“Pragmatic”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mélanie Joly, is careful not to speak of an economic break with China, but wants the business community to be more aware of “geopolitical risks” and promises to help them find other options in Asia.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dramatically illustrated how “the world has changed greatly,” the minister said Monday at a conference organized by the Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal (CORIM) attended by approximately 400 people in a downtown hotel. In this new world, “two visions clash”. On the one hand, there are powerful countries, “like China and Russia”, which seek “to impose their spheres of influence” regardless of international standards, and, on the other, countries, like Canada , who respect and uphold these standards.
To those who talk about the need for an economic break with China, Mélanie Joly replies that you have to be “pragmatic, realistic”. Trade between Canada and China exceeded $90 billion last year. “It doesn’t change like that. And then, by 2040, the Indo-Pacific will no longer represent a third, as today, but more than half of the world economy, recalled the minister who had just presented the new strategy to her audience. of Canada for the region unveiled last month.
In particular, it is a question of playing a greater diplomatic and military role in the region, but also of strengthening ties with old and new economic partners more “compatible with Canadian national security”. We will continue to protect Canada’s access to the Chinese market, “while working with our customers to diversify their activities inside and outside this market”.
“It is not up to the government to tell business people where to invest,” declared the minister before adding on the sidelines of the conference during a press briefing. “What we say […] is that there are risks in doing business with China. So they must have their eyes wide open. »
Sino-Canadian success at COP15
Ottawa has also made it known that Chinese technology companies, such as Huawei, are not welcome in Canada. Nor would investors who would be supported by Beijing be welcome in a “strategic” sector such as that of the minerals needed to manufacture the batteries of the electric vehicles of tomorrow.
This does not prevent Canada and China from working together to advance major common priorities, “particularly in terms of climate change, issues related to the nuclear threat and the prevention of pandemics,” said Mélanie Joly.
“Moreover, COP15, which has just ended in Montreal under a Chinese presidency, is a concrete example of the fact that it is possible to jointly pursue ambitious objectives for global biodiversity. »
As for Russia, there is no question of adopting, as for China, this same approach which is intended to be both firm, but gradual and nuanced, specified Minister Joly, who had just announced new sanctions against a Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich. The West has resolved to isolate Russia economically, and that is what Canada will work to do, she insisted. Anyway, “there is not a lot of trade between Canada and Russia”.