Canada-China business has obstacles to address

Canada's relationship with China has remained chilly since the release of Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou a year ago. Given the political and economic realities and competitive/cooperative landscape among Western countries, how can Canada strike a balance in its approach to China?

Former Canadian politicians explored answers at a business forum hosted by the Canada China Business Council on Tuesday.

There has been a remarkable change in bilateral relations since Meng's arrest in December 2018 at the Vancouver International Airport, at the request of the United States.

It's harder to rebuild than to damage a relationship if the government won't take the responsibility, according to Jean Charest, former deputy prime minister of Canada and former Québec premier.

"We've gone from sunny ways with China to dark days with China," said Charest, who was the leader of Canada's federal Progressive Conservative Party and later became leader of the Quebec Liberal Party.

According to Charest, in the backdrop of great pressure from its American neighbor, Canada has been a part of big story driven by the US with the Inflation Reduction Act to implement an aggressive industrial policy toward China.

"Now our biggest challenge is (to) define our core interests as a country, not just as a neighbor of the US, and define what our core interest is. Determine what it is that we need to do to engage constructively with the country and the region that is going to dominate the economy of the world. This is where the middle class is going to grow … and make sure that it has a positive impact on Canada," Charest told the webinar.

Charest said the government needs to clarify how to approach China.

"China is going to determine our future, and it's going to weigh on our future, whether we like it or not, directly or indirectly," he said.

The upcoming COP 15 meeting on biodiversity in Montreal, to be chaired by China, would be an opportunity for the two countries to work together, Charest suggested.

"We have to look for opportunities for us to reengage at the highest level possible to build trust and start making the relationship much more workable," said Charest, who said that it won't happen easily.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly unveiled a new Indo-Pacific strategy on Nov 27. It proposes changes to the Investment Canada Act to prevent state-owned enterprises and other foreign entities that are considered threats to Canada's national security from taking over critical Canadian industries and intellectual property.

China's embassy in Ottawa released a statement in response to the new strategy by accusing Canada of exaggerating the so-called "China threat", undermining peace and stability in the region, and trying to meddle with China's internal affairs regarding Taiwan.

Charest said that given the strategy delivered by the Trudeau government, Canada needs to consider how to have more redundancy in its supply chains to protect areas of strategic interest.

"China has become the manufacturer of the world, and (its) low-cost manufacturers' supply chains (are) very effective," Charest said. "But we need to stay engaged with China. We cannot just turn it off and pretend (to) the world that China doesn't exist."

Scott Brison, former member of Parliament from Nova Scotia, said his province, which had developed strong trading relations with China now faces more difficulties due to ideology and populism.

"The former prime minister Pierre Trudeau initiated to build business ties between Canada and China successfully over a 50-year period. We're now in a cold war mentality where national security issues are going to delineate between the areas we can work (together) in, and those are considered a no-fly zone or no-go zone," Brison told the forum.

renali@chinadailyusa.com