China-Canada ties set to sour
Ottawa seen interfering in Hong Kong issues
Beijing and Ottawa’s relationship in the wake of Canada’s announcement to suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong would inevitably cast a dark shadow over those betting on improved bilateral economic ties, market watchers said.
The treaty withdrawal announcement by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday made the North American nation the first to break its law enforcement links with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
Trudeau’s response to the newly adopted national security law for Hong Kong also included a ban on exporting sensitive military items to Hong Kong and a trade advisory update for the southern Chinese city.
The Chinese Embassy in Canada responded with a statement on its website over the weekend, saying that “Canada made unwarranted comments” on the new law and it has “grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs.”
Some countries in the West such as Canada have long been meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs under the pretext of human rights, read the statement, noting that such attempts are
“doomed to fail.”
Canada’s move to curb dealings with Hong Kong is set to widen cracks already seen in Beijing-Ottawa relationship due to Canada’s arresting Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in late 2018, Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday.
A local court in Canada ruled in late May against Meng, continuing her extradition trial that is seen as detrimental to Chinese-Canadian ties.
Chinese traders who are capable of finding alternative sources for imports would certainly avoid putting all their eggs into one basket, Gao said.
Except for New Zealand, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (a conglomeration of five nations that also includes the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada) is expected to continue to be hostile toward Beijing, necessitating increased attention from Chinese businesses that are wary of repercussions from worsening political ties, he commented.
Canadian shipments of grain and pork products to China tend to be subject to heightened tensions between Canada and its second-largest source of imports, analysts said.
Canadian barley exports to China jumped in May as China imposed antidumping duties on the grains from Australia, according to a Bloomberg report on Saturday. Canada’s barley exports to China grew 38 percent from the previous year to 175,500 tons in May, the report said, citing the Canadian Grain Commission.
“China is a very important market for Canadian producers,” the Canadian Pork Council said on its website. Canada’s pork exports to China accounted for 514 million Canadian dollars ($378.65 million) of the total number of almost 4 billion Canadian dollars in 2018.