Let me briefly speak first to a point in your previous question on normalization.
I don't think I would choose to use that term, because in a sense you cannot normalize a relationship with a government that does not behave normally, particularly in the sense of respecting norms in the international sense. I would suggest rather that a framework should be an effort to stabilize relationships and recalibrate and re-establish channels of dialogue, in particular in personal relationships and interactions at the most senior levels all the way through.
That does not in any way constitute an endorsement of any policy, but simply a restoration of diplomacy with an effort to ensure particularly that those channels remain open on the Chinese side, so that whether it's for an issue like the one we're discussing today or for any other bilateral irritant or dispute or major crisis, there is a means to at least try to resolve it at the levels where one can actually get a hearing with the decision-makers, the power-holders in China, to articulate Canadian perspectives and concerns.
To your second question, I think it is imperative that we take a long and more strategic view of the relationship with China in the broader geopolitical context and that we be particularly mindful of the risks. I think it's particularly important for politicians, for members of Parliament and for the government to ensure that Canadian citizens understand the potential costs and risks of any sort of deeper engagement.
I understand perfectly well that whether it's a corporate CEO or a politician, there is constant pressure to deliver immediate results and returns, but it's important to balance that with a long-term perspective on managing a relationship that isn't going to go away but is going to be very complex, so that short-term transactional wins are not taken at the expense of longer-term consequences. Whether we're trying to deliver the removal of a bilateral irritant on trade or other economic options in terms of investment, for example, we need to be looking at the wider, longer-term national interests of Canadians and carefully weighing what the implications will be for national security and for the security of our population, but always going back to the basic framework that even if we may be trying to remove a particular irritant or problem or human rights case, we never forget that the fundamental problem is not somehow a lack of trust or a lack of communication. It is that the Chinese Communist Party has a global agenda that is fundamentally adversarial and harmful in many respects—not all, but in many respects—to the national interests of Canada and the interests of Canadians and those of most like-minded states and citizens of open societies.
We need to make every decision understanding that framework, not from the perspective of containing China or doing any harm to Chinese citizens or to the nation of China, but rather to protect ourselves from the either deliberately harmful actions or the negative externalities that are caused by China's own state security system or internal political economy dynamics. Our role is to protect ourselves.
Thank you.