Aug 28, 2023
As Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault visits China for a climate conference, Chinese propaganda outlets are heralding the significance of the trip while warning Guilbeault not to take a “condescending tone” with his Chinese counterparts.
Guilbeault’s arrival in Beijing on Saturday marked the first visit to China by a Canadian minister in four years. He is attending the annual meeting Monday of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, of which he is vice-chair.
On Sunday, Global Times, published by the Chinese Communist Party’s central committee, heralded the visit as an opportunity “to ease the strained China-Canada relations.” However, it quoted a source warning that if Guilbeault “demands” that China become more aggressive on carbon emissions “in a condescending tone” the result could be “counterproductive.”
“Even before the meeting starts, they’re giving us our marching orders,” said Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a board member with the China Strategic Risks Institute. “Don’t push the envelope. Don’t push China to do more. And frankly, the minister (Guilbeault) himself said he was going to have an open and frank conversation. Good for him.”
At the time that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was first elected in 2015, there was considerable enthusiasm in official Ottawa for the idea of broadening relations and trade with China, to the extent that the Liberal government was working on a free-trade deal and an extradition treaty with Beijing.
But, relations have since deteriorated.
The Global Times blames this on Canada’s 2018 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei executive wanted in the United States for bank fraud. A few days later, in a move that was widely seen as retaliation, China arrested two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, which frosted over the two countries’ relations until the two men were released and returned to Canada in September 2021.
More recent revelations that China attempted to interfere in recent Canadian elections, an allegation Chinese diplomates in Canada have denied, have not helped improve things. In May, Canada expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei after it was alleged he involved in intimidating a Conservative MP. China then responded by expelling a Canadian diplomat, Jennifer Lynn Lalonde.
McCuaig-Johnston said climate change is one area where Canada has the opportunity to collaborate with the Chinese.
“That makes for a potentially constructive discussion with them,” McCuaig-Johnston said.
Both Liberal and Conservative environment ministers have served as vice-chair of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, dating back to the Mulroney years when Canada co-founded the group. The group’s annual meetings in recent years have been held virtually amid the COVID pandemic.
Guilbeault has said he wants to use this year’s meeting to discuss methane emissions and a global renewable energy target. In an interview with CBC News before his departure, Guilbeault refused to commit to raising the matters of election interference and Chinese human rights abuses on his visit.
“We will confront them when we have to confront them,” Guilbeault said. “But we will also co-operate on issues like climate change and nature.”
The message being sent by the Chinese in the Global Times means Guilbeault will probably be unable to push China on its carbon emissions, McCuaig-Johnston said. China is by far the leading emitter of carbon, producing about one-third of global emissions, and environmental monitors expect China’s emissions to break records this year.
“They’re holding out that carrot that if you are sufficiently deferential and polite, and if you say everything we want you to say, and don’t challenge us on climate change and the environment, then maybe, just maybe, other elements of the Canada-China relationship will be improved,” McCuaig-Johnston said.
The Global Times, in noting that both Canada and China are signatories of the Paris climate agreement, reported that Canada’s unusually intense wildfire season “has resulted in significant excess carbon emissions.”
“That’s just another way of putting us down, so that we are on our back foot at the beginning of the meeting,” McCuaig-Johnston said.
nationalpost.com
As Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault visits China for a climate conference, Chinese propaganda outlets are heralding the significance of the trip while warning Guilbeault not to take a “condescending tone” with his Chinese counterparts.
Guilbeault’s arrival in Beijing on Saturday marked the first visit to China by a Canadian minister in four years. He is attending the annual meeting Monday of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, of which he is vice-chair.
On Sunday, Global Times, published by the Chinese Communist Party’s central committee, heralded the visit as an opportunity “to ease the strained China-Canada relations.” However, it quoted a source warning that if Guilbeault “demands” that China become more aggressive on carbon emissions “in a condescending tone” the result could be “counterproductive.”
“Even before the meeting starts, they’re giving us our marching orders,” said Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a board member with the China Strategic Risks Institute. “Don’t push the envelope. Don’t push China to do more. And frankly, the minister (Guilbeault) himself said he was going to have an open and frank conversation. Good for him.”
At the time that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was first elected in 2015, there was considerable enthusiasm in official Ottawa for the idea of broadening relations and trade with China, to the extent that the Liberal government was working on a free-trade deal and an extradition treaty with Beijing.
But, relations have since deteriorated.
The Global Times blames this on Canada’s 2018 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei executive wanted in the United States for bank fraud. A few days later, in a move that was widely seen as retaliation, China arrested two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, which frosted over the two countries’ relations until the two men were released and returned to Canada in September 2021.
More recent revelations that China attempted to interfere in recent Canadian elections, an allegation Chinese diplomates in Canada have denied, have not helped improve things. In May, Canada expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei after it was alleged he involved in intimidating a Conservative MP. China then responded by expelling a Canadian diplomat, Jennifer Lynn Lalonde.
McCuaig-Johnston said climate change is one area where Canada has the opportunity to collaborate with the Chinese.
“That makes for a potentially constructive discussion with them,” McCuaig-Johnston said.
Both Liberal and Conservative environment ministers have served as vice-chair of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, dating back to the Mulroney years when Canada co-founded the group. The group’s annual meetings in recent years have been held virtually amid the COVID pandemic.
Guilbeault has said he wants to use this year’s meeting to discuss methane emissions and a global renewable energy target. In an interview with CBC News before his departure, Guilbeault refused to commit to raising the matters of election interference and Chinese human rights abuses on his visit.
“We will confront them when we have to confront them,” Guilbeault said. “But we will also co-operate on issues like climate change and nature.”
The message being sent by the Chinese in the Global Times means Guilbeault will probably be unable to push China on its carbon emissions, McCuaig-Johnston said. China is by far the leading emitter of carbon, producing about one-third of global emissions, and environmental monitors expect China’s emissions to break records this year.
“They’re holding out that carrot that if you are sufficiently deferential and polite, and if you say everything we want you to say, and don’t challenge us on climate change and the environment, then maybe, just maybe, other elements of the Canada-China relationship will be improved,” McCuaig-Johnston said.
The Global Times, in noting that both Canada and China are signatories of the Paris climate agreement, reported that Canada’s unusually intense wildfire season “has resulted in significant excess carbon emissions.”
“That’s just another way of putting us down, so that we are on our back foot at the beginning of the meeting,” McCuaig-Johnston said.
Beijing propaganda arm warns Guilbeault against 'condescending' to China in climate meetings
Canada's Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is in China for climate talks.
nationalpost.com
