Opening the doors to China
By Christopher Kutarna

Recently, China bestowed ‘preferred destination status’ on Canada — a move which permits Canadian tourism to advertise in mainland China.

But the consequences for our relationship with China can go far beyond tourism — if we take bold action. China’s move came as a surprise — our bilateral relationship, as well as Canada’s image among ordinary Chinese, have soured since 2006 — and signals their hope that we’ll turn things around. Will we?

Economically, the answer seems straight-forward. They’re the world’s second-largest economy; we want part of it. Politically, we’re more confused. At home, Canadian soft-power is a hot concept. We conceive of a new ‘Canadian Centre for the Advancement of Democracy’ with an eye towards making long-term investments “in the field”: satellite offices to coordinate capacity-building; networks of local partners who learn by doing with us; and so on.

But for the most mainland Chinese — not just the Party — outsider involvement in their politics is neither invited nor welcomed. They judge their own civilization quite capable of working out its own path of social change. Indeed, history is on their side.

So how do we engage? Our ‘preferred destination status’ presents an opportunity. Leadership elections, and other liberal notions like limited government and the division of powers, have proven themselves irresistible to a populace — once tasted. It’s remarkable to research (as I do) how living in Canada for even a few months can shift intuitions of ordinary Chinese. When they return home, it’s harder to shrug off the petty meddling of local officials; it’s harder to shrug off the fact that ‘we don’t know how much the Games cost’; and it’s harder to shrug off the frustration of not being able to do anything about it. They’re most intrigued, not by the minority and social issues our newspapers trumpet, but by the legal right of due process versus state interference in welfare matters (taxes, wage disputes, housing, etc).

If we’re serious about exporting democracy, we need to invite more people to come tour the lab. But right now, applying for a tourist visa from China is like buying a lottery ticket. A vast industry of Chinese visa consultants preys on the fact that our approval process is deliberately unclear, inconsistent and assumes that anyone who offers up less than five years’ salary as a security deposit will emigrate illegally. Less than 200,000 Chinese passed that test last year — just 0.5% of our 35 million tourist visitors. The remainder grumbled about systemic injustice — something with which they’re already quite familiar.

I submit that such statistics are inconsistent with our soft power ambitions. I propose we aim to invite at least 1 million Chinese visitors annually by 2017 — roughly the same number Australia welcomes today — and do so by reforming our immigration processes to be more transparent and fair. From their first contact with Canada’s institutions, to the moment they embark on the flight back home, they should know we do things differently here.