Thank you, Chair.
Good morning. It is a great honour for me to be invited to provide perspectives and analysis to the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations.
I was asked to provide views on China's global role and approach to the international system, as well as to make recommendations on Canada-China relations.
Historically and traditionally, the international system that China has known and been accustomed to is one of hegemonic stability, centred on and dominated by the Middle Kingdom, a superior and self-perceived benevolent country or civilization. The hegemon-China's superiority in military and economic power formed the foundation for peace and stability through deterrence, coercion and war, and the benevolence, as demonstrated by the hegemon's provision of public goods to help advance the culture through infrastructure, in China's view, anchored the desirability of such a system to other states.
In China's view, Chinese superiority is the foundation for the stability and harmony of the system. In the Chinese conception of the world order, harmony does not [Technical difficulty—Editor] from equality among all countries. Instead, harmony originates from a well-defined and well-enforced hierarchy, in which roles and responsibilities were assigned according to each country's [Technical difficulty—Editor] power. The vision stipulates that states recognize and pledge their deference to the strong and benevolent hegemon, and that's when peace and stability will ensue.
This system existed for 2,000 years in China, until it encountered its most critical existential threat, when the western system of nation states—