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The Evolution of Canada’s Policy Towards Human Rights in China Since 1970

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Facing China as a New Global Superpower

Abstract

Canada’s relations with China represent one of its most vital bilateral relations and a major priority for the Canadian government. Economically, China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, still far behind the United States but growing in importance for the Canadian economy every year. During the economic crisis of 2008–2009, natural resource exports to China were what “kept the Canadian economy from a sharper downturn” (Woo 2010).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, Foreign Policy. http://www.international.gc.ca/rights-droits/index.aspx?lang=eng.

  2. 2.

    After the outspoken policy, a more intense policy is the coercive policy which includes either the threat to use force or the actual use of limited force.

  3. 3.

    See also: O’Brien (2000).

  4. 4.

    See: Brook (1992).

  5. 5.

    Zhao Ziyang was Chinese Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and General Secretary of the CPC until June 23, 1989. He was a progressive leader and his sympathies to student demonstrators during the protest on Tiananmen Square in 1989 placed him at odds with the party leadership. Zhao was then purged politically and placed under house arrest until his death in 2005. Jason Kenney, who was with the Canadian delegation, challenged the Prime Minister Paul Martin and tried to visit Zhao’s relatives. He was the first foreign official to do so.

  6. 6.

    The bilateral dialogue on human rights was heavily criticized by some Canadian NGOs since the early 2000s and had been specifically questioned by the Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the House of Commons in 2006.

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  1. Simon Fraser University, 3480 Porter Street, V5N 5W4, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Charles-Louis Labrecque

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  1. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Huhua Cao

  2. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    Jeremy Paltiel

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Labrecque, CL. (2016). The Evolution of Canada’s Policy Towards Human Rights in China Since 1970. In: Cao, H., Paltiel, J. (eds) Facing China as a New Global Superpower. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-823-6_7

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