Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, gentlemen.
The subcommittee agreed to examine the situation in China. I think this is the ideal forum in which to tell it like it is. Mr. Burton, you mentioned your first report, which seems to have been somewhat sanitized, to put it politely. From what I understand, a total of 1,200 words, basically recommendations, were apparently deleted from the report.
I understand that your employer owns your first report and I wouldn't want to put you in an embarrassing position. However, I was wondering if you could share with the subcommittee the gist of your recommendations, in different terms. That could help guide us in our work. You have a certain amount of expertise and it would be unfortunate if the committee were unable to benefit from it. I'll put my second question immediately, just to be certain that the Chair won't cut me off.
Mr. Neve, you also spoke at length about CIDA. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understood that China is one of the main recipients of CIDA assistance, not necessarily financial aid, but program assistance. I don't know if you're aware of that.
Realistically, what kind of assistance do you believe CIDA can bring to China? All three of you have stated quite unequivocally that communication between the two parties is not conclusive. Canada still seems to believe in what it is doing, while you maintain that its efforts are not producing any results and that we should opt for a different approach. Having said that, what course of action are you advocating? What can CIDA do?
Lastly, I'd like to know what concrete action other countries are taking, aside from keeping the lines of communication open.
Thank you very much.