Chrystia Freeland's silence following her first trip to China as foreign affairs minister is troubling, says Charles Burton
As Canadians digest a stream of news and punditry about NAFTA renegotiations, there’s another trade relationship—possibly more consequential for our future—that’s being forged in comparative silence.
The second China-Canada Foreign Ministers Dialogue was recently held in Beijing, with Canada’s Chrystia Freeland sitting down with her counterpart Wang Yi to “explore ways to further consolidate Canada-China ties,” as Xinhua news agency put it. Upcoming Canada-China trade talks topped the agenda.
But despite anxiety in Canada over China’s demands in any new deal, and what’s at stake should Canada dramatically increase our trade with the Chinese, we know little about what was even discussed. Freeland flew home with no post-meeting news conference. No communiqué was issued.
Given the shocking spectacle that crowned last year’s edition of this dialogue when Wang arrogantly berated a Canadian journalist who asked about China’s human rights record, many might suspect the secrecy is Beijing’s precondition to any further talks. Based on my past experience as counsellor at the Canadian embassy in Beijing, I find this quite likely.
When John McCallum, now Canada’s ambassador to China, was a federal cabinet minister, he was a champion of expanding connections between Canada and China, and doing it on Chinese terms. McCallum, who was at the recent meetings with Freeland, evidently buys in to Beijing’s “friend of China” platitude.
He apparently accepts the Chinese Foreign Ministry line that China is the future, and sustaining Canada’s economic growth means Ottawa should acquiesce to Beijing’s “distinctive” domestic governance and strategic aspirations abroad.
As Justin Trudeau himself said in 2012: “We deceive ourselves by thinking that trade with Asia can be squeezed into the 20th-century mould. China, for one, sets its own rules and will continue to do so because it can. China has a game plan. There is nothing inherently sinister about that.”
McCallum, the cabinet minister, likely would have agreed, even if turning a blind eye to human rights abuse in China is tacit consent of arbitrary imprisonment, torture, suffering and death.
But McCallum, the ambassador, is subordinate to his former junior cabinet colleague Freeland, who is thought to have a more textured and sophisticated grasp of communist regimes and how to promote Canadian interests in discussions with the Chinese.
more
The worrying silence around Canada's trade talks with China - Macleans.ca
As Canadians digest a stream of news and punditry about NAFTA renegotiations, there’s another trade relationship—possibly more consequential for our future—that’s being forged in comparative silence.
The second China-Canada Foreign Ministers Dialogue was recently held in Beijing, with Canada’s Chrystia Freeland sitting down with her counterpart Wang Yi to “explore ways to further consolidate Canada-China ties,” as Xinhua news agency put it. Upcoming Canada-China trade talks topped the agenda.
But despite anxiety in Canada over China’s demands in any new deal, and what’s at stake should Canada dramatically increase our trade with the Chinese, we know little about what was even discussed. Freeland flew home with no post-meeting news conference. No communiqué was issued.
Given the shocking spectacle that crowned last year’s edition of this dialogue when Wang arrogantly berated a Canadian journalist who asked about China’s human rights record, many might suspect the secrecy is Beijing’s precondition to any further talks. Based on my past experience as counsellor at the Canadian embassy in Beijing, I find this quite likely.
When John McCallum, now Canada’s ambassador to China, was a federal cabinet minister, he was a champion of expanding connections between Canada and China, and doing it on Chinese terms. McCallum, who was at the recent meetings with Freeland, evidently buys in to Beijing’s “friend of China” platitude.
He apparently accepts the Chinese Foreign Ministry line that China is the future, and sustaining Canada’s economic growth means Ottawa should acquiesce to Beijing’s “distinctive” domestic governance and strategic aspirations abroad.
As Justin Trudeau himself said in 2012: “We deceive ourselves by thinking that trade with Asia can be squeezed into the 20th-century mould. China, for one, sets its own rules and will continue to do so because it can. China has a game plan. There is nothing inherently sinister about that.”
McCallum, the cabinet minister, likely would have agreed, even if turning a blind eye to human rights abuse in China is tacit consent of arbitrary imprisonment, torture, suffering and death.
But McCallum, the ambassador, is subordinate to his former junior cabinet colleague Freeland, who is thought to have a more textured and sophisticated grasp of communist regimes and how to promote Canadian interests in discussions with the Chinese.
more
The worrying silence around Canada's trade talks with China - Macleans.ca
