Chinese premier calls for ‘new golden decade’
Leaders say Canada and China are starting exploratory free-trade talks
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Li Keqiang wrap up the first official visit of a Chinese leader to Canada since 2010, members of the business community say that although the China might not be perfect in terms of environmental regulations and human rights, now is the time to forge closer ties with what will arguably be the world’s most influential economy in coming decades.
“The discussions between our two countries lately have centred on the idea that the economic potential between us is vast and that we’d be doing a great disservice to our people if we didn’t tap into it,” Trudeau told an audience Friday that included a 150-strong delegation of Chinese business leaders at the Canada China Business Forum in Montreal.
Li called for a “new golden decade” in the relationship between the two countries, following an icier relationship under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.
“If a free-trade agreement is established between our two countries it will open up boundless opportunities for investors and business leaders,” said Li during the luncheon.
Li and Trudeau announced in Ottawa Thursday that the two countries were beginning exploratory free-trade talks, saying they aim to double trade by 2025 and had resolved long-standing issues of access for Canadian beef and canola to China, while several companies signed commercial deals.
This meeting of the two leaders in Canada comes less than a month after Trudeau’s visit to China surrounding the G20 summit in Shanghai, which included the signing of $1.2 billion in trade deals.
Former Quebec premier Jean Charest said he interprets this sudden warming between the two countries as a result of the upcoming U.S. presidential elections with both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump talking tough on trade with China. Trump has accused China of stealing millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs, while Clinton has been critical of human rights in the country.
“It’s probably safe to assume that the relationship with China is going to be tougher south of the border the day after the campaign than it is today, and I think the Chinese see Canada as a counterpoint to what’s happening in the United States,” said Charest, who has headed trade missions to China as premier and now does business there with the McCarthy Tétrault law firm.
“Strategically for the Chinese government, it’s an opportunity.”
The visit has also addressed the rockier issues with the relationship, including China’s human rights record — it is one of a few countries that employs the death penalty — and domestic opposition to a proposed extradition treaty.
Francis Pang, who heads Toronto-based AKD International Inc. and has been doing business between China and Canada for more than 40 years, said while Canada and China might not see eye-to-eye on certain issues, that shouldn’t slow economic co-operation between the two countries.
“As different countries we can always have different political agendas, but economically, this is for the benefit of our own people, both in Canada and in China,” said Pang, whose firm signed a more than $100 million pipeline manufacturing investment in 1994 that at the time was the second-biggest trade deal between the two countries.
“We cannot wait to make every political concern right before we can do economic development together.”
In interviews at the luncheon, several business representatives said that removing restrictions through a free-trade agreement will provide access to capital, helping to develop investments in the Canada’s resource sector, which is of interest to China building infrastructure and manufacturing consumer goods for a rising middle class.
Alan Gorman, CEO of Montreal-based Oceanic Iron Ore Corp., said that although human rights in China should be a concern to Canadians, he believes the influence should be through partnerships, not through imposing conditions.
“Chinese society ought to be defined by Chinese citizens,” said Gorman, whose company in August signed an agreement with the Power Construction Corp. of China to provide financing for a mining project.
“We can be critical about China, however, I don’t think that serves much purpose,” Gorman said.
“I think we have to look at what’s being achieved there.”