Prince Albert's sister city, Jilin City, China is located in the north-east of the country. (Left: ID 157303908 © Ronald L | Dreamstime.com right: File photo/paNOW staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Diplomatic Concerns

Prince Albert-China relations: MP and experts weigh in

Mar 9, 2021 | 3:51 PM

As Prince Albert considers putting a freeze on its relationship with its Chinese sister city, local Conservative MP Randy Hoback says he understands city council’s concerns. Meanwhile two university professors contacted by paNOW share conflicting views on the topic.

At a meeting earlier this month, Prince Albert city council voted to forward a correspondence from Jilin City, China to Hoback’s office for advice on how to proceed.

Coun. Dawn Kilmer, who moved the motion to seek federal input, told council she wants to see Prince Albert stop all correspondence with it’s counterpart of 23 years until two Canadians imprisoned in China are freed.

Upon receiving the letter, Hoback told paNOW he plans to take it to Global Affairs Canada to get P.A. politicians the information they need to make an informed decision. He added he understands their concerns.

“If you look at the China today and the China of yesterday when they probably twinned the cities, it’s a different China,” Hoback said. “When you look at the communist party government, it’s a government that’s been very hostile to Canada.”

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Hoback listed the ongoing imprisonment of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, conflicts over canola, and human rights abuses by the Chinese government as concerning examples.

‘An act of courage’

A professor at the University of Saskatchewan School of Public Policy with expertise in Canada-Asia relations also thinks Prince Albert is right to question the partnership.

“I think a cautious reappraisal is a really good idea,” Ken Coates, professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, said.

Should Prince Albert decide to step back from the relationship, Coates said it would be “an act of courage, and a symbolic thing in the same way that a sister city relationship is symbolic.”

The outcome of such a decision is unclear, but it’s unlikely the move would have serious political or economic impacts, he explained.

“Whether it amounts to very much is hard to know,” Coates said. “Will China react very strongly to this? One suspects not, but China has been a very assertive power of late so you never really know what they’re going to do and what they’re going to react to.”

A warning against ‘erecting new walls’

Meanwhile another expert cautioned Prince Albert against freezing its relationship with Jilin City.

Cutting ties in times of difficulty works against the concept of bilateral sister city relationships, said Yun Liu, a professor in the University of Regina’s Department of Politics and International Studies.

“While the inclination to cut ties is understandable, ending the relationship is very unlikely to contribute positively to resolving the differences,” Liu said. “It would be more constructive to promote commonly-shared interest with more inclusiveness, equality, and diversity.”

Liu also warned against viewing a decision to step back from the partnership as largely symbolic. While such a move might be viewed as “reversible” from a Canadian perspective, a better understanding of Chinese history and the country’s “century-long struggle with foreign aggression” tells a different story, Liu said. He added it could have real consequences for local businesses.

“An engagement strategy would be more constructive and mutually-beneficial than a potentially high-profile denunciation act, symbolic or not,” Liu said.

“Cutting off dialogue and erecting more new walls would help nothing,” he continued.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom