Richmond business people in the Chinese-Canadian community said they are concerned potential rising tensions between China and Canada could pose a risk to their businesses following the arrest of Huawei CFO.
Amy Huang, president of Richmond-based North American Investment Association (NAIA), said many businesses under her association rely on exporting agricultural products to China, and she is worried Chinese companies will withdraw their orders if the tension keeps rising.
“We trust the legal system in Canada and that it will make a fair judgement on the case,” said Huang to the Richmond News.
“But as a business woman, I’m worried this case will affect the relationship between Canada and China, and affect our export businesses in the future. I’m not positive.”
Huang led The Canada Pavilion to the first Belt & Road International Food Expo last summer in Hong Kong and brought home $1.7 billion worth of memorandum of understandings (MOUs).
“Most of our deal was made with Chinese local governments and Chinese state-owned companies,” said Huang.
“I’m worried that if the situation gets worse, they might cancel their orders or have Chinese consumers boycott Canadian products – then our business will pay the price,” she said.
Huang noted that many Chinese consumers boycotted Japanese products during conflict between China and Japan, so boycotting Canadian products is “definitely something that can happen in China.”
Huang said many people in China expressed their anger online towards Canada, including some really extreme comments, which made her worried about the safety of Canadian business people travelling to China.
She will host a meeting with NAIA members, many have branches in China, to discuss the issue and the reaction of Chinese markets.
Johnny Fong, Richmond chairman of wholesale giant Brands Inc. which imports millions of products such as giftware and kitchenware from China to Canada monthly, told the Richmond News he is also a bit concerned about the “unclear situation."
“We hope the relationship between Canada and China can remain stable. It’s good for business and industries such as tourism,” said Fong.
“In terms of my own business, it will have some impact from the current tension between Canada and China, but I don’t think it will be a huge impact, as we don’t deal with high-tech products.
“Let's just hope we can all go through this safely and smoothly.”
