Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to appear. I thank the committee for all of the work that you do in order to deepen Canadians' understanding of China and our relationship with China, and for raising your concerns that we can also parlay and relay back to the Chinese government as well.

Canada-China Relations committee  The United States is a very important lens, absolutely, and I think this is going to be very much dominating China's attention going ahead after the election, in terms of how they calibrate that relationship. Certainly that will have an impact, not just for Canada but for everybody.

Canada-China Relations committee  Mr. Chair, I appreciate very much the member's vote of confidence in my role here. When we raise the issues, the member's points are in fact all true. In some cases, they deny that it's happening. They believe and express to us that we are simply using this as a political tool in order to try to diminish China's stature.

Canada-China Relations committee  It is in the range of 100 incarcerated Canadians at any given point in time, on a wide range of charges.

Canada-China Relations committee  We provide consular services to everybody, to the extent we can. One of our significant challenges is around access to Canadian citizens who are dual nationals and also nationals of China.

Canada-China Relations committee  Mr. Chair, I would defer to Deputy Minister Morrison to respond further to this point.

Canada-China Relations committee  Mr. Chair, the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, as it has been stated, is a very long-standing organization that provides policy advice to China from the international community.

Canada-China Relations committee  Mr. Chair, the council provides advice. At the end of the day, the Chinese government decides whether it takes that advice. What it does is very publicly make clear what the—

Canada-China Relations committee  Mr. Chair, there has been very significant change in China. As the member noted, the introduction in 2020 of the national security law for Hong Kong and recently the article 23 legislation really bring to the fore those significant changes. This is an area of great concern. We are raising these concerns with both authorities in Beijing and authorities in Hong Kong.

Canada-China Relations committee  Mr. Chair, we raise our concerns around foreign interference regularly, and the Chinese side regularly denies that it is taking place. We continue to raise the concerns. They watch closely what is happening in Canada. They have recently named an ambassador, who is new on the ground.

Canada-China Relations committee  Mr. Chair, there is very much a desire to make as much out of this relationship at this moment in time as we possibly can. I believe that is the underpinning of Minister Joly's approach toward pragmatic diplomacy. As outlined in the Indo-Pacific strategy and in our overall approach to China, this involves, at times, co-operating with China, as we've discussed, on issues like the environment or other global areas of concern, such as non-proliferation, and areas where we can find common ground.

Canada-China Relations committee  There is not a special envoy for this case.

Canada-China Relations committee  It would not be my position to talk about what the government may or may not be considering at this time.

Canada-China Relations committee  The human rights are raised. Xinjiang is our concern in every single meeting that we have. We make the point that we have a genuine concern for these issues. It's not a tool that we are using against China; it is a genuine concern, as the member very strongly indicated. I agree completely that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian, and that Mr.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you very much. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, I arrived in the middle of the pandemic, when China's zero-COVID policy was still in effect. That meant there weren't a lot of meetings and it was very difficult to travel in the country. The situation in China was different from what we saw in the rest of the world.