News Analysis
As then-Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault faced questions about his travel to China in 2023 amid reports of widespread interference by Beijing in Canada’s internal affairs, he said engagement with China was needed to tackle climate change.
Last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney also had words of praise for China on net-zero initiatives, saying on Sept. 22, “In my experience with China, they are, amongst other things, very sincere and engaged on climate.”
But for long-time China observers, these sentiments are déjà vu of the West’s efforts to include China in rules-based initiatives such as the World Trade Organization, driven by the belief that engagement with the isolated communist regime would, in time, lead to its democratization—only for many to now acknowledge that China instead used these opportunities to grow richer and more powerful, turning that power against the West while intensifying its crackdown on dissidents at home….