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18 Our image in Asia as a welcoming, tolerant society became somewhat confused. On the one hand, we gave the highest position of honour in the nation, the post of Governor General, to a first-generation Chinese immigrant. On the other, there was a very hostile public reaction to the arrival off the BC coast of four boatloads of Chinese who were trying to evade immigration laws as they made their way to the US. The government adopted a slow and legalistic approach to the situation — much to the consternation of the Chinese government, which requested that all the boat people be returned to China. Canada also had some image problems in China when a high-profile hospital venture in Beijing was halted due to lack of funding. We also faced criticism in Taiwan for our slow response in sending aid in the aftermath of the island’s devastating earthquake. The Team Canada mission to Japan helped, in a small way, to build Canada’s “brand” in Asia as a technologically sophisticated nation, but far more remains to be done. The projection of Canadian values, a long-held policy goal, was both promoted and overlooked during 1999. Canada demonstrated its priorities through action on landmines in Cambodia; support for elections in Indonesia and stability in East Timor; peace-building in partnership with Japan; and, most notably, the encouragement of democratic values in Pakistan with Foreign Affairs Minister Axworthy’s mission to Islamabad. However, China was again the most contentious area in the application of these values. Ottawa remained silent about the suppression of the Falun Gong sect and, separately, of Chinese political dissidents leading up to the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in October. However, it was quick to help clear the way for China’s membership of the World Trade Organization. While this did not represent any change in Ottawa’s approach to Beijing, it did offend some Canadians who feel we must continue to call China to account whenever it prevents what Canadians consider to be a reasonable expression of political dissent. The remaining three assessment areas — inward investment, development cooperation and tourism — all have measurable statistical aspects on which to base assessments. For example, the stock of Asian investment in Canada declined slightly according to the latest figures (1998). However, in view of Asia’s economic situation in that period, the performance is neither surprising nor poor. The study by accounting firm KPMG released last year assessing Canada as the most cost-competitive of the G-7 nations can only help to attract investment in coming years. 6 So will the federal government’s appointment of specific individuals as investment “champions” to actively promote capital inflow into Canada from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong SAR. In the area of development cooperation and international assistance, the biggest change was in policy for the future, rather than current activities. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) adopted an overarching goal of poverty alleviation for its programs. This will impact its Asian operations considerably as Asia is home to 70% of the world’s poor. During 1999, CIDA generally continued with existing initiatives to provide financial and logistical assistance to developing economies in Asia. Events like the anarchy in East Timor, the earthquake in Taiwan, floods in Vietnam and a cyclone in India did cause some shifts in programs. Many new projects reflected the high priority given by Canada to human security. Among these was a $2.4 million package to Cambodia to help with landmine
emoval. However, most of the changes in programs and priorities could be described as sideways rather than up or down movements, so a change in grade is not warranted. The final category, tourism, was also hit by the Asian crisis, but is beginning to recover. Arrivals in the first nine months of 1999 were up from the depressed levels of 1998, especially from South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. The first country is a key source of students for ESL schools in Canada, and the much higher tourist arrivals likely reflect a recovery in the number of students arriving on tourist visas for short-term classes. The number of visitors from the all-important Japanese market was also up a little. It is encouraging that the recovery in tourist arrivals to Canada has been considerably faster than to the US, although this may reflect the steeper fall in visitors to Canada in 1998. The goal of the Canada Asia Report Card is to highlight how Canada as a nation is performing in its relationship with Asia. Some of the areas of assessment, like media coverage or even projection of our image, may be outside the influence of government policy. However, those that pertain to economic relations are not. The generally belowaverage grades point up the lack of the concept of an overriding “national interest” in our policymaking toward Asia. Non-interference in business decisionmaking is a fundamental, and quite proper, policy element of the mainstream political parties supported by the large majority of Canadians. However, that does not deny government a leadership role where interests at stake are greater than those of an individual business. Achieving a greater balance in our international economic relations falls into that category. Globalization — and some of the liberalizations coming in the wake of the Asian crisis — have given Canada the opportunity to diversify its portfolio of international assets away from an over-concentration in the US. Ottawa has a responsibility to guide Canadian business in this new direction. 19
Page 1 and 2: asia pacific foundation of canada 1
Page 3 and 4: ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Page 5 and 6: October 2000, we will hold the firs
Page 7 and 8: OVERVIEW 1 asia in convalescence 7
Page 9 and 10: ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Page 11 and 12: GRADE ‘98 Inward Investment C- In
Page 13 and 14: THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBALIZATION Unde
Page 15 and 16: The largest pool of investable Cana
Page 17: enabled Canada to take a stronger r
Page 21 and 22: MAJOR EVENTS 2 a year in review 21
Page 23 and 24: stock markets were climbing. As the
Page 25 and 26: six-fold in Thailand. With the exce
Page 27 and 28: the past played a very small role i
Page 29 and 30: it had allowed in recent years. A m
Page 31 and 32: SECURITY BACKTRACK While economic c
Page 33 and 34: Outbreaks of violence in other part
Page 35 and 36: ECONOMIC RELATIONS 3 looking for a
Page 37 and 38: TODAY’S DELAY IS TOMORROW’S LOS
Page 39 and 40: ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Page 41 and 42: to achieve operating efficiencies t
Page 43 and 44: Finally, foreign investment by Cana
Page 45 and 46: NORTH AMERICAN INTEGRATION 4 too mu
Page 47 and 48: similar to that with the US with on
Page 49 and 50: British Columbia provides a recent
Page 51 and 52: part of US-assembled goods bound fo
Page 53 and 54: ASIAN EXPERTISE 5 hidden advantage
Page 55 and 56: cautioned that “not every Asian C
Page 57 and 58: usiness skills to enhance Canada-As
Page 59 and 60: 6 DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ODA for a
Page 61 and 62: the term “development assistance
Page 63 and 64: The report emphasizes the need to
Page 65 and 66: ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION OF CANADA 7
Page 67 and 68: CANADIAN EDUCATION CENTRE NETWORK T
Page 69 and 70:
NOTES CHAPTER 1 1. Based on markets
Page 71 and 72:
NOTES 5. Research by Tamim Bayoumi
Page 73 and 74:
REFERENCES —. Statistics Canada.
Page 75 and 76:
REFERENCES United Nations Conferenc
Page 77 and 78:
STATISTICAL APPENDIX ASIAN MOTHER T
Page 79:
STATISTICAL APPENDIX CANADA’S TRA
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