Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntingwhale
TBH Canada doesn't have many options in it's arsenal of retaliatory actions they can take. We can't intimidate them. Can't attack them or push them around. We are greatly outnumbered in population so an attempted PR campaign wouldn't work. Truthfully our hands are tied unless it's a coordinated world-wide effort to suppress the CCP. But Canada has in the past issued visa restrictions to many authoritarian regimes who have played roles in human rights abuse. It's one of the few tactics we do have.
I should also point out that visa restrictions doesn't mean a ban on Chinese travelers as a whole. You might be mistaken in thinking I'm advocate for a full Chinese traveler ban to Canada but that is not what I mean. The term restricted could for example mean student visas are issued for only higher top tier students. Business/work visas issued for only certain companies. Approving maybe only 75% of tourist visa applications. Restrictions like these already exist for many countries and it allows the highly skilled and intelligent individuals we want to come here, while still showing that Canada stands for it's values and won't be an open country to those kind of regimes.
I also think that this kind of action is probably already being considered if things escalate between our nations. It will be likely be instituted at some in the future if the CCP continues to act aggressively towards us. Canada has done it in the past so it might be only a matter of time.
|
Putting more restrictions and controls around foreign direct investment could be done. Putting more restrictions on Chinese products in key sectors of Canada's market could be done. Putting restrictions on research partnerships could be done. Scrutinizing and limiting Chinese influence campaigns in Canadian universities could be done. Providing incentive packages and funding for domestic Canadian companies to develop competitive products in key sectors to reduce demand for imported products and services could be done. Accelerating pathways for Hong Kongers or other Chinese with claims to political persecution to gain Canadian citizenship could be done. Providing attractive pathways for relocation of Hong Kong businesses to Canada, as Australia is now doing, could be done. Even changing the taxation agreements that protect Canadian citizens from double taxation on income gained in China could be done. All of these are things that could be done by the Canadian government. I'm sure there is much more.
Insisting on visa restrictions when they're not going to impact China negatively but will impact Canada negatively is just cutting off our nose to spite our face. It still just looks like a bad idea, and small symbolic restrictions on visas would just send a message to the average Chinese person that Chinese are less welcome in Canada while again not achieving anything. I haven't really seen any argument yet that shows how doing so would have any desirable outcome.
Whatever the Canadian government chooses to do, I just hope it is done out of clever and tactical consideration of Canada's long-term interests and not out of being caught up in a wave of nationalist populism championed by our neighbors to the south.