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He did not outline what benefits Canada has to gain, but it is clear China sees many ways to profit from a friendlier reception than it has previously enjoyed. It already runs an immense trade balance, sending Canada $46 billion more in goods and merchandise than it buys in return. It would like still greater access, and has been pushing for a free trade agreement. It has already received assurances of Ottawa’s willingness to negotiate an extradition treaty, enabling it to demand the return of Chinese citizens who have fled to Canada, despite evidence that Beijing would use that access to hunt down and threaten perceived enemies of the regime of President Xi Jinping.

In defending the extradition talks, Liberals have demonstrated a disquieting willingness to take China at its word, against all experience and historical indications. China’s dire human rights record is well known. It is more than willing to jail people on trumped-up charges, for use as bargaining tools. This was obvious in the incarceration of Canadian Kevin Garratt, who was suddenly released without explanation soon after Trudeau’s visit. Rather than acknowledge the obvious — that Garratt was let go once Beijing got the promises it wanted from Ottawa — the Liberals have tried to spin the quid pro quo as a triumph brought about by Trudeau’s crafty diplomacy.

For the Chinese, there is everything to gain from an extradition treaty and nothing to lose. Canada would be forced to pretend that the Chinese justice system is fair and independent, rather than another arm of monolithic state control. Should Beijing want something from Canada, it can easily lock up more innocent Canadians before bartering them back for favours. Meanwhile, Chinese seeking refuge from Beijing would know they could no longer count on Canada to offer them safety from the long arm of the one-party People’s Republic. In the U.S., which has no extradition treaty with China, the Obama administration bluntly warned Beijing last year to quit sending agents to intimidate Chinese fugitives into returning home. Any suggestion that China’s government would hesitate to use the same strong-arm tactics in Canada is fanciful in the extreme.