Two Takes on the Canada-China Relationship
Two news stories popped onto the radar today. One is an editorial from Embassy, which argues that Canada still has time to change its stance towards China. It advocates a balanced approach between business 'rights' and human rights. While the thought is nice, it might do little beyond hampering Canada's business prospects in China. Harper can crow all he likes about being an 'energy superpower' but as of yet Canada has very little clout even with energy hungry giants like China.
Trade Minister David Emerson claims that Ottawa has not given up on the China relationship. Apparently how best to pursue Canadian objectives in China is as of yet undecided. Any observer could have told reporters that. Emerson is pointing out the obvious. What he should be doing is talking about how he and his compatriots are going to work on the relationship, and figure out a policy. On a positive note, he mentioned that he and Peter McKay are likely to make a China trip in early 2007.
Links: http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2006/november/1/china/
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-10-27T231559Z_01_N27283489_RTRIDST_0_CANADA-CHINA-COL.XML&archived=False