Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to name career diplomat Jennifer May as ambassador to China, after previous appointments of the veteran political and corporate executive ended in controversy and accusations of soft-pedaling Beijing’s human rights abuses. Ms May, recently ambassador to Brazil, will become the first woman to be posted to Beijing, the second most important diplomatic mission after Washington, according to two senior government officials. Canada’s ambassador to the US, Kirsten Hillman, is also a career diplomat and the first woman to serve in that position. The sources said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly pushed Mr. Trudeau to approve Ms. May’s appointment because she speaks fluent Mandarin and handled human rights and political issues as first secretary at the Canadian embassy in Beijing from 2000-2004. The appointment of an experienced diplomat ends the Trudeau government’s recent practice of selecting foreigners to represent Ottawa in China. But experts say Ms May has her work cut out for her as bilateral relations remain frosty a year since Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were returned home after being arbitrarily detained in China for 1,020 days. One of the officials described Ms May as a “black belt diplomat” who also served in Hong Kong and Thailand, giving her commercial experience and a strong perspective on China’s role in the Indo-Pacific region. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the officials because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The sources said China signed off on Ms May’s appointment last week and the federal government is expected to make the official announcement on Friday. “The government and the country are always better served by experienced diplomats,” said Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada’s former ambassador to China. “The embassy will work best if it knows the issues and engages the staff and makes them focus on the important issue for the country.” Mr Saint-Jacques said Ms May has a sophisticated understanding of the Chinese political system and culture, although he said she would have to adapt to the “wolf-warrior type of diplomacy” China is conducting. “President Xi Jinping has really pushed for a more aggressive foreign policy and it has become more difficult for diplomats to do their jobs,” he said. “Trade has also become very ideological, so the new ambassador will have a lot of work to try to promote Canadian business.” In addition, Ms May will need to work with ambassadors from Western countries to coordinate strategies to counter the “worst side of China – bullying and using trade as a weapon”, she said. The Prime Minister fired his first ambassador to China, former Liberal cabinet minister John McCallum, when the former Liberal minister publicly argued that the US extradition request for Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was seriously flawed. Ms. Meng’s arrest in Vancouver in December 2018 led China to detain Messrs. Kovrig and Spavor and impose sanctions on Canadian agricultural products. Dominic Barton, who succeeded Mr. McCallum in September 2019, has been criticized by foreign policy experts and opposition parties for ethics problems from his time as head of McKinsey and Co., and for claims in Parliament that as ambassador he was in favor of of China. . Canada’s former ambassador to China Dominic Barton has been cleared of a possible ethics violation Mr Saint-Jacques said he was happy to see that the government had abandoned political appointees in China. He felt both Mr McCallum and Mr Barton failed to see the strategic threat posed by China and tended to “pull their punches” when it came to human rights abuses by Beijing. Mr Saint-Jacques said Mr McCallum had “some knowledge of China” from his many visits there as an MP, but “he was always paid by the Chinese government, so he was not completely impartial”. As an MP, Mr McCallum accepted $73,300 worth of travel from China or pro-Beijing business groups. Mr Barton was accused by opposition parties of using his embassy when he resigned last December to become chairman of Rio Tinto, an Anglo-Australian mining group that does half its business in China. While he was praised for helping free Canadians, he was criticized for ignoring China’s human rights abuses. Fen Hamson, chancellor professor at Carleton University, said Ottawa is signaling it is taking a pragmatic approach to bilateral relations as it decides how to deal with China in a long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy now being drawn up by Global Affairs. “Because he is not a high-level political appointee, it suggests that the relationship will be cool and moderate going forward,” he said. “With an experienced diplomat who speaks fluently, there will be an opportunity to slowly rebuild diplomatic relations after a period of freezing on both sides.” Colin Robertson, a senior adviser and fellow at the Canadian Institute of Global Affairs, said Ms. May may be an experienced Chinese hand, but he worries that Beijing will feel slighted because Mr. McCallum and Mr. Burton were handpicked by the Prime Minister . “The Chinese like to think that they will be treated like we are in the US and they will send someone who has the personal trust of the prime minister,” he said. Most envoys to Washington are political appointees, but Mr. Robertson said Ms. Hillman, while deputy ambassador, beat out Mr. Trudeau for her key role in the NAFTA negotiations. Before becoming Canada’s envoy to China, Mr. Barton was the global managing partner of consulting firm McKinsey and Co. He faces a civil racketeering lawsuit in the United States involving allegations about his time in that role. The lawsuit names him and other top McKinsey executives. They are accused of filing misleading statements in bankruptcy court in order to secure tens of millions of dollars worth of consulting appointments. During his time as head of McKinsey, he led the company through several controversies – including some related to China. In 2018, for example, the company held a retreat in China’s western Xinjiang region, just six kilometers from the site of an internment camp where members of the Uyghur ethnic minority are subjected to forced political indoctrination. McKinsey’s work in China, including Mr Barton’s tenure from 2009 to 2018, has drawn scrutiny from US lawmakers, who have asked McKinsey to share information about its work for Chinese government clients.
