Professor Qinhua XU, Senior Associate of NADS: Dialogue with Ambassador of Canada to China Saint Jacques on Canada-China Relationship on 13 April 2016 (Extract)

[Professor Xu]: We all know that you have been posted to China several times, and you have been staying here for a long time. The China we see today is very different from the China of just a few decades ago, what have you witnessed personally.

[Ambassador Sait Jacques]: I feel very privileged to have witnessed the very rapid and successful transformation of China. I came here right after the end of the coupons for buying clothes and various products. So by the end of my posting in 1987, I could see that the reforms were starting to generate a lot of returns. Then, I was away just 8 years, and when I came back, I couldn`t believe the level of progress that had been achieved. And I could see the attitude of Chinese people changed, they were more confident. I left in 1999, and was away for 13 years, returning in 2012. And I saw that everything had changed again, there was so much more progress. But there have been drawbacks, too; the drawbacks that come with development, pollution for instance. Today pollution remains a problem, but I have the impression that we see more blue sky days now than at the end of the 1990s. I am encouraged by the measures taken by the government, though it will take many years to tackle the problem. However, when it comes to freedom of expression, I would have liked to have seen more progress. But overall, I feel very privileged to have spent about 11 years in China and to witness this very rapid progress. China can be very proud for having taken hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

[Xu]: Wow, 11 years, thank you very much for all the good words to China. I think that you played a very important role in bridging the two nations’ people. So may I ask you in one word to describe your impression of China?

[Ambassador]: I would say now I see a lot of creativity, in the way that in business where there are a lot more entrepreneurs and who are the first in the world to come up with projects, one example is Alibaba, with e-commerce, which is way ahead of western countries. Also the online payments system here I think is ahead of the rest of the world. Also in the art milieu, I find now that there’s a lot of creativity and very interesting work that is done by Chinese artists.

[Xu]: This year marks a very special year for Canada and China. I understand that many cultural activities and people-to-people exchanges have taken place in both countries. So can you please tell us more about these activities?

[Ambassador]: It has been very good so far, and it is not over because there are many other activities. To give you few examples on the film side, last year we had 8 films that were shown at the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF). In March we had Canada again participating in the annual La Francophonie celebrations – organized by Canada and other French speaking countries. On April 28th, Cavalia will start a strong of performances in Beijing.  In late June, early July, we will have another Canadian group called Cirque Éloize. I hope that this will bring more Canadian artists and their work to China. I believe arts and cultural exchanges allow for greater understanding between our countries. On the people-to-people exchanges we have also seen good progression the education and tourism sectors. Last year, more than 500, 000 Chinese visited Canada. China is now the third source of visitors to Canada after the US and the UK, and we were the first country to begin issuing 10-year multiple entry visas in February of last year. In terms of students, China is the number one source of foreign students in Canada. Last year, we had at least 120,000 Chinese students in Canada.

[Xu]: Many people’s impression of Canada is its social openness and inclusiveness. So what makes Canada so strong in these areas?

[Ambassador]: I agree with you that Canada open and inclusive, it is very successful multicultural society. The first one is that there are three founding peoples in Canada; the First Nations people, the French, and the British. When the British took over, they allowed the French people to keep their language and their religion. Right there I think that sends a signal that helped to create a sense of tolerance. After that, Canada was built by waves of immigrants. I would say that in the 20th century it was people coming mostly from Europe, but in the last 10-15 years it has shifted completely and now the main source of immigration is Asia, particularly China, the Philippines and India. Today, we have almost 1.4 million Canadians of Chinese origin, who have integrated very well. The other thing that happened is when Pierre Elliott Trudeau was Prime Minister,(he was the father of our current Prime Minister) he introduced a law to formalize multiculturalism. He introduced Charter of Rights which established the legal basis to ensure that everyone is equal, and cannot be discriminated against based on age, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. Further, there are many laws that have been designed offer equal opportunities – whether you are born in Canada or an immigrant to Canada – you equality is entrenched in laws. Like me, I am a francophone, from the French minority, but being Ambassador in our second most important mission in the world, I think it shows the diversity.

[Xu]: Can you tell us more about the new Canadian government’s views for strengthening Canada-China trade investment relations?

[Ambassador]: I will say first that we have a very good base upon which to build last year, we celebrated 45 years of diplomatic relations. Canada has had a very successful development assistance program in China. In fact Canada helped develop the berry industry, improve the pork industry, and has been and continues to be very active in the energy sector. We helped to develop competencies in hydropower, also in education. We also helped with legal training, and this helped establish good relations. What I also find encouraging is that last year our trade increased by 10%, and our exports to China increased by about 4.5% – just over $20 billion. Last year China’s exports went down, I think by about 2 or 3%, but in fact China’s exports to Canada increased by 11%. So we have a big trade deficit and have to diversify our trade, but when I look at the complementarity between our two economies, I see a lot of untapped potential in all kind of areas that are of prime interest to China. Of course, Canada is blessed with lots of resources, we have magnificent forests, mines, oil and gas, but also we have high technology. We can help resolve problems related to pollution in terms of emissions control, waste water treatment, and soil decontamination. The new government headed by Prime Minister Trudeau is devoting a lot more attention to China. To give you an example, the new government publicly released each minister’s mandate letter. The Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland’s mandate is to expand trade and economic relations with China. So a lot of work is taking place now in Ottawa to look at how and what might be done to expand the relationship. I hope that later this year, we will have some important high-level visits, maybe in both directions – this is still waiting for confirmation. There could be a number of announcements, include the creation of new mechanisms to ensure that more dialogues and exchanges. We will be holding in the near future the first Foreign Affairs Ministers’ dialogue, and hopefully also this year will be the Economic and Financial Strategic Dialogue, along with other mechanisms as well. We may want to make some announcements to support the expansion of trade. On the investment side, things are going well because we calculate that China has invested now more than 52 billion dollars in Canada, we had about $10 billion of investments in China. We welcome Chinese investments. The other achievement that was significant that happened two years ago was the new Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) entered into force. And also last year we had the creation of the first RMB hub in North America, and this I think will help to develop trade because it will lower the cost of transactions, if you can deal directly in RMB. I think this is creating more possibilities.

[Xu]: Can we attribute such a big progress to your contribution?

[Ambassador]: Well, I think for that, you know my Chinese name is Zhaopu – Pusu de pu –, and I think that Pusu applies to me very well because it’s very difficult for me to say that I feel responsible because I have the chance to work with a great team, and my role is to encourage people to work hard and to be creative and come up with good ideas, and just to be there to help steer things and when there is a problem to intervene. But also I try to be very active, as a result I am busy most of the time, like this week I am busy every night until 9pm and I start early every morning, but I see this as being part of my job. But again, having such a great team here in Beijing and in our consulates across China really facilitates the work. I hope that I will have been able to make a contribution, but I find that it is very difficult to measure a one-person contribution. It’s really a team effort.

[Xu]: You are very down to earth. So my last question is about Belt and Road, do you see any opportunities for Canada related to China’s Belt and Road initiative?

[Ambassador]: Yes, and I must say that our companies have been a bit slow maybe in looking at the possibilities offered by the “One Belt One Road” initiative, and now we are seeing a change. In fact, I had breakfast this morning with a Canadian engineering company, and I suggested that they look at “One Belt One Road” because this is a very important initiative by President Xi to develop trade in the Southeast Asia and continue all the way to Europe, and that Canadian companies offer expertise in many areas that could be beneficial and lower the cost of the project to bring high-quality expertise. In terms of infrastructure and projects that require environmental assessments or measures to protect the environment, we are experts in those fields. We also have expertise in transportation. I know that the Chinese government hopes to sell Chinese railways and railcars manufactured in China, but Bombardier has factories in China, has transferred part of its technology and this has been very successful. The other area where we see an interest is in financing, because Asia requires a lot of money for infrastructure, in fact we are really happy with the creation of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank because the needs in Asia are so great. In Canada, we have some large pension funds that have been very successful, when you look at the track record for investment abroad, and they are always looking for good investment opportunities. The Canada Pension Plan which is the plan that manages the pensions of all federal government workers have been very successful and have invested about $13 billion in China, they are looking now at “One Belt One Road” projects. Also, the Ontario teachers’ plan that administers the pensions for Ontario teachers is also examining this possibility.

So when I look at all the opportunities, I think Canadian companies could play a role also in terms of corporate social responsibility, where Canada has a lot of solid experience. I think that while Canadians at the beginning were wondering what this was all about, we encouraged them to look at the possibilities and to pay more attention, and I think we will not only see some partnerships but also we are trying to promote joint projects between Chinese and Canadian companies where our companies can bring expertise and help put together a very strong project. It is something we will want to be part of, and hopefully this will be a win-win for all parties interested.

[Xu]: Thank you very much for sharing your views with me, and I’m really impressed.