Canada needs “a realistic – not a romantic” trade policy with China, maintaining a firm hold on its values even as it wants to continue to build trade with China, says a former Canadian diplomat.

Guy St. Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, told a Franklin Templeton economic outlook conference in Toronto on Tuesday that Canada must first determine where it wants to be in five or 10 years from now and how it wants to work with China on issues such as climate change and nuclear proliferation.

Review any collaboration on AI

“We must recognize that our capacity to influence China is very limited but at the same time we should not compromise on our values,” said St. Jacques. “We need to remain firm and react quickly when we find instances of interference in Canadian affairs.” He said these include reviewing any collaboration between China and Canada on artificial intelligence to ensure it is not used to limit individual freedoms in China.

Canada’s relations with China have been strained for more than a year – ever since Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies was arrested in Vancouver at the request of the United States, where she is charged with bank fraud. Meng has said she is innocent. Shortly afterwards, China detained Canadians Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, and businessman Michael Spavor.

And while China’s population of almost 1.4 billion holds the key to opening up international trade, St. Jacques said Canada also needs to put more emphasis on trading with other Asian countries with which it already has agreements. 

Build a united front

But he said Canada cannot stand alone in its criticism of Chinese trade practices and human rights.

“Therefore the strategy going forward should be to work with allies to build a united front of like-minded partners to ensure the multi-lateral system is protected and that rules and obligations apply to all. The goal should be to establish real reciprocity. This will force China to deliver, in a meaningful way, on the commitments it made when it joined the WTO in 2001.

“In hockey terms, China has been good at ragging the puck and delaying opening its economy more to foreign companies for much too long.”