Is it immodest to say that Ottawa’s rejection of a proposed Chinese takeover of an iconic Canadian company marks a turning point in China’s relations with the world?Probably.But Canada has acted more decisively than others in rebuking China’s rogue economy.Consider:China manipulated its currency for more than a decade to keep its exports priced artificially low, earning worldwide condemnation. But China continued the practice until it decided to change course for domestic reasons.China continues to dump steel and aluminum in Canada, the U.S. and the European Union (EU), putting jobs in those jurisdictions in jeopardy. U.S. tariffs to curb that practice, applied widely and with many countries exempted, are ineffectual as they allow China to continue dumping in several major markets.All G-20 economies are victims of chronic intellectual property theft by China. But the most anyone has done about that piracy is an EU threat to debate the matter among its 28 member countries.The EU, especially, has the jitters about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pet project, his Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to recreate the ancient Silk Road trading route from China’s Pacific coast to London.Given China’s ruthless suppression of individual liberty at home and its belligerence toward Japan and others abroad, there’s reason for the EU and others to worry that the BRI, the biggest megaproject in history, is an exercise in Chinese imperialism merely disguised as a mutually beneficial economic development plan.Last month, 27 out of the 28 EU ambassadors to China signed a report that condemns the BRI as running “counter to the EU agenda for liberalizing trade and pushes the balance of power in favour of subsidized Chinese companies.”Indeed, Beijing’s definition of “mutual benefit” has 89 per cent of BRI infrastructure projects to date assigned to Chinese companies. Bidding for those BRI projects is opaque, in keepin ...
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