Nova Scotia is “strengthening cooperation and mutually beneficial dialogue” with China’s Guangdong province, even as tensions between Canada and China are heightened by China’s arbitrary detention of two Canadians and its unwarranted exclusion of some Canadian products, notably canola, from the massive Chinese market.
The two greatest risks to global security are climate and China, said Peter Van Praagh, President of the Halifax International Security Forum. The annual forum starts today (Friday) and brings 300 participants from more than 80 democracies to Halifax for what has become North America’s leading foreign affairs, defence and security conference.
Nova Scotia’s primary interest in China is trade and the province sees strengthened cultural ties as important in furthering that relationship. China is Nova Scotia’s second largest trading partner, behind the United States.
Van Praagh, who is based in Washington, said in an interview Thursday that any exchange of ideas with China should be carried out in a way that is unapologetic about “our way of life” in free societies.
Trade is important to keep economies moving, he said, but China’s trade partners need to be mindful that it can come at a cost.
“When we do business with China what are we giving up?” he asked.
The principles and values of free societies must not be sacrificed or soft-peddled in dealing with the rigidly authoritarian regime in China.
“Freedom is a universal value,” Van Praagh said, adding that individuals, including Chinese individuals, should be exposed to ideas of freedom and open societies.
Yet those concepts are banned from public discourse by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who in 2013 issued what’s known as Document 9 that rejects and prohibits dissemination of western concepts like universal values, civil society and a free media.
While China is the world’s biggest beneficiary of economic globalization, Xi ended the globalization of ideas in China with Document 9, says Professor Steve Tsang, Director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
Tsang, a participant at the Halifax Forum, said it is “wishful thinking” on the part of those western democracies who believe greater economic integration with China will nudge that nation toward democratization.
Western democracies need to face the reality that the Chinese political system is entrenched and recognize that “Xi seeks to make the world safe for authoritarianism.”
In response, he said, free societies need to “hold fast to our values and defend them, domestically as well as in countries and territories where there is a battle for supremacy between authoritarianism and democracy.
“Xi has no intention for China to play second fiddle in the world over the long term. He is determined to make China second to none by the centenary of the founding of the People’s Republic, in 2049, at the latest.”
Nova Scotia needs to understand China’s increasingly restrictive domestic direction and its international aspirations as the province works to increase trade and build cultural ties.
The stated purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Shared Outcomes for Culture between Nova Scotia and Guangdong province is to reinforce “the mutual goodwill and common interests regarding culture and strengthen cooperation and mutually beneficial dialogue and exchanges between the two provinces.”
China experts at the Halifax International Security Forum would urge caution in pursuit of those objectives given that, on matters of principle and democratic values, there are few if any “common interests” between the two provinces.
Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are approaching a year in detention in China for no discernable reason other than China’s retribution for Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Meng was arrested and faces extradition to the United States on charges related to the Chinese tech giant’s alleged violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran.
China also halted all imports of Canadian canola, citing safety concerns with the product that Canadian officials say do not exist.
Through all of this, Nova Scotia’s government has continued and intensified efforts to strengthen the province’s trade and other relationships with China.
Nova Scotia’s economic objectives are well understood and recognized as legitimate by the global security experts at the Forum, but those same experts would hope the province also advances the cause of human rights and freedom in its dealings with China.
Jim Vibert, a journalist and writer for longer than he cares to admit, consulted or worked for five Nova Scotia governments. He now keeps a close and critical eye on those in power.
