canada coast to coast. It blossomed in the era when China was “linking rails to the world” in the last quarter of the 20th Century. Now, both countries are maturing, and the relationship must mature with it.
A mature bilateral relationship is not derailed by short- term controversy and is characterized by stability and continuity.
There is sometimes an unspoken assumption, barely articulated, that every Chinese initiative is some kind of Trojan horse, a self- seeking gift intended to undermine the security of the West and ensure the victory of China. This type of thinking is unworthy of Canadians.
In the eyes of some commentators on the Nexen investment by China National Offshore Oil Corporation ( CNOOC), Chinese money was up to no good, even though Canadian investors in Nexen walked away with a huge premium to the current value of their investment. Surely we can look a gift horse in the mouth without questioning the motives of the person who offers it. Chinese investment should be evaluated in the same way as any other investment to see whether it is of net benefit to Canadians.
There is nothing insidious about Chinese money, nor is there any chance that commercial investment will undermine our political or social system. It is deeply unfortunate that our then prime minister Stephen Harper chose to cast Chinese investment in invidious and suspicious terms even as he approved CNOOC’s purchase of Nexen.
Chinese investors can and should be held up to the standards of Canadian law and should expect no special treatment either, that goes without saying.
The bottom line however is that any investment in Canada is a vote of confidence in Canada and a vote of confidence in the future of our relationship.
For some narrow- minded or short- sighted Canadians, the only rationale for closer relations appears to be transactional, informed by slower global growth and the declining leverage of our economic reliance on the US.
Taking our relationship to the next level of maturity requires us to move beyond the merely transactional and the instrumental. China’s spokespersons also have enthusiastically highlighted the material and commercial side of the relationship, not realizing that some people regard material gains with suspicion, either because they fear that they will not be fairly distributed, or because they suspect this involves selling out core values.
Public opinion in Canada has grudgingly accepted the importance of China and Asia to our prosperity, but remains apprehensive about China’s growing power and tends to view China and Asian countries generally as unfair traders. While support for a free trade agreement with China has grown from 36 percent to 46 percent since 2014, an equal number oppose such an agreement. The improvement since 2014 masks the fact that in 2012 support was still higher.
Our relationship can only mature if we engage more fully and come to see each other as partners in new and unexpected ways. Canadians must set aside the wish that greater engagement will transform China in our image. China will change, but not necessarily in ways with which we are familiar; Chinese must lose some suspicion also, and cease to look on engagement as a competition for superiority that China needs to win. We both need to learn that difference need not be better or worse and that we can overcome differences and disagreements when we do not see eye to eye.
Discussion of Sino- Canadian relations would not be complete without a few words about human rights and rights- talk generally.
There are fruitful and non- confrontational ways to engage over human rights. It may be helpful to establish a joint legal and philosophical commission to examine and review controversial cases that divide our countries after they have progressed through our respective legal systems.
Canadians want China to engage honestly and sincerely on human rights but in return, Canadians should be expected to engage honestly and sincerely with China and Chinese established institutions like the AIIB and the Belt and Road project. They must also be willing to treat Chinese investors as they would any other.