The Globe and Mail (10/6, “First Person” by Yuen Paul of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, reminds us what is needed is a Canada-China “human capital” pact.
We love the association of “human” and “capital” because our government is still resisting putting that adjective and that noun together. Once they learn to do that in our government accountancy most of the world’s economic problems will fly away and leave the world equipped to deal with its real issues. But let us listen to Mr. Yuen Pau Woo: “China’s ascendancy on the world stage has forced a reconsideration of its role in all aspects of international affairs. The least understood feature of China’s impact on the global economy is human capital.
“It isn’t simply that a population of 1.3 billion potential consumers constitutes an enormous market for goods and services. Nor is it that the massive ranks of reserve labour in China’s rural areas will exert downward pressure on wages around the world.
“Rather, it is that human flows will be an increasingly important dimension of China’s connections to the world. In the same way that the People’s Republic is ‘going global’ as an exporter of capital and as a host country for foreign direct investment, two-way flows of people will affect foreign policy, corporate strategy and popular perceptions of the country.”
“Of all the reasons for Canada to have a robust and forward-looking China policy, human capital is arguably the most important.”
And surely that principle must be reflected in our government’s accounting and everything else.
“The amount of travel between Canada and China is unmatched by China’s ties with any other country belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“Canada-China human flows run deep, starting with the arrival of railway workers on the West Coast in the late 19th century The history of Chinese immigration to Canada has had its dark periods, most notably the imposition of a head tax between 1885 and 1923, followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was repealed only in 1947.
owever, the overall picture of China-Canada people movements, especially in the past 60 years, has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The best measure of progress can be found in Canadian cities where substantial communities of ethnic Chinese residents have successfully integrated into the mainstream. While there are predictable – and, to some extent, growing – challenges related to settlement, jobs, income and integration, most of these difficulties are overcome within one generation. A new study of Canadian youth, for example, shows that 88% of young Chinese immigrants go to university, more than double the figure for young Canadians.”
There is no way of exaggerating the key importance of that figure, since a sense of the importance of human capital in a nation’s legacy and achievement can hardly be exaggerated. Nor disregarded by Canada’s politicians.
“China has been Canada’s No. 1 source of immigrants for the past 11 years. Between 1998 and 2008, an estimated 360,000 Chinese nationals emigrated to Canada, accounting for 14% of new arrivals. Including immigrants from Hong Kong and Taiwan who arrived in the decade prior to 1997, new arrivals from greater China in the past 30 years account for a vast majority of the 1.3 million Chinese living in Canada today.
“It would be a mistake, however, to think that the flow of people amounts to inbound immigration only. Greater freedom of movement in and out of China and the growing influence of Chinese citizens are rapidly changing the pattern….
“Whereas Chinese students in the 1990s would have been inclined to stay in Canada after graduation, the trend is now for graduates to return to the mainland, where job opportunities are considered more attractive....
“While challenges may arise from diaspora-like populations at home and abroad, the phenomenon of international labour mobility – especially of the most talented, and sometimes the most notorious – is here to stay. The challenge for policy is to take a holistic and multi-generational view of transnational citizens, rather than to treat them as a problem.
“Seen in this light, the Canada-China human capital nexus is a unique focal point for Ottawa and Beijing. While other countries are lining up to sign trade and investment agreements with China, Canada can go a step further and investigate the possibility of human capital agreements. That could encompass citizenship, visa, education and training, professional accreditation, social security, taxation and even extradition issues.
“We have an opportunity now to address these issues in a comprehensive fashion, and to turn potential problems into a fundamental strength of Canada-China relations.”