There are many excellent books on Canadian diplomacy by former diplomats: one can point to Escott Reid’s Envoy to Nehru, Allan Gotlieb’s The Washington Diaries, Charles Ritchie’s voluminous writings from 1937 to 1966, to mention only a few. One of my predecessors to the post of Ambassador to China, Earl Drake, has written an excellent memoire, ‘A Stubble-Jumper in Striped Pants’ which includes his years in Beijing. David Mulroney, one of my successors as Ambassador, has contributed a very instructive book on contemporary Canada-China relations, drawing on his posting to the PRC, as well as, more broadly, his experience at the top of the foreign policy ladder. There are also anthologies of articles by former Ambassadors, three edited by diplomat David Reese and one by scholar Robert Wolfe. Many of these works focus on the intersection of the making of Canadian foreign policy and the management of Canada’s bilateral and multilateral relations, while providing personal perspectives and experiences.

I salute these writers and I envy them, not presuming that I can match their skills as historians of Canadian foreign policy, the reason being that during my 38 years in the Canadian Foreign Service (1972-2010), the choices I made as I managed and advanced my career led primarily to serving abroad and delivering Canada’s foreign policies at the ground level.

Furthermore, and as I outline briefly in the ‘Biographical Note’, I sought throughout to focus on Canada’s relations with Asia, from Turkey to the Asia-Pacific. My political and bureaucratic bosses agreed with my choices. All in all, I served in Asia for over 25 of my 38 years in the Foreign Service. My role as a Canadian diplomat was thus primarily from the ground up. I can assert without hesitation that I achieved my professional aspirations.

During the course of the Ambassadorial and High Commission postings, I kept a close and detailed track of my day-to-day activities, thanks to the indispensable help of my Assistants. They ensured, among other matters, that I retained many of my daily schedules as well as my unclassified papers and associated materials: correspondence, speeches, news articles, photos and the all-important daily schedules that so assist the ultimate source of reflection and insight: memory. For better or worse, classified materials belong to Canada’s frequently renamed Foreign Affairs department. To all appearances, these documents will not be available until released, perhaps decades hence, to Library and Archives Canada. This necessarily imposes limits to any memoir of daily experiences in an Embassy, resulting in an incomplete archive…but an archive nevertheless. Despite the limitations, I accumulated many bankers’ boxes of materials, papers and digital texts over the years of my postings abroad. I pondered how to utilize this modest mass of material and came to the conclusion that there is a story to tell, but not of the traditional kind favoured by ex-diplomats, where foreign policy setting is often at the center of interest. Given the career choices I made, my experience is very much at the delivery end, again, as I like to put it, from the ground up, as a Foreign Service Officer, rising in the ranks to Assistant Deputy Minister for Asia and as Ambassador.

This is why I have created the ‘Ambassador to China’ website, a window on what, as Ambassador and with the help of my many Embassy colleagues, I did, largely on a day-to-day basis. Although I could have chosen to write about my Head of Mission – HoM – posting in Japan, a country where I lived and worked for a total of 17 years, I have decided to write this memoir on my assignment as Ambassador to China, with the focus on the first two years of my posting – from the summer of 2001 to that of 2003. I chose the China years because I consider Canada’s relationship with the PRC to be of the greatest complexity, with a back story that varied tremendously during the decades I spent in the Foreign Service, and indeed as it continues to be, one of Canada’s most complex diplomatic challenges.

Readers will be familiar with the difficult-to-predict courses of the Canada/China relationship – from Prime Minister Trudeau’s determination, in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, to establish working relations with a country that was still shunned by many democracies and not yet a member of the United Nations; the promise of ‘reform and opening’ under the leadership and inspiration of Deng Xiaoping, beginning in the ‘70s following Mao’s death in 1976, to be eclipsed to Canada’s and much of the world’s horror with the self-inflicted wound of the Tienanmen massacre of 1989; this followed by China’s slow return to Canadian attention in the 1990s, notably by Prime Minister Chrétien and the Team Canada strategy, which shaped the Canada/China relationship at the outset of the 21st century.

Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Party were less forgiving of the governance of what remains a Leninist if not Marxist China. But no Canadian leader could ignore the immense transformation that the new generation of CCP leaders, headed by Jiang Zemin as Party Secretary and Zhu Rongji as Premier, drove forward with a renewed and aggressive commitment further to internationalize the Chinese economy, most notably  – even dramatically – exemplified by China joining the WTO in December 2001, coincidently, just 3 months after I arrived in Beijing. I left China in 2005, the second of Prime Minister Paul Martin’s three year administration.

The objective of this website therefore is to capture, from the ground level, the experiences and perspectives that defined the early years of the new century, specifically, the first two years of my assignment, from August 2001 to August 2003, a positive period in our relationship with China, during an era seemingly most dynamic and open to change. It is also an attempt to capture some of the priorities among the Chinese leadership of both the Party and the Government, in Beijing and wherever my travels would take me.

I also hope to disabuse the notion that Canadians were somewhat naïve in their aspirations and understanding of where China might be headed. The great and less well-known story about China during the first decade of the 21st century is that of the internal debates among China’s leadership and elites regarding how the CCP could continue to be authoritarian socially and politically, while allowing governance to have the flexibility necessary to a rapidly expanding and internationalizing economy. What I and my colleagues witnessed was the continuation of an economic reform process begun in the late ‘70s, one that focused inter alia on domestic enterprise development and internationalization, and the impact of this transformation on Chinese society. But there was also a less public but equally urgent debate, internally, on the political implications of continuing change on the ground in China. Looming in the background was the transformation of the European ‘East Bloc’ to a region of vibrant democracies and – most dramatically – the collapse of the Soviet Union. The CCP saw  as its primary task avoiding something similar in China, while at the same time modernizing its economy by, inter alia, deepening ties with the West. In my opinion, it was this backdrop that allowed Canada and other donor countries to promote – in Canada’s case through CIDA and academic exchanges – programs that sought primarily to link economic development with Western democratic values, in particular human rights and the rule of law.

Despite four decades of Canadian promotion – through political dialogues, multiple CIDA programs, active engagement by Canadian Parliamentarians and the Supreme Court of Canada, all taking place in parallel with democratizing objectives shared by virtually all of the G7 Government donors and many others – the CCP reinforced its Leninist foundations. These decisions began to emerge more explicitly under Hu Jintao and especially and forcefully, under his successor Xi Jinping. All I can say is that whatever hopes I and my Colleagues had about China’s future governance, the CCP chose otherwise.

In writing my narrative, the structure is, firstly, that of a diary: activities over the first two of four years in Beijing, as well as in the regions where I travelled in the amazing country that is China and its People. Substantively, I describe my day-by-day activities based on my calendars, notebooks, unclassified correspondence, speech texts, issues raised at meetings and so forth, all of which is collected in a more or less orderly fashion in the boxes of materials I have kept.

The narrative also consists of my reflections on what was happening in China, politically and economically, and the implications for Canada. Surrounded by incomparably knowledgeable and experienced fellow Foreign Service Officers, many fluent in Chinese and meriting the cognomen of ‘China Hand’, my job was to synthesize to the best of my ability Canadian and, to some extent, Provincial foreign policy objectives in China and, with my Embassy and Consulate colleagues, pursue them at the ground level, primarily by interacting with our hosts and reporting our progress back home to DFAIT and the interdepartmental community. To a considerable extent, that reporting was also done through public speaking to many different Canadian audiences, and those from coast to coast. At the time, China was seemingly on the bucket lists of Canada’s national, provincial and even municipal governments, as well as the broad business community and academic institutions. Aspiring and established artistic and cultural institutions were beginning to realize that China’s reform and opening could be of interest to them. Canadian media, for their part, had been engaged for decades, but the Canadian readership and audiences were broadening extensively.

Thus, I seek to provide a broader context than my day-to-day activities as HoM. In addition, and from the outset, I was determined to imbed essays by Embassy colleagues and others who could provide different perspectives and experiences within the policy frameworks which directed our work during the early oughts. Some also reflect on what China has come to mean for them at a personal level. Thus, I am very grateful to the following for their interest and their contribution to my narrative. These appear on their respective Timelines pages.

Pierre Pyun, Trade Commissioner and Senior Trade Commissioner, Beijing and later Hong Kong. (2001/Oct 15)
Henri-Paul Normandin, Director of the CIDA Program in Beijing. (2001/Dec 6)
Ted Lipman, Director, Canadian Trade Office in Taipei. (2002/Jan 23)
Nolan Ledarney, Master Chef, Official Residence. (2002/Sept 14)
Stewart Beck, Consul General, Shanghai. (2002/Dec 4)
Charlotte Bull, Research Assistant (2003/Jan 24)

The interests of Readers will tend to be issues specific. The substance of daily diplomacy is shaped on the ground by the stated objectives of Canadians and their governments: by trade and economic interests, as they match – or not – those of our Chinese hosts; by our immigration and visa policies – including keeping bad guys out; by development assistance objectives, delivered by CIDA, including the promotion of human rights and rule of law; by the educational opportunities in Canada, as well as the establishment of linkages between Canadian universities, colleges and even high schools with Chinese counterparts; by the activities of our diplomats to understand the political, social, economic and global interests and activities of our Chinese hosts to better prepare for the future – ours and theirs.

Accordingly, I have added 37 ‘Topics’ at the opening of most commentaries to make it simple for readers interested in, say, domestic politics in China (ChinaDom) or bilateral Canada/China relations (CCRels), to find my comments based on then current events, as well as the meetings and events I attended and the travels I made – much less than I had hoped.

The Search function may need a bit of explanation: when Readers search for, say ‘Beijing’ as a search word, what appears is a list of pages that contain the searched word. Topics also appear in that way. Readers need to scroll down the pages to find the search word, bolded in red.

Some readers may be disappointed to note that the narrative deals much more with issues such as economic relations, immigration, academic and cultural linkages and so forth, compared to politics in China. There are two basic reasons for this: firstly, while I wrote with some regularity on political issues – my academic training was in political science – a great deal of my commentary was, not surprisingly, classified and thus not currently accessible. Secondly, the day to day demands of my job as HoM were determined, to a significant degree, by the flow of Canadian visitors to Beijing who wished to meet the Ambassador and discuss a variety of issues. These visitors included of course members of the business community, but also national, provincial and even municipal leaders who focused as well on a variety of interests and issues; in addition, journalists, academics and think tanks, a small number of artists and people passing through. Of course, my briefings of necessity addressed political issues, as this was the framework within which Canadian policies and objectives were pursued, from high strategy to the bread-and-butter challenges of expanding the trade and investment linkages, increasing the flows of students to Canadian educational institutions and immigrants and workers to address the growing needs of our labour markets. 

Included, as an important part of the story, are passages from many of the speeches and presentations I made on the Canada/China relationship. As noted above, my sense of the job was not only to oversee and participate in what we, as Canada’s representatives, were doing on the ground in China. I felt that, given the high interest throughout Canada in our relations with China, I should spend adequate time on the home-front, talking to Ministers and the staffs of the inter-departmental community in Ottawa, provincial Premiers and their government officials, Canadian businesses and trade associations, scholars and their students, museums and individuals involved in the arts, the media (often on background), as well as to the broader Canadian community. In that alone, I was kept rather busy.

No Canadian Ambassador works alone. Even the Canadian Embassy to the Holy See will have its Head of Mission and a small staff of 5 or 6 Locally Engaged Staff. The largest embassies – the G7 and the Asian giants and so forth  – will generally engage over 100 staff. (And Washington is in a class by itself.) Relatively large embassies are also a characteristic at the major international institutions, for example the UN and the Missions in Geneva, such as at the WTO. 

Beijing is among the large Embassies. During my tenure, the Canada-Based Staff counted 70 Officers – this number could vary in either direction – plus an equivalent number of Locally Engaged Staff. The LES were by-and-large Chinese citizens, ‘provided’ by the Diplomatic Services Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time I arrived in Beijing, but this requirement progressively changed to open market hiring by the time I left. 

At the outset of the drafting the ‘Ambassador to China’ narrative, I gave a great deal of thought to the wisdom of including the names of my Embassy colleagues – CBS and LES – as I did my work. While this is very much ‘my story’, it played out in the context of efforts and contributions by the 200+ Staff colleagues that populated the Canadian Embassy. That said, I could not speak for them. Each and every Staff member has her and his story, when reminiscing about our work in the early aughts of this century. So, I chose to limit my commentary to my experiences. All I can do is thank the Staff for their individual and collective efforts on behalf of Canada, of which I also benefited.

The Staffing list I am providing is a ‘best efforts’ gathering from my collection of reference materials. Since assembling the above list, the names of additional Staff have come to my attention: Patrice Dallaire, David Hallman, Andrew Lam and Gary Morgan.

Who is the target audience of this website? I am assembling these notes, and the contributions of colleagues in the field primarily for Students – secondary, college and university – interested in Canada’s international relations and especially those with China, on how foreign policies are delivered, and on what is diplomacy at the ground level. I also wish to encourage Students to consider pursuing a career in diplomacy. This memoir may also interest scholars of international relations who wish to add an ambassador’s and Embassy’s daily work and experiences to their foreign policy research. And perhaps, there is an audience among the General Public.

That is why I am placing the memoir on-line, for free and open access.

The full story – at least as full as I can take it – is in the boxes of archival materials themselves: the texts of unclassified letters and messages and speech materials, guest lists, staffing lists (but no personnel appraisals!), briefing materials and so forth. The banker’s boxes containing these materials will be available to Academics and Students and, indeed, the General Public, seeking to dig deeper in the work at the Embassy, mine and that of my many colleagues. I am honoured that Trinity College at the University of Toronto, with the support of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, has chosen to be the repository of my archival materials. I wish to thank Professor John English (Trinity College), Bill Graham Center Director Dr. John Meehan, and Archivist Sylvia Lapham for their encouragement and support for this project.

The initial ‘archivist’, however, is yours truly.

Before I close this Introduction, I should add a word about important, indeed in my view, essential readings on Canada-China relations. I have relied on scholarly works to keep in mind the evolution of Canadian foreign policy, as defining the determinants and directives that guided the work that my colleagues and I implemented in China. Among the most important and insightful works I read are the following: 

‘Canada and China: A Fifty-Year Journey’ by Professor B. Michael Frolic. 

A number of Canadian academics and diplomats have written, some extensively, on the history and dynamics of the Canada/China relationship. Among many, I found the writings of Professor Frolic, over the years, most informative and insightful – this both at earlier points in my career, and in the writing of this ‘Ambassador to China’ narrative. Professor Frolic’s ‘Canada and China: A Fifty-Year Journey’, published in 2022, is only the most recent of his reflections on the history of C/C relations. I also wish to acknowledge the importance of Professor Frolic’s professional views and contributions to the development of Canada’s China policies, on matters political, economic and ODA, among many.

‘Middle Power, Middle Kingdom’ by David Mulroney

As I mentioned in the Introduction, my DFAIT Colleague David Mulroney has, in writing ‘Middle Power, Middle Kingdom: What Canadians Need to Know about China in the 21st Century’ (2015), provided a very comprehensive history of his own posting as Ambassador to China, reflecting on the Canada-China relationship in the broader context of Canada’s economy, society and values. It is well-researched, with a depth of background information, offering both Canadian and Chinese perspectives. David also brings extensive experience from the center of Canadian foreign policy development and delivery, including having served as Foreign and Defence Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

‘Engaging China: Myth, Aspiration, and Strategy in Canadian Policy from Trudeau to Harper’, by UBC Professor Paul Evans draws on his extensive work on Canada/China relations, including in collaboration with Professor Frolic. His book delivers what it promises in its title: a PM by PM narrative of the evolution of Canada’s China policy, reflecting each of our national leaders’ predispositions – political, practical, even moral, from Trudeau’s curiosity and early travels at one end of the spectrum, to PM Harper’s reluctant recognition of China’s importance to Canada, whether he liked it or not.  

The Jean Chrétien era is that which most significantly set Canada’s China policy during my years as DFAIT’s Assistant Deputy Minister for Asia, followed by my work as Ambassador to China, from the summer of 2001 to August 2005. In writing this narrative, I received advice and support from Professor Gregory Chin of the Department of Politics and Faculty of Graduate Study at York University. Greg’s background includes work in DFAIT as well as service in the Beijing Embassy’s CIDA Development Section, between 2003 to 2006, this overlapping my own China stint. In writing this narrative and for background purposes, I have drawn from Greg’s Chapter on Prime Minister Chrétien’s efforts to establish and maintain strong and beneficial relations with the People’s Republic of China. Greg’s chapter appears in Chrétien and the World: Canadian Foreign Policy from 1993 to 2003. (University of British Columbia Press, 2025), edited by Jack Cunningham and John Meehan. 
https://www.ubcpress.ca/chretien-and-the-world

Joseph Caron
August, 2025