I think the Canadian dialogue with China.... It seems that whenever you dialogue with China, they just say okay, they can see that, and we don't know whether they.... It seems that they're very open and seriously concerned with what we said, but then you don't know what they are doing afterward. And then maybe a few years later, or half a year later, they pass a new law that is exactly according to our suggestion.
So it seems to me that the Canadian dialogue with China is quite successful. They listen a lot if you are friendly; they won't listen if you are hostile. So they don't want to listen to America. They want to listen to Canada, for in the past Canada has been quite friendly to China.
This is China's culture. To build up and put relationships first... If you are friendly, and do not say that they are wrong but say they're right on many aspects, but they can do better, like this and that and that, then they will take it.
I think that the most successful of Canadian influences is the law of anti-corruption. They learned from the Canadian system, because I worked on this with the Chinese government and the Canadian government, sponsored by CIDA. That's the law of anti-corruption, including a kind of accountable system. Canada has a very good accountable system. You have to answer and account for where the money goes and where it's kept.
If the accounting system is independent--not influenced by you, even though you pay for it--then the system has integrity and will work very well to check all your money. Then it's hard to have corruption.
So this is one thing they learned from Canada. It was the Shanghai government that came to Canada and learned this, and later there was a big success in the Shanghai anti-corruption movement and even the chief executive, the chairman of the party in Shanghai, was shut down because of corruption.
So I think this is the most successful way that the Canadian system has influenced China.
Also quite successful, I think, is through dialogue the Chinese government is quite interested in the education and medical system in Canada, because it is closer to the socialist ideal. They don't want to learn from America. They like to learn from Canada, which shares the same ideal of socialism.
The change I have seen up until now is that they are moving toward this way, to have free medical treatment and advice, and also a free health care system and a free educational system, like Canada. So they are influenced by Canada and by other countries, such as Sweden and this kind of country.
You talk to them and you write down the suggestion and then later it has changed. But the least influence is in democracy. Canada has a very good democracy system, and China wants to be more democratic, but the movement is a little bit slow. But compared to the past, China has much more space of freedom than before. It has given more freedom to academics, more freedom to the press, to the people, compared to the time of Mao Zedong.
Also, in human rights, China is listening a lot. They passed a new law that protects the human rights of people. For example, if the police want to arrest a person and put him in jail, it's limited to 48 hours to keep him in the police station or in jail. I know this is a new law that China passed. You're not allowed to keep a prisoner in jail for a longer time. So you have to release them, even some political people. I know from the press that they have some people and they later release them because of this new law. This has somehow changed.
But democracy is the least that we can influence them with. So Canadian influence is good, I think, in a friendly way for China.