China May Use Green Tech as Leverage, Kovrig Warns, as Carney Highlights Climate Cooperation

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Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig is urging caution as Canada considers deeper cooperation with China on green technology to support net-zero goals, warning that Beijing could use increased reliance as leverage to further its interests, as it has done with the canola industry.

Kovrig said taking a sectorial approach with China, which he called an “extremely challenging country to deal with,” is difficult, as the regime itself doesn’t take such an approach but rather “link[s] issues when it’s in China’s interest to do so” by using “leverage in one area to extract concessions in another.”

“So the problem is that the Party-state will instrumentalize everything, and they are very challenging to negotiate with.”

Kovrig, who is now a think tank scholar, was detained in China in 2018 for more than 1,000 days along with fellow Canadian Michael Spavor as part of Beijing’s retaliation tactics for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver due to a U.S. extradition request.

During his Sept. 22 address to the Council on Foreign Relations, Carney said cooperating with China on climate issues could benefit Canada, citing Beijing’s advancements in green technology and Ottawa’s goal of reaching net-zero emissions.

“In my experience with China, they are, amongst other things, very sincere and engaged on climate,” Carney said.

“This is a country run by engineers—it’s a country that understands a lot of the engineering solutions to issues around emissions,” he added. “We care about this issue as well, it’s still part of our policy ... so there’s an opportunity to engage.”

“China has once again weaponized [trade dependence] to put pain and pressure on Canada, and canola is a particularly acute example,” Kovrig said. “Because what China is trying to do is pressure Canada into lowering barriers to its electric vehicles, and steel and aluminum.”

He noted that with its canola tariffs, China is “driving wedges between provinces and regions” by targeting an industry based in Western Canada in response to tariffs Ottawa imposed to protect the EV industry, which is mostly based in Eastern Canada.

“It’s a divide and conquer strategy,” Kovrig said.

“I really hope that Prime Minister Carney is able to rally all his premiers together to have a united stance with China on those negotiations, and not let Beijing play one province against another to try to weaken consensus—it’s a classic tactic.”

“They are not a good-faith partner,” Kovrig said.

“I mean, it’s a fundamental aspect of China’s political culture,” he added. “You cannot count on China honouring any agreement you make with it, unless it suits the [Chinese] Communist Party to do so.”

“If Canada becomes dependent in its supply chains on Chinese electrical vehicles, that becomes another choke point where China can effectively control and influence Canadian policy.”

He added that if Canada were to regain access to the Chinese canola market and increase its dependency without diversifying, it would leave the country in a vulnerable position.

“That means the [agriculture] sector is going to become essentially a constituency for China within Canada that is going to repeatedly lobby the government to foster that relationship, protect that relationship, and not do anything that China doesn’t want Canada to do, lest it once again punish Canada by blocking that trade,” Kovrig said.

“You risk giving up sovereignty and giving away too much leverage to China if you do those things.”

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