Canada has finally ratified a foreign investment protection agreement with China after a two-year delay in a step that may help ease tensions between the two states and smooth the way for a possible tour of China by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. International Trade Minister Ed Fast announced the ratification on Friday and said the agreement, designed to give investors greater legal certainty, would come into effect on October 1. It was signed in September 2012.
Relations between Ottawa and Beijing have been strained by China's detention last month of Kevin and Julia Garratt on suspicion they stole state secrets and for threatening national security, which they deny. The detention of the Canadian couple came less than a week after Canada accused Chinese hackers of breaking into a key computer network, a charge Beijing denied.
Harper is set to attend an Asian regional summit on November 10 and 11 in Beijing. Both sides had sketched out plans for a three-day tour of Chinese cities on the sidelines of the summit. The strains called into question whether Harper would proceed with such a tour.
"Seeing as we've ratified this thing in good faith, one would hope that the Chinese would see their way clear to resolving our concerns over the arrest of the Garratts, which would then make it possible for the prime minister to have the three-day tour in China," said Brock University professor Charles Burton, a former Canadian diplomat who served two tours in China. "The prime minister appears to have taken a personal concern in this matter and really feels that it's important to be resolved, or otherwise he's unlikely to spend time with the Chinese leadership."
Canadian government and Chinese embassy officials had no immediate comment on whether the ratification might lead to freedom for the Garratts and a tour by Harper. Canada's main opposition New Democratic Party criticized the agreement, saying it would give Chinese companies in Canada the right to sue if federal or provincial governments legislated environmental standards that affected their investments.
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