SPEECHES

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NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY

THE HONOURABLE LLOYD AXWORTHY,

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

TO THE CENTRE FOR

PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

"CANADA AND ASIA PACIFIC

IN A CHANGING WORLD"

TORONTO, Ontario

March 24, 1997

This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca

Introduction

I would like to thank the Peace and Conflict Studies Centre for providing this opportunity to discuss with you how, in a changing global context, I see the evolution of Canada's relations with the Asia Pacific region. My aim is to outline for you today some of the new directions in which I see these relations expanding. And to highlight the major challenges that we face, both in 1997 -- a year that will see the transition in Hong Kong and a series of Asia-related events in Canada -- and beyond.

Over the last decade or so, the world has experienced a profound geopolitical shift. The tectonic plates of international relations have realigned themselves, and in so doing, have unleashed huge forces. A new landscape is beginning to appear, but the aftershocks of these movements are still going on. New countries are taking shape, and people are making their voices heard in the world in a way that they could not before.

A major element of this tectonic realignment is what has been referred to as the "rise of Asia." This term usually refers above all to the economic growth experienced by many Asian nations, which is indeed spectacular. But there has been significant change in Asian political and diplomatic structures as well, changes that have profound implications for Canada's foreign policy.

These are not simply academic questions for foreign policy experts to debate. Growing integration through trade, investment, immigration and other flows means that developments in Asia touch our lives directly.

In 1983, for the first time, more Canadian trade crossed the Pacific than the Atlantic. Now, five of our top 10 trade partners, after the United States, are in Asia (Japan, the PRC [People's Republic of China], the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan). And the Team Canada visits, led by the Prime Minister, to China in 1995 and to South and Southeast Asia in 1996 and 1997, have given an additional powerful boost to our trade and investment ties.

Even before transpacific trade topped transatlantic trade, more immigrants arrived in Canada from Asia than from Europe for the first time in 1979. Today, over 2 million Canadians are of Asian origin. More Hong Kongers have chosen to immigrate to Canada than to any other country in recent years. And Chinese is the third most common language in Canada, after English and French. Through business connections, family ties, cultural and educational exchanges and bilateral and multilateral links with governments, Canada interacts with its Asian partners in more and more ways.

Canada's Ties to Asia: Past and Future

And these are just the most obvious things that tie us to Asia. Our links to Asia are both much deeper, if you look at the past, and much wider, if you look at the present and to the future.

Canada has strong links to Asia dating back a century or more, through immigration and through Canadians who lived and worked in Asia. Many Canadian universities, colleges, churches and other non-governmental bodies were active in Asia in the last century. The so-called "mish kids," children of Canadian missionaries brought up in China, for example, gave us an invaluable pool of knowledge and experience of China. My own department has benefited greatly from their skills.

So an awareness of Asia in Canada is not new. At the same time, though, the profound changes under way in Asia mean that we need to update both our knowledge and our approach. We have already started to expand our ties and our co-operation with Asian partners in a range of non-traditional areas:

on political issues, including governance and human rights;

on regional and global security issues;

on building a framework of regional institutions; and

on broader questions of "human security."

New Forms of Co-operation

Academic institutions, NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and other groups, as well as government, are developing innovative and exciting projects in these newer areas. I would like to outline just a few of these to you today, projects that are sometimes overlooked in the excitement over economic and trade figures.

In the area of human rights and governance, the Canadian Human Rights Commission is helping to build the capacity of counterpart organizations in India and Indonesia. In China, Canada funds a number of low-key, effective programs and exchanges, from legal training to implementing laws on women's rights.

On security issues, we are sharing our expertise in peacekeeping with Asian nations through the ASEAN Regional Forum, and through direct bilateral co-operation. With Canadian advice and support, Japanese "blue berets" are serving for the first time ever, working alongside Canadian peacekeepers on the Golan Heights.

Canadian academics have also been active in seeking solutions to regional security problems. One example you may be aware of is the second, very successful, meeting of the North Pacific Working Group of the Council for Security Co-operation in Asia Pacific, hosted this January by the University of Toronto-York University Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies. As the most inclusive "Track II" forum for discussion of Northeast Asia's difficult security problems, these meetings are extremely important.

One of the newest areas of focus in our co-operation with Asian partners is on "human security" issues, an area of increasing concern in an era of globalization and of conflicts spurred by internal collapse. This work deals with problems ranging from environmental degradation to illegal drugs, and from child labour to a global ban on land mines -- issues that I know are of particular interest to some of you in your research.

In China, for example, we are working with local government and with the China National Petroleum Corporation on a regional strategy for developing petroleum resources in the Tarim Basin in a sustainable manner. A particular focus in this fragile desert region will be optimum allocation and use of water resources.

Last year in Thailand, I visited a Canadian project in the Golden Triangle that funds crop substitution and rehabilitation of people whose income once came from the heroin trade -- a trade that supplies much of the heroin that finds its way onto the streets of Canadian cities. At my request, the whole issue of the drug trade has been put on the agenda of the next ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference.

Some of the children participating in the crop substitution program are the offspring of prostitutes, or have worked as prostitutes themselves. By the simple expedient of providing them with assistance to grow their own food, these children have a chance to start new lives. Canada has also established a $500 000 Child Development Fund in India to help combat exploitative child labour, which I launched during my visit there this year.

And in Cambodia, Canadian experts have been training local de-miners for the past four years, to help that country overcome the humanitarian crisis that it is experiencing because of past indiscriminate use of anti-personnel land mines. Canada is also working with Japan and other partners to bring about a global ban on land mines by the end of this year. In this way, we will move from cleaning up the effects of existing crises, toward preventing such crises before they happen.

Challenges for Canada

These projects are part of a concerted and ongoing effort to broaden Canada's ties to Asia, to ensure that they respond to the rapidly changing global environment and to the full range of Canadian interests and values.

This effort is not always easy. We face major challenges in working with partners who have values and ways of doing things that are new to us, and that in some instances, are very different from ours. I would stress that this is not a question of "good" versus "bad" values -- the challenge is not to transform one another, but rather to develop space for co-operation and understanding. And, where necessary, to agree to disagree.

You may be aware of the growing popularity of the "Clash of Civilizations" theory of international relations. This theory posits that the differences between Asian and Euro-Atlantic cultures are so extreme and fundamental as to be irreconcilable. Increased exchanges and expanded trade will produce not only disputes but, inevitably, confrontation and even armed conflict.

I am not persuaded by this theory. The very premise upon which Canada is built as a nation is that cultural difference need not mean discord; on the contrary, it enriches us. And, while it is clear that Asian nations are not inevitably evolving toward a Western model of government, the past two decades have seen significant political evolution in many Asian countries, and extensive democratization in some.

In this context, Canada has a distinctive role to play in Asia as a middle power. Just over a week ago, I was speaking to an American audience about Canada's role as a global nation. The United States may be, as President Clinton put, it the "indispensable nation," but I like to think of Canada as the "value-added nation." Canada has the capacity to act as a respected honest broker on a range of issues, where we bring our particular skills and experience to bear.

China and Hong Kong

This year, 1997, certainly provides some major opportunities for Canada to exercise this special role. Inevitably, as the transition moves closer, Hong Kong will be the focus of particularly intense scrutiny.

The transition is important to Canada for many reasons. Canada has significant business interests in and through Hong Kong. More important, we have long standing and intense people-to-people linkages, with over 100 000 Canadians resident in the territory, and some half a million people of Hong Kong origin living in Canada. Our national fabric has been enriched and benefits enormously from this vital link with Hong Kong's energy and dynamism.

Clearly, Canada has a direct and special interest in a smooth transition under the formula of "one country, two systems," and in the continuing prosperity and well-being of the Hong Kong people. We must maintain the integrity of immigration flows to Canada; ensure the continued well-being of Canadians in Hong Kong; and do all possible to maintain Hong Kong as a vital business centre and a gateway to regional markets.

We are already working to do so. Last week, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and I announced that Canada will accept the new, post-transition Hong Kong passport without any visa requirement.

Today, I am pleased to announce the launch of a special information pamphlet that we have developed to assist Canadians in dealing with the complex set of regulations governing their status should they travel to or reside in Hong Kong. My colleague Raymond Chan, the Secretary of State for Asia Pacific, is in Vancouver today to launch the pamphlet there.

Our aim is to provide a comprehensive, clear guide, based on the information currently available, to the passport, residency and consular questions that concern Canadians visiting or resident in Hong Kong. We particularly want to make people aware that the PRC does not recognize dual nationality. Canadians with more than one passport will have to choose which passport they want to travel on when entering Hong Kong after July 1, 1997. We recommend that they use their Canadian passport, so that we will be able to provide them with consular assistance should they require it.

As we move through the transition, Canada will be giving all possible support for continuity in Hong Kong's current social and economic structures and a large degree of autonomy in its self-governance. I am watching the transition process closely, to ensure that the substance and the spirit of the transition framework set out in the Sino-British joint Declaration and the Basic Law are followed in practice. And I will be discussing Canada's special interests in Hong Kong with Chinese leaders when I visit Beijing next month.

Hong Kong will continue to be of keen interest to Canada long after the fever of public attention brought on by the transition subsides. But even more important as a long-term foreign policy challenge will be our relationship with China. The emergence of China as a world force and mega-economy will increasingly shape world markets, regional security structures and the frameworks of international debate and consensus-building as we move into the next century. We have to determine what sort of relationship we want with China, and how to adjust to the huge changes that are taking place there.

In 1970, Canada was one of the first Western countries to recognize China. We believed then, as we believe now, that a nation representing one fifth of humanity could not be isolated, but must be integrated into the international mainstream. Over the past 27 years, Canada has built an astonishing range of linkages with China on a wide range of fronts: from regional peace and stability to human rights and the rule of law; from environmental protection and sustainable development to an expanding economic relationship; and from academic exchanges to helping China manage their human resources and their institutions in government and the state sector. Our relationship with China cannot, and must not, be defined as a stand-off between trade and human rights. We are determined to advance in both of these areas, indeed, in many areas.

Transparency and rule of law is a primary prerequisite for the continued growth of the Chinese economy and for the advancement of our trading interests. It is also fundamental to the development of a civil society in China, and to the well-being of the Chinese people. And so we press for greater openness and rules-based relationships as fervently in our approach to China at the UN Commission on Human Rights as we do in our negotiations for China's accession to the World Trade Organization.

We are determined to seek closer relations with China; to multiply the points of our interaction; to understand China's challenges; and to listen to and understand China's leaders, and those in China who support constructive change.

This does not mean that we approve of all that China is or does. We will continue to state our position clearly when we disagree. But we must acknowledge that our futures are inextricably linked. If we are to be truly part of the Asia Pacific region, we cannot simply turn our back on China. We are determined to move the relationship toward its full potential.

I will be visiting Beijing and Hong Kong at the beginning of next month. In preparation for that visit, we are refocussing our relationship with China to ensure that it continues to respond both to Canadian interests and to Canadian ideals. Our three principal objectives are as follows:

to ensure that Canada shares in the benefits of Chinese economic growth, in terms of the jobs and growth generated by closer trade and investment ties;

to support the emergence of civil society in China, leading toward greater political responsiveness, improved respect for basic human rights and greater predictability in Chinese international behaviour; and

to maximize Chinese co-operation internationally on systemic and specific issues of Canadian national interest.

Linked to this third objective is our intention to work with China on issues of concern such as the South China Seas and the Taiwan Straits, and "human security" issues such as drugs and environmental problems, where Canada can offer advanced technological solutions.

These objectives require us to work not only with China, but with others in the region. China's increasing integration into the Asia Pacific region has important implications for others, be it Taiwan, Japan, or ASEAN. This is one reason that we are developing new forums in which to engage Japan, our number two trade partner and G-7 colleague, in discussions of regional issues.

The recently established non-governmental Canada-Japan Forum provides an independent setting for dialogue on regional as well as bilateral issues of concern. At the same time, the Canadian and Japanese governments have jointly commissioned a study by two experts on security matters. Their report, which is due out shortly, should provide much fruit for discussion on further co-operation.

1997: A Special Year

It is not just the transition in Hong Kong that makes 1997 a special year in Canada's relations with Asia Pacific. We are hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum this year, culminating in a meeting of APEC leaders in Vancouver in November. At the same time, to recognize the growing texture and complexity of our relations with Asia, the Canadian government has declared 1997 to be Canada's Year of Asia Pacific. A year-long, country-wide program of cultural, academic and business events with an Asia Pacific focus will heighten Canadians' awareness of the region.

As APEC hosts, we have an opportunity to exercise leadership in the ongoing process of regional institution-building, and around the themes that we have chosen to highlight in our host year. Through a series of official and non-governmental events, including trade shows, business seminars, and a youth forum, we will be focussing on small- and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs], on youth, and on various aspects of sustainable development.

As part of the focus on youth, we are sponsoring a national conference in Winnipeg of young Canadians and Asians, entitled "Asia Connects/Cherchons l'Asie." Some dozen other sites in Canada will be linked electronically to the Winnipeg conference, creating "virtual communities" of young people across the country. The aim is to involve young Canadians directly in developing our contacts with Asia Pacific, and in using information technology in innovative ways.

Another area of Canadian leadership and innovation is on issues of governance, human rights and civil society. We are putting strong emphasis on participation in and input to the APEC process from the grass roots. In addition to encouraging participation by NGOs in APEC working groups and meetings, we are supporting a series of parallel NGO and academic events across the country.

This September in Saskatoon, we will be sponsoring a symposium for NGO representatives, academics and policy-makers from the region. It will provide the basis for a report to leaders in November on the impact of rapid economic development and population growth on food and energy supplies and on the environment. My department will also be providing funding to the People's Forum, which will take place in parallel with the November APEC meetings.

The International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, which chairs the NGO APEC Committee in Canada, will produce a report on APEC activities of concern or interest to civil society. A Women Leaders Network conference will feed the views of women in business into the meeting of APEC ministers responsible for SMEs. And we are sponsoring a series of academic round tables on issues ranging from human rights and democratic transition in Asia Pacific, to the debate on East/West values, to the future of Hong Kong.

These events, and the heightened awareness of Asia Pacific that we hope they will generate through 1997 and beyond, provide a unique opportunity to rethink and retool our approach to Asia as we move into the next century. The aim is to catalyze debate on how we interact with a region that will be an increasingly important factor in all our lives -- a debate I urge you to join, particularly the students amongst you. To build and sustain new types of partnerships in the region, it will be particularly important to capture the imagination of young Canadians.

Conclusion

The lasting legacy of 1997 will, I hope, be seen in a continued and strengthened Canadian involvement in the Asia Pacific region. But also, and just as importantly, in the emergence of a true Pacific consciousness across Canada. In this way, Canada can contribute to bringing the Asia Pacific region together as a true regional community that is more than just an arbitrary slice of geography.

This process of building an Asia Pacific community across such a huge and diverse region will not always be easy. The challenges are major, and are not about to disappear. But Canada itself is living proof that different cultures not only do not inevitably clash, but can instead enrich one another. In this way, and in many others, we are well on our way to becoming a true Pacific nation.

Thank you.