Canada’s outgoing ambassador to China deserves credit for two Michaels’ release and repairing bilateral ties

Despite tireless efforts to free two Canadians in Chinese custody, Canada’s former ambassador to China Dominic Barton has been labelled a failure at home
Unfounded attacks will make replacing him more difficult at a time when China-Canada ties remain fragile

Jacob Cooke

Published: 1:30am, 5 Jan 2022

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The opinion pages of Canada’s leading papers have not been kind to Dominic Barton, the country’s former ambassador to China, after he announced that he would resign from his post at the end of 2021.

One writer said Barton was irrelevant in the effort to bring home Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, except for serving as their “flight attendant”; another described his ambassadorship as “the least successful appointment in the history of Canadian diplomacy”.

Such commentary is not only wildly inaccurate, but disrespectful to a public servant who worked tirelessly to resolve an intractable diplomatic crisis and repair one of Canada’s most important bilateral relationships.

I’ve lived and worked in Beijing since 2003. Through my engagement with Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service, the Canada-China Business Council, and Beijing’s tight-knit Canadian community, I’ve got to know each of Canada’s ambassadors to China over the past two decades.

My view is that Barton has been the most successful ambassador during that time – and that Canadians should be grateful for his service.

Barton was uniquely qualified to lead Canada’s effort to resolve the crisis surrounding the detentions of Meng Wanzhou and the two Michaels – and he left a lucrative, relatively low-profile private-sector role to take on this challenge.

The crisis was enormously complicated, with Canada wedged between the United States and China – the world’s incumbent power and rising power respectfully – while confronting immediate threats to various national interests. As the years dragged on, it seemed that costly political, security or economic trade-offs would be needed for Canada to end the crisis.

The stand-off had also caused the Canada-China relationship to sink to its lowest point since diplomatic ties were established in 1970, with ordinary communication channels frozen.

04:43

How the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou soured China's relations with the US and Canada

A full resolution to the crisis on terms acceptable to Canada required parallel moves from the United States, China and Huawei. History will show that Barton played a crucial role, shuttling back and forth across the Pacific amid the pandemic to convince these stakeholders of the steps that they eventually took to end the crisis.

Many commentators have pilloried Barton for his private-sector career – he was the global head of the consulting firm McKinsey from 2009 to 2018, and was based in Shanghai as the firm’s Asia chairman from 2004 to 2009.

However, it was his unmatched network of business and government connections in China, his stature as a global business leader, and his close relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that gave Barton credibility as he pushed the Chinese and Americans to resolve the crisis.

Barton began these efforts even before he was named ambassador. In June 2019, he attended the G20 Osaka summit, where he helped Canada restore communication channels with high-level Chinese government officials, which had been strained since late 2018. His appointment as ambassador several months later, in September 2019, built on momentum from Osaka.

While Barton’s critics have painted him as too friendly to China, he was resolute in communicating red lines that the Canadian government would not cross in trying to end the crisis.

However, Barton also has a clear grasp of the profound importance that a rising China has for Canada.

The reality is that economic engagement with China is a key driver of Canadian prosperity. A recent study from the China Institute at the University of Alberta and the Canada-China Business Council found that Chinese investment in Canada and Canadian exports to China supported more than 400,000 Canadian jobs in 2019. That number will climb as China continues to grow stronger and richer.

End of Meng saga brings hope of a China-Canada fresh start

Barton’s business career gave him the tools and perspective to delicately manage Canada’s relationship with China – standing firm on areas of disagreement while promoting mutually beneficial commercial ties and other areas of common interest, like tackling climate change.

By helping resolve the crisis of Meng and the two Michaels, Barton has removed the main impediment to a more constructive Canada-China relationship.

Unfounded attacks on this legacy – and on Barton’s character – will only deter other qualified Canadians of his stature from contributing to public life.

Jacob Cooke is the co-founder and CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, an e-commerce and technology consultancy. From Vancouver, Jacob has lived in Beijing since 2003