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The euphoria and relief wane after the two Michael’s are released from 1,020 days of inhumane imprisonment. They will have to deal with the psychological side effects personally for some time, despite their remarkable resilience. As a nation, we must begin an uncompromising overhaul of our relationship with China, one consistent with our national interests and values. The assessment should be based on as lucid an understanding as possible of China and its implications for our economy, security and sovereignty, as uncertainty, calculated risks and moral dilemmas will be inevitable.

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China’s blatant hostage diplomacy is but a tactic in its use of raw power – unrestricted by the rule of law, international standards, or common decency – to intimidate other countries. The hope that as China’s economic outlook improves, it would gradually become less repressive and more democratic has long been dashed. In addition, President Xi Jinping’s dedication to Mao Zedong’s socialist vision, although without an extreme cultural revolution, put an end to the idea that China could move towards a market economy.

The monopoly of state power of the Chinese Communist Party, led by President Xi, encompasses virtually every aspect of Chinese life. Commercially, it extends beyond state-owned enterprises to Chinese-controlled private enterprises in foreign countries. Chinese foreign direct investment in Canada must therefore be viewed with appropriate caution.

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Despite the current tensions, Canada’s exports to China grew 38% year-on-year in the first quarter, while imports rose 32% and total trade exceeded pre-pandemic levels. On the other hand, although China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, our trade with it is less than one-twelfth of our trade with the United States. Its importance should therefore not be exaggerated or ever used to justify compromising our security. A free trade agreement with China would open our economy to political interference, surveillance and more intellectual theft, especially in critical sectors like defense, rare minerals, health and telecommunications. The federal government must ban Huawei equipment from our 5G networks.

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When I was Minister of Finance, I saw no significant benefit for Canadian businesses that would justify our membership in the Asian International Infrastructure Bank (AIIB), whose obvious goal is to advance strategic and economic goals. global markets of China. Yet in 2018, Prime Minister Trudeau “invested” $ 256 million to win favor with his favorite grassroots dictatorship. As it did not work out as expected, we should withdraw from the AIIB and use the funds for urgent national infrastructure projects.

Canada signed a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) with China in 2014 to protect Canadian companies doing business there against arbitrary government policies, with reciprocal rights for Chinese companies there. The government needs to consider whether Chinese companies have inappropriately exploited FIPA and whether Canadians operating in China are being treated fairly, including mining companies, whose capital is welcomed but who frequently face subnational barriers to developing. proven reserves.

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Despite these difficulties, it would be very beneficial to continue to export energy to China. During several trips to Beijing, I discussed with senior officials, including once with President Xi, the strategic complementarity of our two countries in terms of oil and gas. Canada needs to diversify into overseas markets and China wants to diversify supply to less stable countries. Our supply of life-saving energy to China would partially balance a currently asymmetrical bilateral economic relationship, as energy buyers are generally easier to find than sellers. Would China have been so intimidating, or so willing to jail the Michaels, if our oil helped them cope with their current extreme energy crisis? Of course, energy exports overseas depend on our ability to build more pipelines to tidal waters, an extremely costly Canadian failure.

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The Sino-Canadian relationship must also be assessed in geopolitical terms, in particular the American response to China’s growing assertiveness and its willingness to strengthen diplomatic, military and strategic alliances, for example the Quad (United States, India, Japan and Australia) and the recently formed AUKUS (joining Australia, United Kingdom and United States). Canada cannot afford to be a spectator of such alliances – yet our closest friends increasingly doubt our commitment to collectively respond to the Chinese challenge, let alone our ability to keep secrets. We must also speak out against the Uyghur genocide, the abuse of Falun Gong, the erosion of democracy in Hong Kong and the intensified threats against Taiwan. We should use the Magnitsky Law to target key Chinese individuals for human rights violations. Canada can always cautiously benefit from the Chinese market, but given our economic integration with the United States and our shared values ​​of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, we must become a more reliable and solid partner in a US-led alliance. facing Chinese aggression.

Canada should pursue a strategy that resolutely defends our national interests, vigorously defends our core values ​​and has no illusions about the people with whom we do business. It means giving up some short-term benefits in the interest of our longer-term national interest, despite the siren calls from annuity seekers, the blatantly compromised, and the terminally naive.

Joe Oliver was Minister of Natural Resources and then Minister of Finance in the Harper government.