Four Aspects that Inform Canada's Relations with China

Canada’s interest in China is to take fullest advantage of the complementarity in our economies to generate wealth for Canada. Secondly, China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and an increasingly important player in global affairs due to its rapidly expanding economic influence throughout the world, so it is in Canada’s interest that China develop into a responsible “nation-citizen” in global affairs. Thirdly, Canadians are concerned about China’s human rights record. These include restrictions on freedom of expression, freedom to participate in non-government organizations, freedom to practise religion and political suppression of ethnic minorities. Fourthly, for some years China has been the primary source of new immigrants to Canada. Chinese is now our third most spoken language. This significant element of the Canadian population generally feels strongly that Canada should be fully engaged with China at all levels as an affirmation of the place of Chinese-Canadians in our national life.