Can we afford to go it alone at the UN?

Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela may not be the kind of allies Canada would like to have, but surely alienating ourselves from China will be trouble down the line.

Commentators are still grappling over the meaning of Canada’s rebuke at the UN last week, when we lost out to Portugal for a temporary seat on the Security Council. Pundits are divided into two camps; on the one side those who feel the UN doesn’t deserve us, and the other those who feel Stephen Harper doesn’t deserve the UN.

Sun Media’s Monte Solberg falls firmly into the former, and searches in vain for ways in which Portugal is superior to Canada. Canadians have sacrificed life and limb in the UN-sanctioned Afghan mission, but “I can only conclude that our Portuguese friends have been quietly leading from the rear in ways that attracted the notice and admiration of other countries,” he writes. “The Portuguese economy is a leader too. It is a leader in debt, deficits, unemployment and other unpleasant things associated with despair.”

The National Post’s Rex Murphy contends we shouldn’t be worried by the loss because “You can only feel real embarrassment if you’ve been … rebuked by someone or some institution you respect. Not getting Hugo Chavez’s support? Not winning over China, which has a Nobel Peace Prize winner in its gulag? Not winning over Iran, as it threatens the monstrous stoning … of a woman for having sex?” That’s nothing to lose sleep over. This is a popular argument at the moment, but no one seems willing to take it to its next logical step: if the UN is so horrible, why don’t we withdraw from it?

But we should care about winning over China, argues Jack Austin in the Vancouver Sun, not only because of the Asian country’s growing power but also because of our large Chinese-Canadian population. After every prime minister since Pierre Trudeau worked hard to engage China, Harper’s government has “downgraded China to a minor status in their foreign policy interests,” and displayed an inexplicable “lack of comprehension of China's role in global affairs." It’s no wonder no one in the international community seems to have our back anymore.