Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a “successful” trip Red China where he inked a number of trade and investment deals. As the papers reported, while Harper may have brought up human rights and democracy with Chinese leaders behind closed doors, he did not make any public statement on Beijing’s human rights abuses. More than two years ago, during a previous trip, we highlighted the human rights problems in China. Aside from the torture, organ harvesting, and lack of democracy, a major concern is the country’s One Child Policy which is backed up by forced abortion and sterilization (see also HLI’s report).
Once again we note that the Canada-China relationship need not be a binary choice: trade bought with silence on the egregious abuse of human rights or human rights grandstanding by shining a light on Red China’s behaviour while refusing to trade with the economic giant; it should be possible to give a voice to the regime’s victims while maintaining an economic relationship with the world’s largest country. After all, they need our lumber and other natural resources. Their leaders might not like being lightly castigated, but it would be the small price to pay for access to our lumber, uranium and oil. Furthermore, the idea that trade will liberalize Red China ring empty; that argument has been made for nearly two decades by Chamber of Commerce types and despite a decade of roughly 9% annual economic growth, the regime’s brutality shows no signs of letting up. Trade without public pressure will not change Red China’s behaviour.
