(Photo: 123RF)
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Canadian companies doing business in mainland China or Hong Kong risk disillusionment: strained economic and political relations between Canada and the Middle Kingdom can hardly be sorted out until Ottawa frees Huawei’s number two , Meng Wanzhou, detained in Canada since December 2018.
This Tuesday noon, before the Council of International Relations of Montreal (CORIM), the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, answered questions from the former Premier of Quebec, Pierre-Marc Johnson, legal counsel at Lemery and Chairman of the Board of CORIM.
Several themes were discussed, from economic relations between the two countries to the issue of human rights through the role of China in the world.
On several occasions, Pierre-Marc Johnson has rectified incomplete or far from the truth information put forward by the representative of Communist China in Canada, starting with the conditions of detention of two Canadians in China, the former diplomat Michael Kovrig and the businessman Michael Spavo.
This is not to mention the fact that the ambassador also rejected out of hand the accusations of “genocide” against Uyghur Muslims in the western province of Xinjiang (although documented by ONG meat l’HON as well as of reports) and repression of Democrats to Hong Kong.
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Despite a speech emphasizing, among other things, the business “opportunities” for Canadian companies in his country, the Chinese ambassador was clear on how to improve the very tense relations between Ottawa and Beijing: unconditional liberation. by Meng Wanzhou.
“We must release Ms. Meng as quickly as possible,” insisted the diplomat, who previously flayed the Canadian government because of its “role of accomplice” of the United States in the arrest of the chief financial officer of the telecommunications giant – she is still under house arrest in Canada.
The Chinese Ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, answered questions from the former Premier of Quebec, Pierre-Marc Johnson, Legal Counsel at Lemery and Chairman of the Board of CORIM. (Photo: screenshot)
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Canadian authorities arrested the businesswoman – she is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, a long-time Chinese Communist Party member – at the behest of the American justice system.
Washington wants to extradite Meng Wanzhou to face charges of fraud related to contracts that Huawei has allegedly concluded with Iran, thus violating the sanctions imposed by Washington against Tehran.
After his arrest in Vancouver, Chinese police arrested Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavo. Most analysts around the world believe it is a retaliatory measure following the arrest of Huawei number two.
In March, Chinese authorities tried the two Canadians on charges of espionage in separate closed-door trials. They now face life imprisonment.
Speaking to CORIM, Cong Peiwu said the two Michael’s were arrested on grounds of national security and espionage for the benefit of foreign powers – without naming them.
The ambassador says the Chinese authorities have “strong evidence” proving their guilt.
Journalists were unable to ask questions of the ambassador after his visit to CORIM – the second in less than a year, which has also been criticized by some analysts in the media and social networks.
Companies are leaving China
Cong Peiwu could not be questioned on the fact that many business people in Canada were reluctant, before the COVID-19 pandemic, to go to China or kept a very low profile when they went to this country, for fear of being arbitrarily arrested by the Chinese authorities.
This climate of uncertainty since the arrest of the two Michael’s – combined with the problems experienced by other foreign companies, including Australia, for years because of tensions between their national government and the Chinese government – has also prompted some companies Canadian companies to reduce their presence in the Chinese market.
Canadian steel, coal, copper and zinc producer Teck Resources is one such company. In recent years, the multinational has reduced its sales of iron and steel coal in China to increase them in India.
In interviews at Deals recently, Ari Van Asche, full professor at HEC Montréal and specialist in international trade, and Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China from 2012 to 2016 and now fellow at the Institut d’études internationales de Montréal (IEIM -UQAM), said Canadian companies have a vested interest in diversifying their markets in Asia so as not to be too exposed to political risks in China.
In their eyes, countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and India (especially in services) also represent interesting markets in this region of the world.
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