Burton: This is what Canada should do in a world of bullies
Last month, Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece, the Global Times, published a Chinese Communist Party statement about the August meeting of the China-Canada Joint Economic and Trade Commission (quietly held in Ottawa, while Parliament was on summer recess). Headlined “China willing to work with Canada to expand trade and economic co-operation: senior Chinese official,” the report says China wants “Canada to take immediate steps to correct its erroneous practices,” and “maintain policy autonomy” (from the United States), and take “constructive approaches and pragmatic actions to manage differences.”
In other words, Canada should ease restrictions on Chinese access to sensitive technologies and natural resources (especially critical minerals) and not expel diplomats whose function is to intimidate Canadians of Hong Kong origin. Based on the Beijing regime’s well-worn track record, China would not agree to do anything different in response to Canada’s concerns.
Curiously, in another speech last week, Xi seemed to suggest China might be turning over a new leaf in international behaviour, promising to “fully, comprehensively, and completely adhere to the universally recognized basic norms governing international relations, including the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and ensure the equal and uniform application of international law and international rules.”
Recognizing the UN Charter and international rules? Is Xi suddenly becoming everything that Trump isn’t? It was a ploy. Both speeches concluded with Xi’s “common destiny of mankind” trope, where China takes its place at the helm of the world.
