The plan, detailed in a 26-page document, said Canada would tighten foreign investment rules to protect intellectual property and prevent Chinese state-owned enterprises from snapping up critical minerals. Canada is seeking to deepen ties with a fast-growing Indo-Pacific region of 40 countries that accounts for nearly C$50 trillion in economic activity. But the focus is on China, which is mentioned more than 50 times, at a time when bilateral ties are frozen. Four cabinet ministers at a press conference in Vancouver took turns to discuss the new plan, saying the strategy is vital to Canada’s national security and climate as well as its economic goals. “We’re going to engage in diplomacy because we believe that diplomacy is power, but at the same time we’re going to be firm and that’s why we now have a very transparent plan to engage with China,” Secretary of State Melanie Jolie said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government wants to diversify trade and economic ties that are heavily dependent on the United States. Official figures for September show that bilateral trade with China accounted for less than 7% of the total, compared with 68% for the United States. Canada’s outreach to Asian allies also comes as Washington has shown signs of growing wary of free trade in recent years. The paper highlighted Canada’s dilemma in forging ties with China, which offers significant opportunities for Canadian exporters, even as Beijing tries to shape the international order in a more “tolerant environment for interests and values that are increasingly distant from ours”.
CHINA CHALLENGE
But the document said cooperation with the world’s second-largest economy was necessary to address some of the world’s “existential pressures,” including climate change, global health and nuclear proliferation. “China is an increasingly disruptive global power,” the strategy said. “Our approach … is shaped by a realistic and clear assessment of China today. In areas of deep disagreement, we will challenge China.” Tensions with China flared in late 2018 after Canadian police arrested a Huawei Technologies executive and Beijing subsequently arrested two Canadians on espionage charges. All three were released last year, but relations remain strained. Canada earlier this month ordered three Chinese companies to divest their investments in Canadian vital minerals, citing national security. The document, in a section mentioning China, said Ottawa would review and update legislation that would allow it to act “decisively when investments by state-owned enterprises and other foreign entities threaten our national security, including our supply chains minerals of critical elements’. “Because the region is both large and diverse, one size certainly does not fit all,” Canadian Chamber of Commerce President Perrin Beatty said in a statement, adding that Canada’s priorities should be very different between and within countries. The document said Canada would strengthen its naval presence in the region and “increase our military engagement and intelligence capability as a means of mitigating coercive behavior and threats to regional security.” That would include an annual deployment of three frigates to the region, up from two currently, as well as the participation of Canadian airmen and soldiers in regional military exercises, Defense Minister Anita Anand said at a separate news conference. Canada is part of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations, which wants significant measures in response to North Korea’s missile launches. The document said Ottawa is working in the region with partners such as the United States and the European Union. Canada should continue to talk to nations with which it had fundamental disagreements, he said, but did not name them. ($1 = 1.3377 Canadian dollars) Report by David Ljunggren. Editing by Denny Thomas, Leslie Adler, Daniel Wallis and Mark Porter Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. David Ljunggren Thomson Reuters It covers Canadian politics, economics and general news, as well as breaking news across North America, based in London and Moscow and won Reuters’ vault of the year.
