Dominic Barton, Canada’s ambassador to China, was a global managing partner at McKinsey for nine years. He resigned from his post in September 2019 after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed him ambassador to China.
U.S. politicians are urging McKinsey and Co., the big global consulting firm, to disclose its ties to China’s Communist Party and its state-owned enterprises. Dominic Barton, Canada’s ambassador to China, has come under the spotlight because of his work as a former McKinsey executive.
Senator Marco Rubio, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, singled out Mr. Baudamin for his work at McKinsey, the Globe and Mail reported.
Mr. Rubio has taken the form of an open letter asking the New York-based firm about its financial ties to Beijing and whether its executives are acting against American economic and national security interests by advising Chinese companies.
McKinsey’s clients in China include 22 of the country’s 100 largest state-owned enterprises, according to the New York Times.
Dominic Barton, Canada’s ambassador to China, was a global managing partner at McKinsey for nine years. He resigned from his post in September 2019 after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed him ambassador to China.
Mr. Baudamin also resigned as chairman of Teck Resources Ltd., a Vancouver-based metals and mining giant owned by China Investment Corp., a State-owned Communist Party company. A member of teck’s board of directors was once a member of the Chinese People’s Congress.
“Unfortunately, Canada is not an outsider to the complex game of influence McKinsey is playing with China [the Communist Party].” “Before becoming Canada’s ambassador to China, Damin served on the advisory board of the China Development Bank (CDB) and then headed the global practice of McKinsey,” Rubio told the Globe and Mail newspaper.
Look at McKinsey’s relationship with the Communist Party
Mr. Rubio said western Allies such as the United States and Canada need to be wary of doing business with McKinsey, given the firm’s presence in China and the relationship between its executives and Communist party leaders.
McKinsey has extensive influence in government and business, he said, and the US and its Allies may believe it will not help the Chinese Communist Party to replace the US and reshape the international order along the party’s lines. But “McKinsey’s inability to provide clear, direct answers will only exacerbate these concerns and raise the important question of whether the US government, including members of our intelligence network, should continue to use its services.”
Rubio has been demanding for months that McKinsey disclose all of its ties to the Communist Party and whether it ensures that its Chinese clients are not controlled by the military or involved in human rights abuses. He said the company had responded to a letter from him saying that “neither the Chinese government nor the Chinese Communist Party was a McKinsey client.”
In another response to Rubio, however, McKinsey acknowledged that they work for state-owned companies in China.
Mr Rubio argues that China’s state-owned enterprises cannot be separated from the Communist regime. However, McKinsey declined to say which state-owned companies it had worked for, citing the need to protect clients’ secrets.
“McKinsey is still reluctant to provide the requested information on its relationship with the Communist Party.” “This raises serious questions about our national security and economic security,” Rubio said. Because Beijing has the ability to recruit, manipulate and exploit individuals abroad.”
Canadian politicians are equally worried
Opposition parties in Canada have also raised questions in Parliament about McKinsey’s ties to Chinese state-owned enterprises, as well as its dealings with Chinese Communist party officials.
Ganettt Genuis, the conservative deputy chairman of the congressional Select committee on China-Canada Relations, has urged Mr Genuis to disclose the scope of his work with Chinese soes, saying he is concerned that McKinsey is not disclosing enough information about its China operations.
“It is an important disclosure as to which Chinese state-owned enterprises our ambassadors have established some kind of business relationship with.” “Ginouis said.
In February, Mr. Ginouis asked Mr. Barton to provide Congress with a list of Chinese state-owned companies he had worked for at McKinsey. Mr Barton has not provided, citing the need to protect his clients’ secrets.
Canada-china relations are at their lowest point in half a century. Chinese authorities have detained two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, for two years in what is widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Ms Meng on extradition requests from the US. The Communist party’s retaliatory actions also include blocking access to The Chinese market for key Canadian agricultural products. The Communist government’s ambassador to Canada also recently warned Ottawa that granting asylum to Hong Kong dissidents could endanger the “health and safety” of the 300,000 Canadians in the territory.
China’s state-owned enterprises are controlled by the Communist Party
The Communist regime has control over China’s soes, including the appointment of directors. Many western industries say these soes do not have to focus on profits and that they will harm the competitive environment and distort the market.
Mr Ginouis had asked Mr Barton whether McKinsey was working for China Communications Construction Group, which has played a key role in building artificial islands in the South China Sea. Until 2017, the group had been sanctioned by the World Bank for corruption and bid-rigging in the Philippines. In 2018, the Canadian government rejected the group’s bid for a large Canadian construction company on national security grounds.
In his second appearance before the Parliamentary special Committee on China-Canada relations on Dec. 8, Mr. Barton was again asked about the list of Chinese soe clients. He asked Congress to contact McKinsey for a list.
The Globe and Mail report says it went to McKinsey and asked if it would provide the list to Canadian lawmakers. McKinsey declined to comment, and was referred to Mr. Barton. Reporters asked Him about it, but He never responded.
McKinsey may be involved in “One Belt And One Road”
In 2018, McKinsey held an event in Kashgar, Xinjiang province. Several news organizations have reported that McKinsey played an important role in promoting Beijing’s One Belt And One Road initiative.
As a director of McKinsey, Mr Barton worked to build up the firm’s presence in China, where it had offices in six cities by 2016.
One of McKinsey’s clients is Sinochem, a state-owned conglomerate that makes industrial components and works closely with the Communist Party’s armed forces. It is also a major supplier of Chinese aid to rogue states such as North Korea and Iran.
In 2015, He wrote an article for the Centre for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) urging Canada to support the Chinese communist authorities’ economic and geopolitical plans.
As Canada’s ambassador to China, Mr Baldwin has an obligation to establish ethics and place his investments in a blind Trust he does not know to avoid conflicts of interest when he takes up a post in Beijing.
Still, in September, Mr. Bodmin was calling for more ties between Canada and China. “The world’s centre of gravity is shifting and has shifted to Asia, so we need to do more in China,” he told a Canada-China Economic Policy forum organised by the University of Alberta’s Institute for China Studies.
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