About face: explaining changes in Canada's China policy, 2006–2012

Abstract

From the “strategic partnership” of the mid-2000s, the Canada-China relationship deteriorated rapidly after the election of the Conservative government of Stephen Harper in January 2006. The Harper government left no doubt that it had little desire to cooperate with the government in Beijing, and the Chinese government reciprocated with a series of snubs directed at Ottawa. By 2009, however, the Harper government abruptly changed its approach and both sides demonstrated a renewed commitment to constructive engagement. Using the literature on foreign policy change, we explore the endogenous and exogenous reasons for this turn, focusing on the implementation of a new Conservative brand of foreign policy, Ottawa's response to the global financial crisis, and the salience of the particular people-to-people links that form the backbone of the bilateral relationship.

Après le « partenariat stratégique » du milieu des années 2000, les relations entre le Canada et la Chine se sont rapidement détériorées suite à l’élection du gouvernement conservateur de Stephen Harper en janvier 2006. Ce gouvernement n'a laissé planer aucun doute sur son manque de volonté à coopérer avec celui de Beijing, et le gouvernement chinois a répliqué par une série de camouflets à l'encontre d'Ottawa. Cependant, en 2009, le gouvernement Harper a brusquement changé d'approche et les deux parties ont démontré une volonté renouvelée pour un engagement constructif. À partir de la littérature existant sur la politique étrangère, nous explorons les causes endogènes et exogènes de ce revirement, en nous concentrant particulièrement sur la mise en œuvre d'un nouveau label conservateur dans la politique étrangère, la riposte d'Ottawa à la crise financière mondiale et l'importance des liens particuliers entre les peuples qui forment la charpente de la relation bilatérale.

Keywords:

• foreign policy change
• Canada-China relations
• Conservative Party of Canada
• Stephen Harper
• bilateralism

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Journal's reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. While Prime Minister Harper signaled Canada's willingness to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership at the APEC Summit in Honolulu in November 2011, it is widely understood that Canada was excluded from the partnership for reasons that included Canada's stance on agricultural supply chains. Canada was formally welcomed into the partnership in June 2012.

2. Following the Nexen deal, the Harper government introduced new rules regarding the takeover of Canadian companies by foreign state-owned enterprises, limiting such takeovers to exceptional circumstances. This appears to have had a considerable impact on foreign direct investment in the Canadian energy market, with some reports suggesting as much as a 92 per cent decline in FDI in the oil sands in 2013 (Ivison 2013).