Thank you.
Good afternoon, committee members. My name is Hugh Stephens, as you know, and I would like to thank the committee for this opportunity to discuss the important issue of deepening Canada's engagement in Asia.
First, I'll say a brief word about my own background. I served for 28 years with what is now the department of Global Affairs Canada. During that time, I was privileged to have extensive exposure to Asia and to Canada's role in Asia. As a young officer, I was assigned by the then Department of External Affairs to learn Mandarin in Asia before taking up an assignment at the Canadian embassy in Beijing in the late 1970s. I was therefore there at a seminal time for China's emergence from the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution and the beginning of its market reforms and economic opening.
Back in Ottawa, I worked on Asia-related issues among other assignments. My subsequent postings in Asia were at the Canadian embassy, now high commission, in Islamabad in the mid-1980s; at the Canadian embassy in Korea from 1989 to 1992; and finally, as director of Canada's unofficial representation in Taiwan, the Canadian trade office in Taipei from the mid to late 1990s.
I was assistant deputy minister for policy and communications at Foreign Affairs and International Trade when I decided to leave the public service in 2001 to take up an opportunity in the private sector as senior vice-president for public policy for Asia-Pacific for the U.S. media multinational Time Warner. I worked for 12 years for Time Warner, most of it at the company's regional headquarters in Hong Kong.
Upon my return to Canada, I became associated on a voluntary basis with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. The then CEO, now Senator Yuen Pau Woo, asked if I would serve as an executive in-residence to provide advice to the foundation on media issues. I have continued my association with the foundation and am now a so-called distinguished fellow there and concurrently vice-chair of the Canadian National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation. This body represents Canada in PECC, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. This is a non-governmental track-two organization supported by the foundation that provides its secretariat.
I would like to add that while I am associated with the foundation, I do not speak for it today. I know you had Mr. Beck on earlier, and I am presenting only my own personal views.
Since the committee is considering how Canada should be optimizing its policies toward countries and regional organizations in Asia, I would like highlight briefly the role of PECC because it is, I believe, a regional organization that Canada should continue to use and further develop as but one element of its presence in the region.
PECC was established in 1980, well before to the existence of APEC. In fact, you could say that it was the midwife for APEC's birth. I apologize for the acronyms. Just to clarify, APEC, or Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, as I'm sure you are aware, is a governmental organization of 21 economies on both sides of the Pacific Ocean that was established in 1989.
I'll go back to PECC. PECC is composed of experienced practitioners from academia, business, and government, although government officials participate in their private capacity. PECC has conducted many studies on issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region. Its current focus is on sustainable and inclusive growth, trade liberalization and regional integration, and connectivity. PECC's membership is largely synonymous with that of APEC, although there are some minor differences. PECC has a close relationship with APEC and the APEC secretariat and is invited as an official observer to all APEC meetings. Given this special relationship, of course, it focuses its studies and research on issues of relevance to APEC, acting in a sense as its unofficial think tank. Canada has participated in PECC since the outset in 1980 and, in fact, the current co-chair of PECC is Don Campbell, former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and a former Canadian ambassador to Japan.
Another similar unofficial regional organization is the APEC Business Advisory Council, or ABAC. Again, I apologize for yet one more acronym. Each APEC economy has three ABAC members. Canadian members are appointed by the Government of Canada to serve in a private capacity to offer advice to APEC officials and governments on issues that affect or impact the business community and to recommend policies. Currently, however, Canada has only one of three members. He is Mr. Ralph Lutes, from Teck Resources. Delay in appointing members to ABAC is chronic, and it is rare that Canada has a full complement of ABAC members. This puts a very heavy load on those who voluntarily agree to serve on this council.
As noted, both PECC and ABAC support APEC, which is still the only governmental organization with broad coverage of the Asia-Pacific region, even though it is more of a consultative than a rule-making body. Canada is a founding member of APEC, but in recent years has tended not to give much attention, or to accord much priority, to APEC activities. In fact, the last time that Canada hosted an APEC year, and thus the annual APEC summit, was in 1997 in Vancouver. We are well past the time when we should be seeking to host APEC, which would give us an opportunity to help shape the ongoing Asia-Pacific agenda.
In brief, Canada should take greater advantage of the existing platforms in Asia-Pacific in which it already participates through PECC, ABAC and APEC. I'd be happy to elaborate on what we could possibly do.
In addition to playing a more active role in APEC, I believe that Canada needs to diversify its relationships beyond China, where there is an obvious need for a more structured relationship. In my view, China is an economic and political reality that Canada has to deal with, whether or not we happen to like the path of governance chosen by the current Chinese regime. It's far better to have agreed institutional relationships with China, such as possibly an economic partnership or a free trade agreement, for example, that establishes a rules-based framework to deal with issues and differences, and to build a habit of dialogue, than to try to deal with the rise of China on a case-by-case, reactive basis. But in order to develop relationships with China—and you will know that this is controversial, given the divided opinion of the Canadian public—it's important for Canada to balance any move toward closer ties with China by simultaneously strengthening our linkages with other parts of Asia.
I am pleased to see that this has been done with Korea and has finally been done with Japan through conclusion of the comprehensive and progressive TPP, but there is also a need to reach out to the 10-country ASEAN bloc.
There are many reasons to pursue closer relationships with ASEAN, including helping ASEAN balance China's growing influence in the region; the existence of a large ethnic community in Canada from at least one major ASEAN country, the Philippines; and potential economic benefits for Canada from securing improved access to a market of almost 600 million people.
The Canada-ASEAN trade talks have moved very slowly and cautiously. In fact, they are not official talks at this stage. While it was positive for Canada to establish its own embassy to ASEAN in 2016, I would contend it's time to kick this relationship up a notch and embark on negotiating a free trade or economic partnership agreement with ASEAN in parallel with whatever we do with China.
I will close my remarks at this point. I look forward to your questions.
Thank you very much.