Zhongnanhai

Canada underestimates Chinese power
Times Colonist
Published: Sunday May 27 

You wouldn’t know it by our relatively small population, but Canadians have managed to really spread out worldwide. Here in China, it seems like every other foreigner I meet is from Toronto or Vancouver or Edmonton.

And on a recent trip to Bangkok, I saw lines of foreigners waiting to check in at a budget hotel. A majority were faithfully carrying navy blue Canadian passports as identification.

The good news is being a Canadian overseas is often much easier than being an American, or even a German or Briton for that matter, because we are generally viewed favourably.

Toronto and Vancouver have become magnets for overseas Chinese and many who fled the country during Mao’s years often tried to reach our shores. We have traditionally had a good reputation as being fair and honest. But times are changing.

"Only the corrupt Chinese go to Canada," an elderly man in spectacles told me over a steaming dim sum breakfast at a park in the southern city of Guangzhou. "I don’t like the Canadian government."

He wasn’t referring to our government’s complaints about the treatment of Huseyin Celil, the Canadian who is being held by the Chinese authorities for "terrorist activities and plotting to split the country," according to state-run media.

He also wasn’t referring to the Conservative government’s decision to grant honorary Canadian citizenship to the Dalai Lama, who is still seen here as a "splittist" set on breaking up the country. He wasn’t talking about the frequent trips Canadian MPs are making to Taiwan, either.

No, he was talking about Lai Changxing, one of China’s most notorious criminals, accused of embezzling billions of dollars and then fleeing to Vancouver, where he remains today.

Despite repeated requests to have him turned over to Chinese authorities, our government has let the legal process take its course. He’s been in Canada for years and has just been given another chance to fight deportation.

It’s not a good time to be a Canadian in China, because these issues are starting to trickle down into mainstream opinion, obviously guided by the monolithic state-run media machine.

But whereas Xinhua wire stories used to regularly blast former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for paying respects to war criminals at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, now the target is Canada, and most recently Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, who was being warned not to "damage Sino-Canadian ties."

But judging from the two countries’ laundry list of grievances, perhaps the ties are already damaged. Canada has been one of the few countries insisting China improve its human rights record, becoming a thorn in the side of the Communist emperors in Beijing.

A recent Angus Reid poll showed 76 per cent of Canadians want our long-term policy with China based on advancing human rights and minority rights, not just economics. But the chances of that happening are slim, because there’s simply too much money to be made.

China is not an "emerging" or "growing" superpower. Many feel it’s become one already, and has enough economic clout to tell other countries what to do. And as much as Canadians like to think we have a say, we don’t.

Other than natural resources, which are also found in other countries with friendly ties to China, we don’t have a lot to bargain with. We have a relatively small population, no substantial military strength and aren’t one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

We can either look the other way and cash in on China’s dizzying economic growth, or we can cease trading with one of the world’s largest and most dynamic economies.

CEOs, governments and companies have overwhelmingly chosen the former. They are lining up to obey whatever rule China puts in place for access to its 1.3-billion person market.

From Google and MSN, which willingly block Internet searches not palatable to the Communist regime, to the World Health Organization, which most recently denied Taiwan and its 23 million people membership thanks to pressure from Beijing, China is becoming used to getting its way.

Canadian consumers, if they are honest, would likely also prefer being able to buy cheap Chinese-made goods at Wal-Mart rather than paying more as part of an effort to pressure some far-off government to improve the human rights of people they’ve never met in a land they’ll never see.

It all boils down to money, for governments, companies and individuals.

The one bright spot for social activists will be the Olympic Games next year. China views the Olympics as a major coming-out party and the Asian ideal of "face" means China is very sensitive about ensuring the event goes off without a hitch.

Linking Darfur to the Olympics worked for 107 U.S. congressmen, who wrote a letter urging China to take action or face an Olympic boycott. China responded by sending 275 military personnel to the region.

But it can go the other way, too, as five protesters learned when they unfurled a banner calling for a Free Tibet on Mount Everest. Instead of giving Tibetans more autonomy, China cracked down on Tibetan travel permits issued to foreigners.

Dealing with China is a complex game. But while our government’s moral stance is admirable and commendable, it is ultimately doomed to fail.