Richard Fadden Comments on Chinese Approach in Canada

Please listen to his 4 minutes of comments on China which start at a bit after minute 17.  I absolutely agree with this distinguished public servant on all these points.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fadden-security-isis-war-1.3519751

What I Learnt from Brian Evans

I met Brian in 1986 when I went to the University of Alberta as a Killam postdoctoral scholar. Before I left Ottawa Arthur Menzies gave me some fairly firm instructions that I was to visit his friend James Barrington, who just moved to a nursing home in Edmonton, and that I should report back to Arthur how he was doing there.

Mr Barrington had been Burma's representative to the UN and Ambassador to Canada prior to taking up a teaching job in Brian's History Department in 1965. Brian volunteered to take me to see him.  We went by bus, Brian's preferred mode of transport.  Turns out Brian visited Jim Barrington regularly to pass on his copy of the Far Eastern Economic Review.  That was typical of Brian.  He did so many kind things on the quiet.

After that Brian and I became good friends. We often met for tea in the Hub Mall twice a day morning and afternoon. Although he was the Associate Vice President of the University at the time he always seem to have time to be my mentor (and Victor Radujko had the same privileged access to Brian). In years following Brian came to stay with me in Ottawa and Beijing and St. Catharines and I got to lodge in his palace on 81st Avenue on several occasions. And we travelled together all over China and Macau and several times in Korea and a couple of times to his sister's place in Sylvan Lake. Some of the happiest memories of my life are of times spent traveling in the very good company of Brian Evans.

On February 11 of this year I flew into Thailand only to find an email waiting for me from Pat Prestwich indicating that Brian’s condition had become critical and asking me to come to Edmonton as soon as I could. I was numb with the shock of it. 

That evening in Bangkok at midnight, fighting jet lag, everybody else in the house asleep, I was able to speak with Brian in hospital at 10am Edmonton time for one last time. I told him over the phone that he had been the single greatest single influence on me personally and as an academic. With a weak but ever gracious voice, Brian thanked me for introducing him to so many good Chinese friends over the years.

And that was true.  I invited Brian to join the Royal Society of Canada - Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Democracy project in 1992, Indeed the last time I saw Brian was when we traveled together with the colleagues from CASS as part of the Chinese delegation to a conference in Seoul. To the Chinese colleagues he wasn't a “Canadian friend.” His Chinese friends grew to love him as just Brian for himself and there was no barrier of race or nationality between them.  News of Brian’s death hit very hard in China. The messages to me from Brian's Chinese friends about it have been so emotional I haven't even been able to bring myself to translate them into English yet.

About 15 years ago Brian decided to bring the ashes of his late wife Margot Burwash to China to scatter some of them in Beijing. So Brian and I and Chen Qineng and Liu Guangtai and Wang Benxu furtively wandered all over the Altar of the Sun Park near my staff quarters in Beijing looking for a suitable place to illegally deposit Margot's earthly remains. Eventually Brian found a suitable glade of shrubbery and Wang Benxu led us all in the ritual nine bows in the direction of the bush that Brian with considerable aplomb had thrown them into.  

Subsequent I went back to the Park trying to find where we had scattered those ashes but I never could find the place again. 

Pat wants to bring some of Brian's ashes back to China, an idea I fully support.  Chen Qineng thinks he might be able to find the place by referring to some of the photographs we took that afternoon in the Park all those years ago.

My guess is that we will traipse around the Altar of the Sun Park for quite some time until the spirit of Brian tells us to just scatter his ashes somewhere else and head to the teahouse for refreshment.

After all, Brian had a great sense of humour and a profound appreciation of the absurd upside of life.

I think of Brian often and have to keep reminding myself that he's gone.

Canada Not Among 12 Nations Making Joint Statement on China's "Deteriorating Human Rights Record" to UN Human Rights Council

"In a strongly worded statement delivered to the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, US ambassador Keith Harper expressed concern about the 'unexplained recent disappearances and apparent coerced returns of Chinese and foreign citizens from outside mainland China,' saying they called into question China’s commitment to its “one country, two systems” principle for Hong Kong.

The comments drew an angry response from Fu Cong, the Chinese deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, who called the US out for conducting 'large-scale extra-territorial eavesdropping” and using drones to “attack other countries’ innocent civilians'.

Referring to “recent reports of abductions”, the American ambassador said on Thursday: 'These extraterritorial actions are unacceptable, out of step with the expectations of the international community, and a challenge to the rules-based international order. The actions involving individuals in Hong Kong represent a violation of the high degree of autonomy promised Hong Kong under its Basic Law.'

He also expressed concern about China’s 'deteriorating human rights record', pointing to the arrests and ongoing detention of rights activists, civil society leaders and lawyers. The ambassador delivered the statement on behalf of the US, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK."

(Phila Siu, “China Slams US Drone Strikes on ‘innocent Civilians’ as United Nations Showdown over Missing Booksellers Escalates into Slanging Match,” South China Morning Post (March 11, 2016), accessed March 14, 2016, http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1923040/china-slams-us-drone-strikes-innocent-civilians-united?page=all).

Four charged in Canada with selling stolen satellite equipment to China | World news | The Guardian

Four charged in Canada with selling stolen satellite equipment to China | World news | The Guardian



This is a piece of very good news for Canada.  It has been a long time coming.

"China Says Its Students, Even Those Abroad, Need More ‘Patriotic Education’"

"China Says Its Students, Even Those Abroad, Need More ‘Patriotic Education’" http://nyti.ms/1SHMKxw

Probably means a lot more Security resources allocated to monitoring people outside China including in Canada.

Upcoming Event | "We can certainly change something": Taiwan's New Direction and where it takes the rest of us | 28 January 2016

My Op-Ed in Globe and Mail "Trudeau’s dance with the dragon: China must give as much as it takes"

Mr. Trudeau’s government is feeling pressure to show it is taking steps to address Canada’s economic downturn and the growing federal debt; they want to be able to tout a free-trade deal with China as the road to Canada’s economic revival. The worry is that, under such political pressure, Canadian negotiators will commit to a deal that will serve China’s interests much more than ours.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/trudeaus-dance-with-the-dragon-china-must-give-as-much-as-it-takes/article28133176/

Canada should upgrade its subcommittee on international human rights | Embassy - Canada's Foreign Policy Newspaper

Canada should upgrade its subcommittee on international human rights | Embassy - Canada's Foreign Policy Newspaper



I strongly support this idea.

More bad news for CNOOC-Nexen

 China Probes a Senior Oil Official’s Mysterious Death - China Real Time Report - WSJ - http://go.shr.lc/1OzYkaS

More bad news for CNOOC

Amnesty International slams 'rampant' torture and forced confessions in China | Hong Kong Free Press

Amnesty International slams 'rampant' torture and forced confessions in China | Hong Kong Free Press



Makes one want to weep over what has gone so terribly wrong in China now.

Beijing’s real reasons behind the summit in Singapore - My Op Ed in the Globe and Mail

Beijing’s real reasons behind the summit in Singapore - The Globe and Mail



"Last weekend’s summit did not go well. Mr. Ma was rebuffed when he asked China to ease restrictions on Taiwan’s participation in global organizations and bodies. When he asked that China reduce its military presence on the coast across from Taiwan, Mr. Xi simply responded absurdly that the massive arsenal is not targeted at Taiwan. Mr. Xi did offer to reconsider the decision to deny Taiwan’s participation in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, but basically Mr. Ma left humiliated, and one wonders what Mr. Xi intended by this meeting.  .  .  .  China’s defiant sovereignty claims over islands in the South China Sea have led to condemnation by its neighbours and the international community at large, but China’s newly aggressive nationalistic military actions in the region make one wonder whether Mr. Xi’s puzzling meeting with Mr. Ma on Saturday is a harbinger of much more assertive moves by the Communists to bring Taiwan under PRC control once and for all."

@HonStephaneDion is a sincere supporter of engagement with China on human rights

@HonStephaneDion is a sincere supporter of engagement with China on human rights

My Op-Ed in today's Globe and Mail "Goodbye to the Age of China's "Little Emperors"

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/goodbye-to-the-age-of-chinas-little-emperors/article27036807/

"Perhaps the greatest benefit of the policy change will be sociological. Under the one-child policy, most children are overindulged by two parents and four grandparents. They have no brothers or sisters, cousins, or uncles and aunts. All the expectations of the generations fall onto their young shoulders, and the pressure to succeed can be crushing and character-distorting. Moreover, these “little emperors” tend to grow up with an exaggerated sense of self-importance and often lack the social sensibilities necessary to a civil society.

The termination of this policy is a rare piece of good news out of China, and should be welcomed. It’s likely that Chinese couples with only one child will be turning in early tonight."

Terry Glavin: Welcoming back the Liberal old guard | National Post

Terry Glavin: Welcoming back the Liberal old guard | National Post

I highly recommend this article.


"For the millions of Canadians who voted for Justin Trudeau in the hopes of a break from the past, the appointment of the grizzled mandarin Peter Harder to lead Trudeau’s transition to power doesn’t look like a harbinger of a fresh new start.

For anyone hoping that Ottawa will not fall back into the clutches of the old Liberal establishment that Trudeau was supposed to have overthrown, Harder’s appointment should ring an alarm bell or two. For anyone concerned about effective global action on climate change, or Canada’s approach to the obscenities of human rights abuses in China, those bells should be ringing from the rooftops."

Letter to a Friend Who Opposes the Concept of "Canadian Values"

Dear John,

It is good to hear from you again.

I think it would be fair to say that "Canadian values" have implicit within them "universal values." Of course every nation that chooses to become a member of the United Nations is required to acknowledge the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Canada has also ratified covenants that elaborate on the UDHR starting with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights.  Once ratified, the values underlying these treaties have to be accepted as "Canadian values."  But the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does have implicit in it certain values which while fully consistent with "universal values" are distinctive to Canada.

We reject any national values that are at cross purposes to universal values.  But Canada supports the idea that nations have values which reflect their own cultural traditions. But universal values always trump national values.

Best regards.

Charles

My Op-Ed in Globe Mail: "Relations with China should hinge on more than short-term economic value"

Relations with China should hinge on more than short-term economic value - The Globe and Mail



"Willingness to seriously engage the once-isolated China was a positive hallmark of past Liberal governments, from Pierre Trudeau on, but the dynamics of that relationship have changed considerably since that era. It would be negligent to not appreciate the threat to Canadian sovereignty and interests posed by Beijing’s non-democratic, nationalistic, expansionist Leninist politics.    .    .    . Clearly, “quiet diplomacy” has had no discernible positive impact, but rather functions as tacit consent for egregious Chinese regime behaviour. Canada should have no further part of it. We simply lose the respect of the Chinese regime if we do not speak out honestly and constructively about our concerns over China’s human-rights violations, support for rogue dictators, cyberespionage and underhanded attempts to subvert the decisions of Canadian political leaders to further China’s state interests."

"Trudeau victory may bolster chances for FTA with China" published in the China Daily on October 21, 2015

My views are quoted in Paul Werlizkin's report "Trudeau victory may bolster chances for FTA with China" published in the China Daily on October 21, 2015: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2015-10/21/content_22247156.htm

I do expect that Canada will ratify the TPP under the Trudeau government.  I would imagine that Canada will further support Chinese entry into the TPP. Mr Trudeau is on record as supporting much more Chinese state investment in Canada to build Canadian prosperity. He believes that it is important to Canada's future prosperity to engage the Government of China as closely as possible and therefore will likely not emphasise human rights and security concerns to the same extent as the Harper government. I would therefore expect that under Justin Trudeau we may adopt a China policy similar to that of Great Britain.

Here are Paul's original questions and my answers by e-mail:
Will Trudeau's win change China-Canada relations and if so in what area (immigration, trade, investment etc.)?
While it is unlikely that the new Justin Trudeau government will have a different policy on Canada – China immigration, Mr Trudeau has been very clear that it will be a priority for his government to encourage much higher levels of Chinese trade and especially Chinese investment in Canada. I expect that early on his mandate he will direct the Canadian Government to very proactively respond to the suggestions of the Chinese authorities on how to make Canada a much more attractive investment venue for Chinese State enterprises seeking to invest abroad.

Are the Chinese relieved that the Harper government is out?
The Harper government put a lot of stress on human rights and allegations of espionage in its China policy. It is likely that the Government of China will be very happy to see a new Canadian Government that like the British Government will align itself more closely with China's foreign policy interests and priorities.

Does Trudeau's win improve the chances for a free trade agreement with China?
I am confident that a Trudeau Government will look very closely at the Government of China's proposal to establish a free trade agreement with Canada and that this will likely be realised before the next election four years from now.

My Op-Ed on Canada's Party Leaders Not Talking About China

From The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/why-are-canadas-party-leaders-ignoring-china/article26688467/ Via The Globe and Mail's Android app

Raymond Chan and Justin Trudeau's relationship with Michael Ching Mo Yeung

"The courting of would-be Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, by Chinese corruption suspect Michael Ching Mo Yeung"

How graft suspect Michael Ching allied himself with Canada's Liberal leader, with the help of ex-minister Raymond Chan; pro-Trudeau political organisation was based in Ching's office, and Liberal special advisor Wang Ting Ting acted as a director.

Article in South China Morning Post by Ian Young

http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1862338/courting-would-be-canadian-pm-justin-trudeau-chinese-corruption-suspect#

PC, Lib, NDP Perspectives on China in Munk Centre Foreign Policy Debate

So why did the Munk Centre decide to not raise China in the foreign policy debate? #elxn42 #MunkDebate

My views are quoted in "The big issue that went unmentioned in the foreign policy debate" - The Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/globe-politics-insider/china-isnt-much-of-an-issue-in-this-election-why-not/article26580739/

“This debate was where it was expected the parties would make a clear statement of their differing approaches to the challenge China makes to Canadian interests and values,” said Charles Burton, a China expert at Brock University.

He accused debate organizers of not wanting “to be the platform where our important concerns about the challenge that the Chinese regime presents to Canada are aired.”

The key question is policy toward Chinese investment in Canada, and how to respond to Chinese Government human rights violations and non-tariff barriers to Canadian trade and investment, as well as continued Chinese cyber attacks on Canadian Government servers as well as other economic and military espionage.