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If the Xinhua report is accurate, Canada is blithely considering a Chinese Communist proposal to sell out the liberal values that define global institutions like the United Nations and World Trade Organization in favour of a made-in-China model that will serve Beijing’s authoritarian nationalist aspirations.

It’s time to realize that decisions being made now are going to radically change the values of global diplomacy and justice for the next century or more.

What Canada really needs to do is seriously rethink its approach to China in order to meet the challenge of China’s rise.

A good start is to recognize the yawning need for regulations that monitor Western civil servants and politicians who, after they retire from government, go into lucrative businesses and consultancies funded by China-related sources.

Conflict of interest?

When former officials enrich themselves with Beijing’s money once they’re no longer managing China-related policy, it raises huge questions about whether they’d been compromised in defending Canada’s national interests vis-a-vis China while in office.

A post-retirement second career, trading on their China-related “friendships” cultivated in government service, is simply not appropriate.

Multi-ethnic nations like Canada should of course encourage citizens of Chinese origin to seek political office — we need legislatures that reflect our diversity.

But the sole legitimate function of a politician is to serve the purposes of their nation of citizenship. Ethnic Chinese politicians with divided loyalties who spend a lot of time in China for vaguely defined purposes should not have a voice in policy-making that might benefit the Chinese Party State in Canada.