CHINA: Trudeau visits China: 6 things to watch

[Oscar]

QUOTE: "When you negotiate with the Chinese, despite the tea and buns, they are much more dragon than panda." - former diplomat Colin Robertson, who at one point was posted in Hong Kong.

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Trudeau visits China: 6 things to watch

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau ... -1.3737436 ]

Prime minister leaves today for his first official visit to Beijing

By Susan Lunn, CBC News Posted: Aug 29, 2016 5:00 AM ET| Last Updated: Aug 29, 2016 12:48 PM ET

EXCERPT:

Progress on a free trade deal?

As Canada's biggest trading partner behind the United States, China would like a free trade agreement with Canada.

The previous Conservative government produced studies on the idea that were positive, but not much has been done since.

What will Canada agree to during this visit? Exploratory talks? Or more study?

Robertson said he doesn't think the Trudeau government has decided yet, and that could be a problem as officials get ready to sit down with the Chinese.

"When you negotiate with the Chinese, despite the tea and buns, they are much more dragon than panda."

Canadian investment in Asian infrastructure

Beyond free trade, China would also like Canada to invest in its $100-billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). (See note below . . . Ed.)

The AIIB was created to support the development of infrastructure in China. Countries that invest in the bank give their country's firms preferential access to projects funded by the AIIB.

Canadian firms are keen to get a piece of this business and are hoping Trudeau will send a positive signal during this visit, said former Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day, now a vice-president with the Canada-China Business Council.

"I think there's a huge opportunity for Canadian firms; large firms, mid-size firms. We're very well acquainted with issues related to developing infrastructure in cold weather and in extreme climates. We've got so much to offer there," Day said.

David Mulroney, Canada's former ambassador to China, disagrees.

"I actually think we made the right decision in not joining," said Mulroney, who's now president of the University of St. Michael's College in Toronto. "China is, in my view, far from ready for hosting a major multilateral financial institution.

"As they were announcing the launch of the bank they were shutting down the website for Reuters, which is one of the premier financial media outlets in the world."

Asked about potential investment in the bank, senior Canadian government officials would only say, "We will have more to say on the trip."

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OTHER RELATED ARTICLES:


Canada to Join China-Led Bank, Signaling Readiness to Bolster Ties - August 31, 2016 - (Numerous LINKS on Original URL)

[ http://www.topnewstrend.com/canada-to-j ... ster-ties/ ]

BEIJING — Canada said on Wednesday that it had applied to join China’s version of the World Bank, breaking with previous leaders who had shared United States officials’ skepticism of the new Beijing-led lender.

The move came during a five-day trip to China by the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, who is seeking to burnish trade, business and political ties with Beijing. China’s relationship with the previous Canadian government had been lukewarm.

The membership would provide a lift for the lender, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a Chinese-led organization that counts 57 countries as members and that is looking to expand by about an additional 30. The bank — founded last year to fund roads, power lines and other needed infrastructure projects in Asia — is widely seen as an extension of China’s growing economic and political heft and as a counterweight to the World Bank and other institutions dominated by Western countries.

The previous Canadian government, led by Stephen Harper, hesitated in joining the bank, saying that it wanted to ensure that the institution’s financial and environmental standards were sound. The Obama administration expressed similar reservations, and during the genesis of the bank, it advised several allies, including Australia and South Korea, not to join.

Both countries eventually ignored Washington and became founding members of the bank that is intended to both compete and cooperate with existing lending institutions. Britain also broke with the United States over the new bank and became an inaugural member along with France, Germany and Italy.

American officials have since softened their criticism and have encouraged the Chinese to finance projects with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as a way of ensuring what they consider acceptable standards of environmental and lending practices.

China is Canada’s second-largest single trading partner, after the United States, and it is a major buyer of Canadian timber, paper, metals and fertilizer. China, in turn, has become a major investor in Canada, buying up oil and natural gas reserves and high-end homes in Vancouver.

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For Canada, joining the bank could help strengthen its relationship with a country that is increasingly important to its economy. “Canada’s membership will create commercial opportunities for Canadian companies and create jobs for the middle class,” said Canada’s finance minister, Bill Morneau, at a news conference with the bank’s president, Jin Liqun.

MORE:

[ http://www.topnewstrend.com/canada-to-j ... ster-ties/ ]

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What is the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)?

The $100 billion AIIB opens for business: Will China's multilateral ambitions soar or sour?

http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/201 ... -sour.aspx ]

19 January 2016 10:42AM

The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) officially opened for business on 16 January after a sufficient number of countries formally approved the bank’s Articles so it could formally be declared a legal entity.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said the AIIB launch was an ‘historical moment’ and China’s Finance Minister, Lou Jiwei, said it marked the reform of the global economic governance system. An article by Teymoor Babili in Al Jazeera claimed the AIIB would reshape the economic and trading status in Asia.
The establishment of the AIIB is significant, but not because it will soon dominate infrastructure financing in Asia; indeed it plans to lend only US$1.5 billion this year. Rather, its importance lies in the fact that it shows China is increasing its imprint on the global economic order.
When China first proposed the AIIB, it was viewed by some as a challenge to US international economic leadership and the western dominated multilateral development banks (MDBs).
Framing the AIIB in terms of rivalry between the US and China makes a compelling narrative. And the AIIB was a diplomatic disaster for the US when it failed to convince some key allies not to join the bank. But China did not propose the AIIB to challenge the role and significance of the US. It was the ham-fisted US response that turned the issue into a question of US influence.
It is also misleading to view the AIIB as largely the result of China’s dissatisfaction with the slow progress of governance reform in the existing MDBs. China is underrepresented in these banks, it wants a bigger say and is disillusioned with the slow pace of reform. But even if there had been faster progress in reforming the MDBs, China would still have established the AIIB.
It is directly in China’s interests to have a multilateral body focused on Asia’s infrastructure needs. The AIIB has to be seen in the context of President Xi’s signature foreign economic policy; the One Belt, One Road initiative. It is no coincidence that the AIIB was simultaneously announced with One Belt, One Road. Advancing the connectivity between Asia and Europe involves investing in the infrastructure of many countries in Asia,
Viewed in isolation, committing resources to a multilateral bank could be seen to limit China’s freedom to finance infrastructure projects in Asia. But multilateralising financing decisions can insulate China from the political tension and push-back that can come from bilateral financing. Countries may be more accepting to financing from a multilateral institution, even if it led by China, than directly from China. Moreover a high quality multilateral bank will be positive for China’s image in the region.

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Trudeau to discuss Canada-China FTA, tar sands pipeline with Chinese foreign minister

[ http://canadians.org/blog/trudeau-discu ... n-minister ]

June 1, 2016 - 7:15am

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is interested in a free trade agreement with Canada if Trudeau approves a tar sands export pipeline.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to discuss a Canada-China free trade agreement (FTA) with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Parliament Hill today.

The Globe and Mail reports, "The Prime Minister has made re-engagement with China a key foreign policy initiative as his government presses for a free-trade deal with the world’s second-largest economy."

That article highlights, "Polls show Canadians have a very negative impression of the Chinese government and are narrowly opposed to a free-trade deal with the country. A Nanos Research survey, commissioned by The Globe and Mail in February, found [that] by a narrow margin, poll respondents did not like the idea of a China-Canada free-trade deal. Forty-seven per cent said they opposed or somewhat opposed talks, and 41 per cent said they supported or somewhat supported them."

This past December, China's ambassador to Canada, Luo Zhaohui, stated, "At the policy level, we need to start the negotiation and conclusion of a free trade agreement sooner rather than later."

In January of this year, the Globe and Mail reported, "China wants to forge a historic free-trade deal with Canada, but a senior Chinese official said this will require Canadian concessions on investment restrictions [notably in the oil and gas sector] and a commitment to build an energy pipeline to the coast." Colin Robertson, a senior fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, says, "They would like to buy our Canadian oil and gas, but they can’t get it there because they don’t have the pipeline. Basically, they want us to get pipelines, as do the Japanese and Indians, to the coast so they can get access to oil and gas."

The pipeline that China wants could be either the Energy East, Trans Mountain or Northern Gateway pipelines, in that all have the capacity to ship crude oil to China.

If Canada signs a free trade agreement with China that includes an investment protection provision (as would be likely), it would make it that much harder to subsequently constrain the growth of the tar sands or to reject any of these pipelines. Calgary-based TransCanada has launched a $15 billion North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Chapter 11 challenge over the U.S. government's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline. As Barlow has noted, "Free trade agreements undermine the ability of all levels of governments to regulate the sale or extraction of fossil fuels and promote renewable energy."

Trudeau is expected to add an official visit to China around the time of the G20 summit there this coming September 4-5.

Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]


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Canada's ambassador to China says some human rights moving backwards - August 31, 2016
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/china-a ... -1.3742464 ]
Canada's ambassador to China says human rights in that country have taken a step backwards in some areas in recent years.
Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada's top diplomat in China for four years, said he's noticed a change in terms of people's ability to express themselves freely, and not in a positive way.


Trudeau’s China Trip Sparks Fears of Bad Deal for Workers - August 29, 2016
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/08/29/Trude ... ign=290816 ]
Beijing’s trade agreement with Australia allows Chinese companies to use their own workers. Is Canada next?
QUOTE: "The right to bring Chinese workers to Canada is already on Beijing’s agenda. In 2014, China’s consul general in Calgary said Ottawa should relax its immigration laws so Chinese companies could bring in their own workers to lower costs. (A Tyee report found China does not extend similar rights to foreign countries doing business within its borders.)"
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes his first official visit to China, critics fear the government’s eagerness to sign a free trade agreement with Beijing could lead to a bad deal for Canadian workers.
That’s what happened when Australia signed a free trade agreement with China last year, warns Andrew Dettmer, national president of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement gave Chinese enterprises the right to bring in an unlimited number of workers for major projects, the union says.
“An agreement like ChAFTA is a road to ruin for Canadian jobs,” Dettmer told The Tyee. “It won’t provide anything by way of advantage to Canadian industry.”
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WATCH: Justin Trudeau says Canada expressed 'dissatisfaction' over Chinese minister's outburst - June 3, 2016
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeua ... -1.3614476 ]
PM responds to Wang Yi's berating of Canadian journalist for asking about human rights in China



Chinese foreign minister's 'tantrum' sign of troubled relations, ex-ambassador says - June 3, 2016
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/chinese ... -1.3613086 ]
Wang Yi calls Canadian journalist 'irresponsible' for asking about human rights at news conference
The Conservatives' foreign affairs critic is calling the Chinese foreign minister's admonishment of a Canadian reporter on Wednesday "unacceptable," while a former ambassador to Beijing sees the visiting minister's "tantrum" as fallout from years of troubled relations with the communist country.
"China must learn from other countries that there are acceptable norms of behaviour when dealing with other nations," Conservative foreign affairs critic Tony Clement said in an interview with CBC News Thursday.
"I thought it was totally outrageous that he would come to Canadian soil and act in such a disrespectful way to a Canadian journalist asking a legitimate question.
"If we go to Beijing, as ministers or MPs, we were always told there are certain historical and cultural aspects of the Chinese that we have to be deferential to — and respectful of — and then he comes here and disrespects our values," he said. "So that was unacceptable."
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