"How nice to see you again, Mr. Wang"???

@ChinaEmbOttawa) July 25, 2016

Foreign Affairs Min Wang Yi meets w/ @MinCanadaFA Stéphane Dion on the sidelines of ASEAN & EAS events in Laos.

Canadian statement on South China Sea Arbitration - Canada News Centre

Canadian statement on South China Sea Arbitration - Canada News Centre



I judge this will be very very badly received in Beijing and negatively impact the Prime Minister's upcoming visit to China.

Vancouver Resident Chinese Spy Su Bin Sentenced

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/vancouver-businessman-gets-jail-sentence-for-stealing-us-military-data/article30932488/

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied any involvement in hacking, but Mr. Su’s cyber-espionage efforts have been lauded by state-controlled media in China.

“On the secret battlefield without gunpowder, China needs special agents to gather secrets from the U.S. As for Su, be he recruited by the Chinese government or driven by economic benefits, we should give him credit for what he is doing for the country,” said a March editorial in the Global Times, a publication with significant ties to the ruling Communist Party.

The editorial was headlined: “Su Bin deserves respect whether guilty or innocent.”

Canada Should Be Careful with Li Keqiang Visit in September

An editorial published in the Wall Street Journal July 5 (http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-xi-jinping-ascendancy-1467748121) is predicting the possible "removal of Premier Li Keqiang, the one Hu ally on the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the pinnacle of Chinese politics."  Mr. Li is scheduled to visit Canada in September.

This Li visit could therefore become a replay of the fiasco of Prime Minister Harper's going to Chongqing to "build relations" with Bo Xilai as Bo's purge was already in process.  The Canadian Prime Minister was the last foreign leader to be seen with Bo just prior to his arrest in 2012.

But a similar miscalculation on our part substituting a Premier of the State Council and more importantly a Standing Committee of the Politburo member as Mr. Li is could be a lot more damaging to Canada-China relations.

Chinese factional politics is a dangerous game.  Canada should take care not to become inadvertently drawn into it to our peril.

China Refusing to Recognize Canadian Citizenship of Travellers

http://m.thetyee.ca/News/2016/06/30/China-Refusing-to-Recognize-Canadian-Citizenship-of-Travellers/

China expert Charles Burton, a professor at Brock University, said the move appears to be part of Beijing's attempt to tighten control globally to mute dissent against the ruling regime.

Burton pointed to a recent case of a Hong Kong bookseller with a Swedish passport who was arrested in Thailand and sent to China for "interrogation" as an example of Beijing's actions.

He said the reported policy would be in line with China's policy of considering anyone with Chinese heritage as subject to Beijing's authority.

"I think it does have a chilling effect on people of Chinese origin who felt that acquisition of foreign citizenship gave them a degree of protection," Burton said. "It goes against international law; it's part and parcel of China's refusal to acknowledge the authority of international regimes in general."

He said the policy could be considered discrimination because Beijing is issuing visas based solely on people's ethnicity.

Burton said Canada must raise the issue with China at the highest levels.

Conservative Commission and Chris Patten Urge Britain to Re-Think China Policy

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/06/27/commission-urges-uk-govt-to-reconsider-china-policy-in-light-of-human-rights-crackdown/

"Fiona Bruce, chair of the commission, said: “Without exception, every submission to our inquiry detailed a severe deterioration in human rights in China since 2013 and revealed a situation which is the worst China has seen for many years, possibly since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. Witnesses told us that many recent developments were ‘unprecedented.'”"

Brexit will Negatively Impact China-EU Free Trade Negotiations

"Brexit could also mark a setback for China’s long-term goal of a free trade agreement with the EU. London had emerged as one of the most eager advocates for a China-EU FTA; with the U.K. now exiting the bloc, none of the other major EU states seem keen to ink a deal with Beijing. An FTA with the U.K. alone might be politically simpler to negotiate (assuming Cameron’s embrace of Beijing is also adopted by his replacement as prime minister), but won’t have nearly the same economic benefits for China."

http://thediplomat.com/2016/06/post-brexit-what-are-the-geopolitical-and-economic-consequences-for-asia/

Getting Serious About China FTA

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/canada-must-bring-its-a-game-when-negotiating-trade-with-china/article30530641/

"In 1985, when Canada entered into free-trade negotiations with the United States – a country that it knows intimately – it set up a separate “Trade Negotiations Office” that brought together the best and the brightest from across government. It selected Simon Reisman, an experienced deal maker and former top civil servant, to lead the talks. Mr. Reisman reported directly to the Prime Minister. His team was given almost unlimited access to resources.

In the end, pooling smart people and substantial resources made a significant difference. Superb preparatory work and creative negotiating tactics allowed Canada, against all odds, to win concessions in key areas, including disciplines on U.S. trade remedy measures."

Sweeping the Tomb of Charlie Woo

The Chinese community in Niagara Falls celebrate the annual Chinese Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day) in June. In China the holiday falls in April on the 15th day of the Spring equinox. Families travel to their ancestors' graves to clean the sites, plant new flowers, pay respects and to offer food. But in Niagara Falls it's too cold to do this in April so they moved the festival to the first Sunday in June.

There are over 120 graves in the Fairview Cemetery in Niagara Falls that have been identified as Chinese workers who died as single men. So they have no family to sweep their tombs. This is because the 1885 Head Tax and 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act made it impossible for the early Chinese workers in Niagara Falls to marry. Seeing as they have no descendents, the local Niagara Chinese community has taken it upon themselves to act instead of family to celebrate the Tomb Sweeping Festival in memory of these childless Canadian Chinese. There are many more early period Chinese workers in Niagara whose earthly remains are unknown. Their tombs are never swept.

The Niagara Falls Chinese community is dwindling and aging. They need help with this work. So they asked for volunteers from the St Catharines Chinese Cultural Association to lend a hand. Even though I am not Chinese, I was educated in China. I have been a member of the board of the Chinese Cultural Association of Niagara for 10 years now. I am white and of Irish Protestant background. My Canadian ancestors were anti-semitic, racist Orangemen who would have fully supported the Head Tax and the ban on Chinese migration to Canada. I cringe with guilt thinking of it. Sweep the graves of the Chinese my people unjustly oppressed in our meanspirited ignorance? Count me in! How could I refuse?

So on the appointed day I arrived at the designated meeting point in the Fairview Cemetery marked in Chinese on the Cemetery map. I assembled a team of four. Myself, my wife who is ethnically Chinese, our 12 year-old son, and his friend Sean from Beijing. We were assigned 17 graves in Sectors three, four, and five of the Fairview Cemetery. For each grave we were issued one potted geranium to plant, one stick of incense to burn and lunch to share with the "ancestors." I'm advised it is a kind of food old old timey Chinese workers enjoyed: some roast pork, a chicken leg, two Chinese buns (one savoury, one sweet), and an orange. I put a few bills in the donation box to help out with costs for next year.

Our first grave is a small stone. At the top is the name "Charlie Woo." The rest of the information is in Chinese. I read it out to my son.  His name is Hu Zhenguan. He came from Chonglou, Taishan County, Guangdong. He was born in 1888. He died in 1939.

We spent about 10 minutes with Mr. Woo.  My team was in for a long morning to do all 17. We planted and watered Charlie Woo's geranium with reverence and lit his incense stick with some difficulty as it was raining lightly that morning.

I tried to imagine what Charlie Woo's life had been like. I suppose he likely worked long hours in bad conditions in a Chinese hand laundry or cheap Chinese restaurant catering to the Niagara Falls tourist trade. Was he very homesick for China over his years in Canada? Why did he die young at age 51? I suppose he lived in crowded and poor lodgings. Maybe it was untreated tuberculosis that killed him when his lungs gave out? How bad was it for him to realize that he would die a "bare branch" with no descendents?

I wonder what Mr. Woo would have thought about having a Mandarin speaking white man maintaining his grave, bowing to his memory and sharing his food offering on the Qingming Festival? Would he have understood how much deep regret I feel about the Head Tax and then the Exclusion Act imposed on him by my racist forebears? My bow was not just a bow of respect to the departed elder. It was a bow of deep apology for what my people did to Charlie Woo and the thousands like him.

I will be back next year to plan another geranium and burn your incense, Mr. Woo. I will try to be your filial grandson. Its the least we can do. But definitely not enough.

My Panel on CBC Power and Politics on Canada-China Relations today

Canada raised issue of China outburst - CBC Player

Comment on "China’s foreign minister demanded meeting with Justin Trudeau" - The Globe and Mail

China’s foreign minister demanded meeting with Justin Trudeau - The Globe and Mail


"Sources said the meeting was both a show of courtesy and an opportunity for Mr. Trudeau to raise the case of Kevin Garratt, a Canadian missionary who remains behind bars in China awaiting sentencing after being tried on charges of stealing state secrets. Mr. Trudeau wanted to tell Mr. Wang it would be difficult for Canada to embrace China’s hopes for a new so-called golden era if it continues to hold Mr. Garratt."

Based on my experience in the diplomatic service, I don't think it is too unusual for visiting officials to make a courtesy call on host country official one rank senior to them.  That being said in the Chinese system the Minister of Foreign Affairs is a relatively junior function as the key players are members of the Poliburo of the Chinese Communist Party.  Wang Yi is just a member of the Central Committee.

My Op Ed "A Chinese minister goes off script" - The Globe and Mail

A Chinese minister goes off script - The Globe and Mail

"The fact is, the discourse spouted by China’s Communist regime is severely at odds with the perceptive, informed social values of modern Chinese citizens.The credibility vacuum can be seen in the fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping publicly blames every sort of ill on “bourgeois Western ideology,” with its democracy and freedom of expression, but privately sends his daughter to university in the United States."

My Opinion piece in today's paper "Trade with China never comes free" - The Globe and Mail

Trade with China never comes free - The Globe and Mail



Despite Mr. Trudeau’s intentions about straight talk on issues of concern, the truth is that China dictates “no-go” zones as the cost of its state investment. For example, Britain could renew relations with China only after agreeing to end high-level meetings with the Dalai Lama. No less will be demanded of Ottawa. Any Canadian talk about human rights, or China harassing people in Canada perceived to be hostile to the regime, or increasing cyberattacks and espionage, or Chinese expansion in the South China Sea, is dismissed by Beijing as, absurdly, “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people,” thereby disinclining state firms to trade and invest in Canada.

Then there is the alarming extent to which China has infiltrated Canada’s government and its bureaucracy, an issue raised by former CSIS director Richard Fadden in an interview with CBC’s As It Happens in April. Ottawa must address this threat with more seriousness of purpose.

Transcript of China Related Comments by Former Director of CSIS Broadcast on CBC "As It Happens" on April 4, 2016

Transcript of China Related Comments by Former Director of CSIS Broadcast on CBC "As It Happens" on April 4, 2016

Carol Off: I’m going to ask you what  I think what you are referring to as “the gotcha question” here.    And that is that you said that China is a very aggressive recruiter in Canada.  What did you mean?

Richard Fadden:  I think a lot of countries have a very different view of how they use the power of the state in order to advance their interest. I think a number of these countries, including the one you just mentioned, take the view that if they can advance their interests sometimes more covertly than overtly that's not a bad thing. We tend not to do that, we as Canadians, other countries do. I think it's generally recognized in the public domain, let alone in the world I used to work in, that they're very good at this and they do it quite systematically.

Carol Off: How widespread you think that is, recruiting people on the inside?

Richard Fadden: It depends what you mean by recruiting people on the inside.  I mean you can do this sort of thing through any number of ways starting from normal diplomatic discourse through the use of the media for encouraging people to develop friendly relations and you can also try and do it covertly.  Do I think that it's a massive problem in Canada that requires legislation and people shouting from the rooftops?  No I do not. What I do think we need to some degree is awareness of it, much like there is awareness of it in the United States.  They've been more upfront about it than we have been.

Carol Off: Do you think it represents a risk to Canadian interests?

Richard Fadden:  Sure, but a lot of things represent risks.  The key is to acknowledge it and to try and minimize it.  China's a great power.  They are there.  We have to deal with them.  It's something that I think the West is finding difficult to do.  But here again I think there is the need for the Government, Canadian society generally, to come to a balancing act. There are real advantages in having good relationships with China.  But like all relationships it's not a bad thing to go in with one's eyes open.  

Carol Off: To what degree do you think China has infiltrated the Canadian government and Canadian bureaucracy?

Richard Fadden: I don't think I can answer that question.

Carol Off: Is it a lot? A little bit?

Richard Fadden: I really would rather not because it requires me to draw on information that is classified.

Carol Off: So can I infer from that that you do think that they have penetrated?

Richard Fadden: “Penetrated” is a word that we used to use during the Cold War to talk about spies who infiltrated the very centres of government. I have never suggested that was the case.

Carol Off: What do you suggest?

Richard Fadden: I suggest that they try and obtain influence in a variety of ways, some entirely acceptable some less so.

Carol Off: Do you think that people are knowingly helping them with that or do you think that they find themselves compromised without their knowledge?

Richard Fadden: Yes.

Carol Off: To what? Both?

Richard Fadden: Both. There’s nothing wrong with helping another state.  I mean we do it all the time.  To my mind the problem is, and I'm not just talking about one state in particular, the problem is when you are helping or you are doing something and you're not conscious of the extent to which you’re advancing the interest of the other state.

Carol Off: How often you think that they are consciously doing it?

Richard Fadden: I honestly, in this case it is not a question of not wanting to answer, I don't know the answer the question.

Canada to reject residence applications for Chinese telecom workers

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-to-reject-residence-applications-for-chinese-telecom-workers/article30133896/

Daughter of Swede Abducted from Thailand to China Testimony to US Congress

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/05/25/video-speaking-up-is-the-only-option-i-have-daughter-of-abducted-bookseller-testifies-at-us-hearing/

文革50周年：查尔斯.伯顿教授的回忆和担忧

文革50周年：查尔斯.伯顿教授的回忆和担忧



My interview about 50th Anniversary of Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution broadcast on Chinese service of Radio Canada International

Engagement is Key

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/article30021398.ece/BINARY/w620/webmonedcar16col1.jpg

China Pressures Europe to Stay Silent on Human Rights | The Diplomat

China Pressures Europe to Stay Silent on Human Rights | The Diplomat



"When governments adopt a softer approach on human rights and Tibet, their country’s potential for negotiation on important strategic issues becomes more constricted. Going to great lengths to accommodate the Chinese leadership’s sensitivities at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is presiding over the most eviscerating crackdown on civil society in a generation weakens a country’s leverage instead of strengthening it."

Canada cites espionage risk from two Huawei employees, saying it plans to reject their immigration applications | South China Morning Post

Canada cites espionage risk from two Huawei employees, saying it plans to reject their immigration applications | South China Morning Post



"Canada is citing the risk of espionage as it prepares to reject the immigration applications of two Chinese employees of mainland telecom giant Huawei, in the first such cases to emerge amid a swirl of unsubstantiated international spying concerns about the firm."