Amidst ongoing political changes, the relationship between Canada and China remains complex and dynamic. On October 22, 2024, CCBC hosted an evening of networking and insightful discussion on the future of Canada-China relations. Attendees heard from leading experts on the key factors shaping this evolving landscape and shared perspectives on what lies ahead. Speakers included Timothy Cheek, Professor and Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research at UBC; Paul Evans, Professor Emeritus at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBC; and Joyce Lee, Partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP and CCBC Board Member. This event provided a unique opportunity for participants to engage in meaningful discussions and build connections with like-minded professionals and industry leaders that could influence the future of their businesses in the Canada-China context.

 

 

Address: McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Suite 2400, 745 Thurlow Street, Vancouver, BC

 

Tickets: CCBC Member: $35 + tax; Non-Members: $60 + tax

 

About the Speakers:

 

Timothy Cheek
Professor; Co-Director, Centre for Chinese Research, IAR; Louis Cha Chair
University of British Columbia (UBC)

 

Timothy Cheek is a Professor with the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and Department of History, Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research, and Co-Director of the Centre for Chinese Research at the Institute of Asian Research (IAR). He has been a professor at UBC since 2002, teaching in the IAR’s former Asian policy program and now in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA) program. His research, teaching and translating focus on the recent history of China, especially the role of Chinese intellectuals in the twentieth century and the history of the Chinese Communist Party.

 

His books include The Chinese Communist Party: A Century in Ten Lives (2021) with Klaus Mühlhahn and Hans J. van de Ven, The Intellectual in Modern Chinese History (2015), Living with Reform: China Since 1989 (2006), Mao Zedong and China’s Revolutions (2002) and Propaganda and Culture in Mao’s China (1997).

 

He is a 2023 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) in the Academy of Arts and Humanities.

 

 

Paul Evans
Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs
University of British Columbia (UBC)

 

Paul Evans (PhD with distinction Dalhousie University 1982) retired from UBC in June 2023 after 43 years of university teaching. He is currently Professor Emeritus.

 

His academic appointments have been as follows:

 

• Assistant Professor, Acadia University, 1980-81
• Assistant, Associate and Professor, Department of Political Science, York University, 1981-97;
• Director, University of Toronto – York University Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, 1991-96;
• Visiting Professor, Asia Center, Harvard University, 1997-99;
• Acting Director, Liu Institute for Global Issues, 2004-5;
• Director, Institute of Asian Research, 2008-11 and 2014;
• Visiting Professor at the University of Hong Kong, 2011 and 2013;
• Visiting Professor and Head of the International Academic Advisory Panel to the School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, 2013-16.
• Visiting Pok Rafeah Chair, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 2022-23.

Between 2005 and 2008, he was seconded from UBC to serve as the Co-CEO and Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. And between 2020 and 2023 he held the HSBC Chair in Asian Research at UBC.

 

A regionalist rather than country specialist, he has held visiting fellowships at the Australian National University (1988); National Chengchi University in Taiwan (1989); Chulalongkorn University (1989); the East-West Center (1995); and the National Institute for Research Advancement in Tokyo (1999) and spoken at more than fifty universities and think tanks across the region.

 

An advocate of cooperative and human security, he has been studying and promoting policy-related activity on track-two security processes and the construction of multilateral institutions since 1988. He was a co-founder of the Council for Security Cooperation in Asia Pacific (CSCAP), the Canadian Consortium on Human Security, and the co-founder of the Canada-Korea Forum. He has directed exchange and partnership projects with fifteen research institutes in Asia and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded by governments and foundations in Canada, Japan, the United States, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia. Between 1990 and 2002 he organized two dozen meetings involving participants from North Korea.

 

He is currently a Canadian representative on the ASEAN Regional Forum’s Experts and Eminent Persons Group.

 

A member of the Global Council of the Asia Society in New York, he also sits on the editorial boards of The Pacific Review, the Chinese Journal of International Politics, the China Quarterly for International Strategic Studies, and Mexico y la Cuenca del Pacifico.

 

His graduate and undergraduate teaching at UBC focused on Global China and World Order.

 

The author or editor of seven books, his first was a biography of John Fairbank, his most popular the two editions of a lexicon of Asia Pacific security terminology (with David Capie), and his most recent “Engaging China: Myth, Aspiration and Strategy in Canadian Policy from Trudeau to Harper,” published in 2014.

 

His recent writings and media commentaries have focused on Canada-China relations, Asian security dynamics, and the emergence of techno-nationalism as a defining force in regional affairs. Some of them are available here and on his blog. His condensed academic CV is available here, and his complete academic CV is available here.

 

He is married to Catherine Evans and they plan to remain resident in Vancouver.

 

 

Joyce Lee
Partner
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Director
CCBC Board of Directors

 

Joyce Lee brings a unique perspective to her practice, skillfully uniting Canadian companies seeking Chinese investors with Chinese companies looking to expand into North America. She also regularly advises corporate executives in the financial sector about taking advantage of opportunities and navigating risk.

 

Born and raised in Hong Kong and with over 20 years experience working in the North American marketplace, Ms. Lee has both the cultural and business skills necessary to view potential deals from each party’s perspective. Her communication skills – she speaks English, Mandarin and Cantonese fluently – smoothly guide Asian companies into Canada, including joint ventures in mining and other natural resources sectors; and, the technology, life science and real estates industries.

 

Leadership teams from across Canada and Asia, including public companies listed on TSX, NYSE, HK Stock Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange asset management companies and investment firms, frequently solicit Ms. Lee’s advice on how to grow their business and make strategic moves in the marketplace, whether within Canada or abroad. She has earned the trust of some of the biggest players in the industry by successfully strategizing with them on:

 

• structuring and carrying out domestic and cross border mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations;
• advising on securities regulatory issues for registrants, investment dealers and investment advisors;
• advising on take-over bids (for both targets and offerors);
• advising on public offerings and private placements for issuers in various industries, including mining and resources, technology, real estate development, services and education;
• advising on various investment transactions of foreign companies into Canada, including joint ventures in mining and other natural resources sectors, automobile sector, forestry sector and technology sector;
• advising on investment transactions of Canadian companies into the Greater China region;
• structuring and advising on executive and employee compensation and incentive plans for Canadian and international companies; and
• advising on going private transactions, corporate governance, continuous disclosure issues and proxy contests.