Canada must smarten up on its China policy

We must do more to stop suBversion, interferenCe, Charles Burton writes.

If you believe the Chinese Xinhua News Agency, Canada is blithely considering a Chinese Communist proposal to sell out the liberal values that define global institutions such as the United Nations and World Trade Organization, in favour of a madein-China model that will serve Beijing ’s authoritarian nationalist aspirations.

China’s official state news agency said that Song Tao — who heads the Communist Party Central Committee’s International Liaison Department — briefed Canadian officials last month on Beijing ’s plan to displace the United States as the world’s superpower by “building of a community with a shared future for mankind.”

The decisions being made now are going to radically change the values of global diplomacy and justice for the next century or more. What Canada needs to do is rethink its approach to China.

A good start is to recognize the need for regulations that monitor Western public servants and politicians who, after they retire from government, go into lucrative businesses and consultancies funded by China-related sources.

When former officials enrich themselves with Beijing ’s money, it raises huge questions about whether these people had been compromised in defending Canada’s national interests while in office. A post-retirement second career, trading on their China-related “friendships” cultivated in government service, is just not OK.

Multi-ethnic nations such as Canada should encourage citizens of Chinese origin to seek political office; we need legislatures that reflect our diversity. But the sole legitimate function of a politician is to serve their nation. But politicians with divided loyalties who spend a lot of time in China for vaguely defined purposes should not have a voice in policy-making impinging on the interests of China in Canada.

And, obviously, Canadian political parties should not be accepting funding from foreign sources. Most Western nations’ think tanks that advise on China relations routinely accept funding from China-related sources. And our media often provide an influential platform to apologist pundits whose grants and China travel are on Beijing ’s dime through “exchanges.”

Canada urgently needs a lot more expertise on China so we can better realize our interests with that country, but we should pay for it.

We also need to get more resources to our police and security agencies to counter Chinese subversion. Any accredited diplomat who menaces or harasses people in Canada, including ethnic Chinese democracy activists or members of the Tibetan and Uyghur communities, in ways that are incompatible with their diplomatic status should be sent home.

Likewise, Chinese state security agents who enter Canada under false pretences for the same purposes should be criminally charged.

Ottawa must expend more energy combating Chinese political, military and economic espionage.

Democracy in Taiwan and Hong Kong should be celebrated, but we shun their progressive leaders because China tells us to — or else. Canadian leaders should continue to meet with the Dalai Lama as a legitimate expression of our concern over the situation of Tibetans in China. We must apply our human rights standards equally to all people.

Finally, it is shocking that there is even a debate over whether the China Communications Construction Company should be allowed to purchase Canada’s largest publicly traded construction company, Aecon Group.

Aecon helped build the CN Tower, Vancouver’s SkyTrain, the St. Lawrence Seaway and is about to work on the Darlington nuclear power plant. The growing public outcry against the sale led the government to announce a full national security review.

If Ottawa allows this sale, expect the new version of Aecon to tender unrealistically competitive bids on critical Canadian infrastructure projects, and the Chinese military to have the blueprints of all past and future Aecon projects for their own use, or to share with North Korea.

The Aecon purchase is just one small piece of a larger coordinated Chinese Communist plan. Let’s come to our senses and just say “no.” Charles Burton is an associate professor of political science at Brock University in

St. Catharines, Ont. and is a former counsellor at the Canadian embassy in Beijing.