NEW AMBASSADOR TO BEIJING PUSHES TIES
Barely two weeks after leaving the post of federal immigration minister and being installed as Canada’s ambassador to China, John McCallum is already getting down to business.
McCallum, in an interview with Postmedia, said his mandate from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is simple: “I summarized my philosophy as ‘more, more, more.’ We want more trade, we want more investments, we want more tourists, more students and more co-operation in areas like the environment and climate change.”
The following is the edited version of a question-and-answer session about McCallum’s first two weeks in the office of arguably Canada’s second-most important diplomatic post.
Q What has the posting in Beijing been like so far?
A One qualification for being a Canadian ambassador in China is knowing how to walk and chew gum at the same time, because a big part of the job is seeing the huge opportunity for Canada, but also not agreeing with China on everything — including human right issues — which are issues of great importance to our mission.
We are obviously going to have challenges, whether on issues we agree to disagree or how to proceed on free trade. But I think the most challenging thing is the underlying spirit, and I think that’s good on both sides.
Q Some observers have expressed concerns on the recent decision to approve a Chinese firm’s takeover of Montreal’s ITF Technologies, despite the previous government’s opposition due to national security issues. What’s your response?
A The general point (on that purchase) is that we are open for business, but we do take national security very seriously. We know that is an important dimension.
In this particular case, we pursued the investigation under the interest of Canada, and after careful consideration we decided to proceed. All I can say is that government followed that advice and approved the deal, but issues around national security remain very important for us.
Q Human rights remain a hotbutton topic whenever China’s involved. How is your office dealing with it?
A Promoting and protecting human rights is certainly an integral part of our foreign policy, and it will remain so. I can’t really talk about individual cases because of privacy laws, but that’s an ongoing and very important activity.
Q Any updates on the potential of a China-Canada free trade deal?
A We are into the consultation phase, and that phase is continuing next month. We also are in the process of consulting Canadians, so we haven’t reached a point to proceed with formal negotiations, but I would certainly say that the attitude from both sides is positive.
But there are also things outside of the free-trade agreement we can do, on more tourists, exports in certain sectors, and I think all of that is quite positive.
Q Outside of those issues, what are some of your other focus points while in Beijing?
A Having been a teacher for much longer than I have been a politician, education is an extremely important area. We don’t only want to welcome more Chinese students, but we want to do more high-level research between our universities. We have a lot of projects ongoing, and more are to come.
But we also want more Canadians to go to China. The number of Canadians going to China is very, very low compared to the number of Chinese coming here. We don’t necessarily want a balanced trade of students — there will always be more Chinese students heading my way — but we think it’s good for Canadians if we have substantially more students going to China.
Q Tension is rising between the United States and China after the election of Donald Trump. What role does Canada playing as a “middle power”?
A I think we are clearly on the side of openness and open borders when it comes to trade, and (Chinese President Xi Jinping) expressed the same sentiments in Davos recently. Now, the Chinese still have a lot of impediments here, but philosophically, Beijing has spoken against protectionism.
The prime minister has worked very hard to establish good relations with the new American president and his administration, and that’s ongoing. That relationship is obviously critically important. But at the same time, we have our own policy in China. We have made it very clear that our policy is to do more to strengthen ties with China, and that’s the course we are on.
It is not clear what the U.S. course on China will be. It may become clearer after the upcoming meeting between the two presidents. But whatever the U.S. course might be, the Canada course is set in terms I’ve described.