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B.C. businesses, academics and community groups to reassess working in China: academic

The close timing of Meng Wanzhou's agreement with U.S. federal prosecutors with the release of the Two Michaels in China makes it clearer to many that Beijing randomly jailed the two men to use as leverage

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After a dramatic prisoner swap that saw the sudden return of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou go from Vancouver to China while diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor arrived back in Canada from China, there will be many high-level decisions for Ottawa.

There will also be many pragmatic considerations for B.C. business people, academics and community groups when it comes to reassessing their work related to China, according to one longtime observer.

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There has been immense relief over the release of the Canadians, who became known over their three-year detention in China as the Two Michaels.

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They were jailed in China in December 2018, just after Canada arrested Meng, who is the chief financial officer of Huawei and the daughter of its founder, on a U.S. extradition request.

The timing of the Two Michaels’ release from Chinese prison cells immediately following Meng’s agreement with U.S. federal prosecutors that allowed her to leave Vancouver — where she had been living in a multi-million-dollar mansion while out on bail — makes it clear to many that the two men were randomly taken by Beijing so they could be used as leverage. It’s been a case that has rocked relations between the Canada, China and the U.S.

“We have been so engaged in the three Ms question, Meng and the two Michaels,” said Paul Evans, a professor at the University of B.C.’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. “We’re just going to start to breathe some oxygen again or at least will have some oxygen that can help us think through some of the practical issues that people are going to face.”

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Meng Wanzhou (left) and Michael Kovrig.
Meng Wanzhou (left) and Michael Kovrig. Photo by CCTV/Chris Helgren /REUTERS

Evans said Ottawa will next have to figure out how to deal with Huawei and whether it blocks the Chinese telecommunications giant from its 5G wireless networks and what that might mean for its dynamics with its allies, including Australia, New Zealand and the U.K., which have declared formal restrictions.

“There are some big geopolitical questions,” said Evans.

And below that, there are also many smaller, more practical decisions for many individuals in Vancouver and elsewhere in B.C. who are connected to China by corporate work or entrepreneurial ventures, and other ties such as twinning or exchange arrangements, everything from sister cities to singing groups.

“They’ve been wrestling with fear, worry and deep concern for the Michaels. Now, we’re in a situation of thinking, ‘how do we recalculate what the risks are? What are the opportunities? And what are the danger zones that we want to stay away from.'”

“There’s probably a great deal of soul searching that will happen,” said Evans.

“We will emerge out of the deep freeze. Business did continue during the three-year period on a routine basis, but there was great difficulty in even solving border inspection conflicts,” said Yves Tiberghien, Professor of Political Science at the University of B.C. and author of a new book, The East Asian COVID-19 Paradox.

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However, he said “we are now in a period of greater tensions, mistrust and partial decoupling between the U.S. and China.

He said that aside from the detaining of the two Michaels, the pandemic also impacted corporate strategy for Canadian companies with a few divesting or reducing their exposure to China.

But “they are a minority. For the majority of companies, they are seeking a China+1 or a China+N strategy where they can remain engaged with (its) huge domestic market, while having alternative sources of production, supplies and markets to mitigate their risk.”

jlee-young@postmedia.com

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