Private MP bill could harm relations with China
CTV.ca News Staff
Lawmakers will soon vote on a private member's bill that, if passed, could have serious ramifications for Canadian relations with China.
Introduced by Conservative MP Jim Abbott in April, the so-called Taiwan Affairs Act would upgrade Canada's relations with Taiwan.
The bill also opposes China's use of military force or economic sanctions against Taiwan. That policy would directly contradict Beijing, which earlier this year passed a law specifically authorizing the use of force to stop Taiwan from pursuing formal independence.
Although it stops short of calling Taiwan a state, the bill calls for improved economic, cultural, scientific and legal ties. It would also open the door to Taiwan officials to once again start visiting Canada.
China's ambassador in Ottawa, Lu Shumin, says that would be going too far.
"This bill which in essence is to advocate the changing basis of Taiwan and treat it as a separate country," he told CTV News, noting that would not jibe with Beijing.
And that has members of Canada's business community concerned their livelihood could be at stake.
Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters policy director Gordon Cherry warns that Canada's telecommunications and aerospace sectors, for example, could face severe repercussions.
"The effect would be these multi-billion dollar, million-dollar deals that are in the works would be harmed by the bill," Cherry told CTV.
Abbott thinks it's nevertheless important to keep pushing the issue.
Considering the breakdown of the minority parliament, and the support, not only of the Bloc Quebecois, but also a handful of sympathetic Liberals, Abbott feels his bill's got a good chance of becoming law.
"There is a high probability that it could pass," he said.
This is not the first time Abbott has rallied Parliament to make Taiwan's official status an international issue.
In May 2003, the House voted 163-67 in favour of an official opposition motion introduced by Abbott -- urging the World Health Organization to grant Taiwan observer status.
At the time, the push to bring Taiwan into the WHO purview was fuelled by the deadly SARS crisis.
China voiced opposition at the time, but offered no formal retaliation.
Should Abbott's bill pass now, Ambassador Shumin said, it would put an inevitable strain on relations with Beijing.
"If this pass into a law, that will definitely harm the overall relationship. I think you will understand what that means. That means the relations of the two countries would not going forward but backwards.
"That would be quite serious."
As Canada's second-largest trading partner, senior cabinet ministers say there's legitimate reason to be worried.
According to International Trade Minister Jim Peterson, a diplomatic chill could lead to a freeze of economic activity.
"There is great potential loss and the Chinese have made it very clear to us in every meeting at a high level that a one-China policy is a priority for them," Peterson told CTV.
Taiwan history
In 1949, when China came under Communist rule, the island of Taiwan became the new home in exile of Chaing Kai Chek. Having failed to stop the Communists, Chaing took Taipei as the capital of the democratic Republic of China.
Ever since, the People's Republic of China -- comprised of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau -- has maintained that Taiwan remains a renegade province.
Canada has had an official one-China policy since Ottawa established diplomatic relations with Beijing 35 years ago.
Answering critics who say Abbott's Taiwan Act would shatter Canada's 35-year policy, Conservative Foreign Affairs critic Stockwell Day says no way.
"We are clear in support of the one-China policy," he said. "But we also want to see Taiwan not threatened."
The United States signed its own similar Taiwan Act in 1979.
Economic Ties
In recent years, China's booming economy has become one of the main drivers of world growth. According to an annual report by Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, China's economic growth approached 10 per cent last year and exceeded most expectations.
Canada has long been poised to take advantage of its special relationship with China. Canada made its first wheat sale to the People's Republic of China in 1961. And Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1970 -- getting a five-year jump on the United States with this important trading partner.
China recently became Canada's second largest trading partner, just behind the United States. This was spurred by 49 per cent growth in trade with China in the first half of 2004 (compared with the previous year), bumping Japan out of its traditional number two spot.
Yet, Peterson said earlier this year the trade relationship between Canada and China was "minuscule" compared with its potential.
Most of Canada's exports to China are in the form of such raw materials as copper, zinc, and sulphur. There is still much more Canada could do to promote "value-added" industries such as education, travel and technology.
And there is a trade imbalance, highlighted in a report issued by Statistics Canada in June 2004:
- Between 1995 and 2003, Canada's exports to China rose 37.4%.
- During the same period, our imports from China quadrupled.
- In 1995, Canada's trade deficit with China was barely $1.2 billion.
- By 2003, the trade deficit had exploded to nearly $13.8 billion.
source: The Canadian Government in China (http://www.beijing.gc.ca/index.htm)
Prepared with a report from CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife
) sound silly in hindisght. Of course, the same goes for any other foreign country that one might try to understand.
