From: brewnoser2@gmail.com   
      
   The Globe and Mail - Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016   
      
   China open to historic free-trade deal with Canada under certain provisos   
      
      
   China wants to forge a historic free-trade deal with Canada, but a senior   
   Chinese official said this will require Canadian concessions on investment   
   restrictions and a commitment to build an energy pipeline to the coast.   
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   China sent its Vice-Minister of Financial and Economic Affairs to Ottawa this   
   week for discussions with senior bureaucrats about the prospect of negotiating   
   its first free-trade deal with any North American country.   
      
   The visit comes months before the Prime Minister is expected to lead a trade   
   mission to China and India, with a particular focus on opening wide-ranging   
   free-trade talks with Beijing.   
      
   "During the term of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau there are rare, historical   
   opportunities between China and Canada," Han Jun told The Globe and Mail.   
      
   He said a free-trade agreement would be good for both Canada and China.   
      
   "What is China most in need of?  We have a shortage of agricultural products.   
   China is the biggest importer of agricultural products in the world and, also,   
   we are one of the countries with the highest dependency on imported energy   
   from other countries,"    
   Mr. Han said.   
      
   "If there is an FTA arrangement between China and Canada, you can see a   
   flooding of potash, agricultural products and energy products from Canada to   
   the market of China."   
      
   China is rapidly developing an urban middle class of consumers with a taste   
   for fish, wine, pork and other goods produced in Canada.  Canadian seafood   
   exports to China alone jumped by 16.2 per cent between 2012 and 2013.  Demand   
   will only increase, as    
   the Chinese middle class is projected to reach to 854 million by 2030.   
      
   The Canada China Business Council estimates a free-trade pact could boost   
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   Canadian exports by $7.7-billion by 2030 and create an additional 25,000   
   Canadian jobs.   
      
   However, Mr. Han said China will come to the table with its own demands,   
   namely the removal of restrictions put in place by the former Conservative   
   government on   
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   Chinese state-owned investments in Canada's oil and gas sector.   
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   "Highly concerned about this," Mr. Han said.  "I felt we were being   
   discriminated in the process."   
      
   Tentative trade talks with the Harper government collapsed almost overnight   
   when Ottawa imposed stricter investment rules in 2012 after China National   
   Offshore Oil Corp. agreed to purchase Nexen Inc. for $15-billion.   
      
   "The Chinese felt that we changed the rules for special state-owned   
   enterprises. They feel the rules that have been imposed are very difficult.    
   They would like a re-examination of that," said Colin Robertson, a senior   
   fellow at the Canadian Global    
   Affairs Institute.   
      
   China had also opened talks with the Harper government on a maritime energy   
   corridor, which Mr. Han said is still a priority for his government.   
      
   "They would like to buy our Canadian oil and gas, but they can't get it there   
   because they don't have the pipeline," Mr. Robertson said.  "Basically, they   
   want us to get pipelines, as do the Japanese and Indians, to the coast so they   
   can get access to [   
   our] oil and gas."   
      
   The Chinese desire for a pipeline may prove impossible to achieve.     
      
   The new Liberal government effectively killed the Northern Gateway pipeline   
   when it banned all crude-oil tanker traffic on the North Coast of British   
   Columbia, while the B.C. government has refused to support the $6.8-billion   
   expansion of the Trans    
   Mountain pipeline.   
      
   The leading contender now is Energy East, which would deliver oil from Western   
   Canada to refineries and port terminals in New Brunswick and possibly Quebec,   
   but it is years away from regulatory approval.   
      
   Canada has a huge trade imbalance with China.  Total bilateral trade was   
   $63-billion in the first nine months of last year, but nearly $49-billion of   
   that came from Chinese imports.   
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   In an earlier presentation to Borden Ladner Gervais law firm, Mr. Han said   
   China will be in the market for Canadian green technology to help cut carbon   
   emissions.   In 2014, China spent $89.5-billion on clean energy.   
      
   Mr. Han also offered assurances that the market turmoil in China and slower   
   economic growth do not indicate that the economy is in trouble.   He noted the   
   economy is still forecast to grow at 6.5 per cent, much faster than growth   
   rates in the United    
   States.   
      
   "So you don't need to worry that China's economy will slide over the cliff,"   
   he said.   
   ______________________________   
      
   . . . . as long as your Chinese business negotiators - demanding pipelines   
   where we don't want pipelines - *do*.   
      
   PS:     
   Alberta Regulator Orders 95 Nexen Pipelines Shut Down After Leak   
      
   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-29/alberta-regula   
   or-orders-95-nexen-pipelines-shut-down-after-leak   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)