Forest company leaders heading for China without B.C. officials

VICTORIA Forest industry leaders from British Columbia are continuing a trade mission to China without provincial government officials, who are cutting short the trip to Asia as a court case involving a senior executive of Huawei Technologies unfolds in Vancouver.

Susan Yurkovich, president of the Council of Forest Industries, said Monday long-standing business relations with China are separate from legal issues involving Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom company, who was arrested in Vancouver and has applied for bail.

Yurkovich made the comments in a telephone conference call from Tokyo as she was preparing to leave for China.

“We’re looking forward to moving forward to China,” she said after the B.C. delegation’s stops in South Korea and Japan. “A large business delegation is heading over there to continue on with the meetings we have set up. As you probably know, China is our second largest market after the United States.”

Almost 30 per cent of B.C.’s wood exports are sent to China, said Yurkovich.

She said the business leaders view the court case as “separate from business.”

Meng Wanzhou was recently detained while changing flights in Vancouver. The United States alleges Meng tried to evade American trade sanctions on Iran. Meng has denied the allegations through her lawyer in court.

The Chinese government warned Canada that if Meng is not released, the country will face “grave consequences.”

Hugh Stephens, a former Canadian diplomat in Asia, said the implications of Meng ’s arrest on Canada’s relations with China in the short-term depend on whether she gets bail.

If she doesn’t get bail, that won’t make China happy, noting that a pair of Canadian missionaries were jailed for two years in China in 2014. The jailing of the Canadian couple was largely viewed as a way to pressure Canada into not extraditing a Chinese spy to the U.S.

Stephens that, said from his point of view, it would make sense to grant Meng bail, particularly given her health issues and the fact she has four children.

Regardless of the bail issue, because the extradition hearing will take time, the issue will continue to hang around for quite awhile, noted Stephens, a consultant on trade relations with Asia and a distinguished fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

“It’s certainly bad news,” said Stephens of the implications of relations between Canada and China. “But there’s not much we can do as we’re caught in the mid- dleofit.”

Stephens said it’s also why it is important that Canada has to be viewed as carrying out its due pro- cess and stand on the merits of its legal system

He said so far Canada, and not the U.S., is taking the brunt of China’s criticism as the country appears to be trying to protect the current thaw in trade relations with the U.S.

While China may believe it’s easier to push Canada around, that could have implications, as Canada hasn’t made a decision on whether Huawei should be involved in the next-generation wireless communication system, said Stephens.

Huawei is largely shut out of the U.S. market, faces headwinds in the U.K. and its next-generation technology is shut out of Australia.

B.C. Forestry Minister Doug Donaldson, who was also in Tokyo, said he cut short the trade trip to Asia after consulting with federal, provincial and diplomatic officials.

“We felt that, under the circumstances, a government minister joining a group of business people would add a different dynamic,” he said.

Donaldson said efforts will be made to reschedule a trip to China in 2019.

A large business delegation is heading over there to continue on with the meetings we have set up.