Burton: A Canadian’s Past, Present and Future with China

 A Canadian’s Past, Present and Future with China

https://www.cips-cepi.ca/2026/03/10/a-canadians-past-present-and-future-with-china/

For decades, the assumption in Ottawa was that economic and institutional engagement would inevitably lead to political liberalization. We operated on the sincere, naive belief that by sharing our democratic values, the Chinese Communist Party would naturally liberalize. That hope was systematically dismantled. As Xi Jinping ascended to paramount leadership, it became undeniably clear that the regime never intended to reform. Instead, they weaponized our openness to modernize their economy and strengthen their totalitarian grip. The ultimate confirmation of Beijing’s hostility toward those speaking the truth came when I was formally sanctioned by the PRC in December 2024.

Given the current political trajectory, decisive action seems unlikely. Beijing wouldn’t approve, and the grim reality is that a generation of politically connected Canadian business elites and the corporate lawyers who facilitate their deals have become spontaneously beholden to the Chinese regime’s geostrategic interests. They are desperate to return to “business as usual,” doing so at a terminal cost to Canadian national security and our fundamental sovereignty.

When our leaders assess what they are willing to trade away for the transactional promise of market access, they would do well to remember the wisdom of St. Matthew: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Burton: There’s a blur around our Foreign Interference Transparency Commissioner

 There’s a blur around our Foreign Interference Transparency Commissioner

https://www.ipolitics.ca/2026/03/10/theres-a-blur-around-our-foreign-interference-transparency-commissioner/

Is the Government’s actual plan to have a Transparency Commission that is weak, compliant and underfund, and undercut its independence by having the new Foreign Interference Coordinator control who gets listed on the Foreign Influence Registry?

The fear is that Mr. Boegman will end up being a figurehead, more active in issuing information bulletins and updates than exposing figures who help promote the agendas of Beijing and Moscow in Canada — and receive benefits for doing so.

Many people will be watching to ensure Mr. Boegman flourishes in his job. Canadians have long been clamouring for a transparency registry. They will want to be certain that it is be being properly used to protect our national security.

Burton: Opening Statement to Canadian House of Commons International Trade Committee on February 26, 2026

 

Burton: The Illusion of “Beneficial” Relations Ottawa’s Latest Capitulation to Beijing

 Burton: The Illusion of “Beneficial” Relations Ottawa’s Latest Capitulation to Beijing

https://therealstory.substack.com/p/the-illusion-of-beneficial-relations?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2hy34d&triedRedirect=true

So, what is China’s actual motive in wanting to send a delegation of ersatz “parliamentarians” to Canada?

It is, of course, a classic United Front operational tactic: an opportunity to identify and curry favour with Canadian policymakers who might serve as promising targets for future influence. The broader, more insidious purpose is to promote the illusion that China is a legitimate nation-state with a legislature that serves as a moral and political equivalent to Canada’s democratic parliament.

China’s national constitution makes the ridiculous claim that this utterly impotent NPC is the “supreme organ of state power.” Try telling that to the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s Political Bureau, where Xi Jinping’s true regime authority resides.

The bottom line is that the Canada-China Legislative Association is a Communist Party United Front Work Department proxy agency. It serves the Chinese regime’s geostrategic purposes, and Canadian taxpayers are footing half the bill.

Burton: China’s political roiling is getting attention here in Canada - iPolitics

Burton: China’s political roiling is getting attention here in Canada - iPolitics

https://www.ipolitics.ca/2026/02/13/chinas-political-roiling-is-getting-attention-here-in-canada/

Whatever is really going on with Xi’s grip on power (and officials in Washington and elsewhere are watching very closely), the glaring fundamental barrier between Beijing and the West remains the incompatibility between the absolute authority of China’s Communist Party and the societal accountability of democratic institutions — including Canada’s.

This is not simply a case of divergent opinions over human rights or the role of sovereignty in relations between nations. Before we even begin negotiating the details of diplomatic or trade agreements, seeing the Canada-China relationship as a “strategic partnership” first requires us to believe that we can have reciprocal, fair state-to-state relations.

And that requires buying into a myth, not reality.

Burton on CTV News: With a death sentence in China overturned, could Robert Schellenberg receive a trial in Canada?

 

Jason Kenney's Speech at Burton Book Launch December 1, 2025 Lord Elgin Hotel

Jason Kenney's Speech at Ottawa Book Launch December 1, 2025 Lord Elgin Hotel

He was the only academic willing to challenge the deep and subtle Canadian foreign policy consensus about China relations and always thoughtfully. He was one of the first Canadian scholars to go into China following the normalization of relations in 1970, and always with a fair mind. 

He and I encountered each other when he was assigned a contract by the Department of Foreign Affairs to produce a report specifically on the Canada-China  human rights dialogue. And I'll allow him to summarize it. But, the headline was essentially he said it was a sham and a fraud, and that it got in the way of substantive, respectful dialogue between the two sides. 

Well, the Department tried to bury his report. I was then the chairman of the Human Rights Subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons. And so we passed a motion as a committee to force the release of this report, and all hell broke loose, complicated by the fact that I was actually the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister at the time. 

And that was just the beginning of a long and interesting journey that I had with Charles for many years in government. 

I want to say that for all of those years, I tried at my best to challenge a consensus that was not operating in the interest of Canada, and I am pleased to say that that view, Charles’ view, the view of many of you in this room, has been vindicated, and it's not a happy education, but it's a vindication nevertheless. And I can tell you that the Canadian business community that was speaking with one voice 15 years ago, 10 years ago, maybe even five years ago, suggesting that the only possible Canadian policy vis-a-vis Beijing was when it was a total supplication. On all counts, that is no longer the case because virtually none of those businesses actually made earnings with their operations, most of them if they made the effort there found that their local partners  absconded with intellectual property, with copyright, with patent, with sensitive information, with profits, with capital. With no legal recourse, despite the Harper government's best efforts. All of which is to say that it's been a bitter vindication.

 But Charles, you've been a voice in the wilderness. You've been a prophet. And you more than anyone in Canada. Is responsible for the fundamental shift from cynicism towards realism in the Canada China relationship, and I just want to say, as a friend, thank you for that. Thank you.

Burton: China reboot: A lot is at risk in Carney’s search for markets in January 20, 2026 Toronto Star

China reboot: A lot is at risk in Carney’s search for markets

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/china-reboot-a-lot-is-at-risk-in-carney-s-search-for-markets/article_07d17cbb-fce8-4597-b5c6-b673368e9cb7.html

The complexity of this relationship hasn’t changed. While Mr. Carney described a “new strategic partnership … that will help set Canada and China up for the new world order”, Chinese President Xi Jinping referred to the partnership as “with a sense of responsibility for history, for the people and for the world.” The new order that Canada is invited to join is the China-dominated world Xi envisions by 2050, which he calls "the community of the common destiny of mankind."

Beijing likes joint statements that cite “strategic partnerships.” Canadian officials may not have grasped the consequences of the phrase, but Xinhua news agency seized upon it with the headline, “Xi calls for advancing building of China-Canada new strategic partnership.” 

Past experiences of Canada and other nations is that if we don’t subordinate our values and sovereignty to China’s expectations of a “strategic partner,” then canola sales don’t happen, or Beijing’s interpretations of agreements weaken considerably from how we understood them.

Former diplomat speaks on Canada and China's shifting relations, and implications for U.S. ties: Charles Burton on CTV

Charles Burton Warns Canada on China Policy

How relations with China could impact CUSMA negotiations: Charles Burton on CTV

 

China Has None of Our Values — Why Call It a “Strategic Partnership”? Charles Burton on CTV.

 

Burton: Can Carney succeed in China? History is not on his side

Can Carney succeed in China? History is not on his side  

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/can-carney-succeed-in-china-history-is-not-on-his-side/article_8faab3a7-3adb-4901-a38f-891eb0a72e54.html

Amidst tectonic geopolitical change, is it even possible for Carney and Xi to set a new workable relationship?

For its part, Ottawa has already signalled that Canada no longer views China as an “increasingly disruptive global power.” The new phrase is “strategic partner” — reviving a 2005 framework that laid dormant during years of tensions between the two countries.

That’s an interesting characterization, given China’s other strategic partners: Russia and North Korea.

Canada’s own past futilities — including years of efforts to expand market access in China, often by acquiescing to Beijing’s demands — have yielded scant rewards. Carney’s “pragmatic recalibration” of the relationship is unlikely to fare better, as Beijing grapples to revive its own economy crippled by slumping consumer confidence.

China is not Canada’s strategic partner. At best, we are competitors; at worst, Beijing poses a systemic challenge to the fragile rules-based international order we claim to uphold.

As Mark Carney prepares to pursue fair trade with a regime whose values are well known, Canadians must ask themselves: Which path do we take?

Tony Clement talks with Dr. Charles Burton about his new book " The Beaver & The Dragon, Canada–China tensions & key insights"

 

Tony Clement talks with Dr. Charles Burton about his new book " The Beaver & The Dragon, Canada–China tensions & key insights. " 

 

https://vimeo.com/1140091174

 

Shorter version:
https://youtu.be/uJEEx6R-jpM?si=1ZnLrhrMhYu3PsNs

Charles Burton's evidence to the Canadian Commons Procedure Committee on Chinese Interference in Canadian Democratic Institutions

 

Burton: Canada-China relations are about more than business

Burton: Canada-China relations are about more than business

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canada-china-relations-are-about-more-than-business/


Mr. Carney, in subordinate mode, echoed the Chinese messaging, promising “pragmatic and constructive” engagement. “Constructive and pragmatic” is specific Beijing propaganda code. What it means is, in return for access to our markets, you shall not voice criticism of Chinese actions that violate international norms.

That would include Canada perhaps ignoring situations like China’s interference in Canada’s democratic processes or its intimidation of Chinese Canadians and permanent residents.

Internationally, this may mean Canada does not challenge China over its policy regarding Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea or Beijing’s practice of providing surveillance technology to repressive autocrats to suppress democratic forces.

We should assume that Canada would no longer speak out about China’s policies of genocide against Uyghurs or its violation of the language, cultural and religious rights of Tibetans and other ethnicities.

But it was Mr. Carney’s final words before the leaders went into their meeting that were most revealing: “We will establish a road to seize the many great opportunities between our countries and also to have the platform that’s needed for the dialogue to help build a more sustainable and inclusive international system.”

“A more sustainable and inclusive international system” is Beijing’s favoured terminology to describe China’s planned new world order, which it calls “the community of the common destiny of mankind,” which it sees as buttressing its rise as global hegemon, supplanting a fading Uncle Sam.

China has already mapped out the rising and falling of empires. They plan a world that abandons the liberal democratic principles of the postwar United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law against genocide and torture and the equal sovereignty of nations. 

Canadian Sinologist Recounts ‘Hectic Getaway’ From Shanghai After Questioning by Chinese Secret Police

 

Canadian Sinologist Recounts ‘Hectic Getaway’ From Shanghai After Questioning by Chinese Secret Police

https://www.thebureau.news/p/canadian-sinologist-recounts-hectic?utm_source=post-banner&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true

In December 2024 my absence was no longer self-imposed when I, along with 19 other individuals and two Canadian organizations, were banned from entering China. I was on the list because I had acted as an advisor for a Canada-based human-rights group, the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project (although I qualified to make the list twice due to my similar association with the Canada Tibet Committee).

After our banishment was posted on a government website, the Chinese Communist Party-controlled newspaper The Global Times reported that we were exiled for offences that included “spreading disinformation” about human-rights violations in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and in Tibet. (PRC official propaganda has recently started to refer to Tibet by its name in romanized Chinese, Xizang, meaning literally “western treasury.” It is politically motivated subterfuge to downplay that Tibet has been the ancestral land of Tibetans since long before the Han Chinese invaded the territory.)

The Chinese official statement reads:

“Canada’s actions are an attempt to use human-rights issues in Xinjiang and Xizang to enhance its international presence and strengthen its influence in global diplomacy and ideological discourse.”

So, unlike my sanctioning by Russia in 2022, China did not ban me because of what I have published in newspapers. It was a response to Canada’s China policy in general.

When I began placing opinion pieces in Canadian newspapers nearly 20 years ago, many Canadians were confident that China could become a responsible stakeholder in world affairs. Canada under Justin Trudeau came close to collaborating with China in international affairs, including transnational crime, even considering an extradition treaty. We also came close to integrating our economies through a free-trade deal.

But, as the commentary articles recount, as China became more powerful economically, it began posing a hostile geostrategic threat to the international rules-based order.

China’s current leadership sees Donald Trump as fulfilling Xi Jinping’s prediction that the United States is a power in decline — that the vacuum created by American nationalism will be filled by China — and that Xi’s “Community of the Common Destiny of Mankind” will become the future global order.

China thus assumes what Mr. Xi considers its rightful role as the dominant global civilization, with Chinese even displacing English as the world’s foremost common language. Under Xi’s vision, Canadians would realize that a political system based on China’s authoritarian model, and on its superior civilization informed by Confucianism, is Canada’s best option for political, economic and social development. Canada would become a subsidiary economy to China’s centre of global industrial production and infrastructure.

Burton: Inside Canada’s China Reset: Trade, Security, and Xi’s Grip on Power

Charles Burton | Beaver and Dragon

The Beaver and the Dragon a conversation with Charles Burton