Tuesday, December 3

BT&I

  • letter to Jilin Province Governor Hong Hu expressing support for a projected collaboration between IMAX Corporation and the Changchun Film Studio and their plans to build state-of-the-art theaters including in the new Studio Theme Park to be built in Changchun.
  • letter to Chairman She Jian Ming, China National Association of Engineering Consultants, in support of the application of CPCS China Merchant Consulting, a subsidiary of CPCS Transcom of Canada, for registration as a Class A engineering consulting company in China.  

Wednesday, December 4

  • attended opening of Pratt&Whitney Training Center at Tianzhu Airport Industrial Area northeast of Beijing.
  • Letter to Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, congratulating the PRC on the success of Shanghai winning the bid for Expo 2010, and confirming Canada’s vote in support of China’s bid.

CCRels

In the letter, I added the following: ‘I can confirm, in confidence, that Canada voted for the Shanghai bid. This Canadian support, which extended to the highest levels of the Canadian Government, is consistent with the strong bilateral relations between Canada and China.

‘In addition, our Consulate in Shanghai, together with the Shanghai Municipal Government, sponsored a workshop, based on the success of Vancouver’s Expo 86, on how to plan for the legacy aspects of a world expo.’

However, the Consulate’s engagement in Canada’s decision to support Shanghai for the 2010 Expo was much deeper than that. That is best explained by Stewart Beck, then Consul General, in the following Essay:

A Vote for Us, A Vote for You: Advancing Canadian Interests
Stewart Beck, Canadian Consul General, Shanghai 1999-2003

During his Canadian Foreign Service Career, Stewart Beck held senior positions in foreign policy and trade, including Canada’s High Commissioner to India, Consul General in Shanghai and San Francisco, as well as Assistant Deputy Minister for International Business Development, Investment and Innovation. Following his retirement from the Foreign Service, he served for seven years as President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

Stewart:

Looking back, the China of the early 2000s represented a very different moment for Canada. Following China’s WTO entry, widespread optimism marked its integration into the global economy and emergence as a constructive international partner. Western nations viewed China’s rapid development primarily as an opportunity rather than a challenge, and engagement was the watchword of the day. While today’s geopolitical landscape and attitudes toward China have shifted dramatically, the fundamental lessons about understanding Chinese decision-making and relationship-building remain relevant for diplomats and business leaders. As China emerged into the 21st century, nowhere was its transformation more evident than in Shanghai, where massive infrastructure development included plans for over 200 kilometers of new subway lines in just a decade.

This infrastructure boom, combined with China’s rapidly growing aviation market, aligned perfectly with Canadian capabilities, particularly through Bombardier’s position as a global leader in both rail transportation and regional aircraft. Despite Bombardier’s worldwide expertise in urban transit systems, the company had previously been unsuccessful in securing contracts for Shanghai’s metro system. European competitors had established strong footholds – Siemens had delivered 584 metro cars to Lines 1 and 2, while Alstom’s breakthrough 1999 contract for Line 3 had secured an order for 168 Metropolis metro cars, leading to strategic joint ventures strengthening its local presence. For a Canadian Consul General, this situation presented both a challenge and an opportunity – how to help a leading Canadian company break into a market dominated by entrenched European players. While traditional diplomatic caution might have suggested a more passive approach, the scale of opportunity demanded creative engagement and calculated risk-taking

Canada’s unique position among G7 nations reflected decades of constructive engagement with China. Our relationship was built on a foundation of significant historical moments – from Norman Bethune’s service during the revolution, which earned lasting respect from Mao Zedong, to Canada’s early recognition of the People’s Republic of China in 1970, our support for China’s entry into the United Nations, and our diplomatic innovation in developing a ‘One China’ formula that balanced relations with Taiwan. This goodwill positioned Canada in a uniquely privileged role, enabling us to achieve levels of access and trust that sometimes surpassed even those of the United States, despite our smaller economy and geopolitical weight. In fact, the U.S. Consul General frequently noted the contrast between my relatively easy access to Shanghai’s senior leadership and his comparatively difficult interactions.

Chinese officials and business leaders viewed Canada as a friendly, trustworthy partner, offering us opportunities for engagement that weren’t always available to other Western nations. The government’s commitment to strengthening Canada-China relations, demonstrated through multiple Team Canada missions led by the Prime Minister and including premiers and business leaders, had already established a strong foundation for deeper engagement. These missions had been particularly appreciated by Chinese leadership as concrete evidence of Canada’s commitment to the bilateral relationship.

In 1989, Shanghai became the first major Asian city to establish an economic forum – the International Business Leaders Advisory Council (IBLAC) – which brought together CEOs from the world’s leading multinational enterprises to advise the city’s leadership on development. Unlike typical government-business forums, IBLAC provided direct access to Shanghai’s mayor and key municipal leaders, with party officials notably absent from its sessions. Membership was highly prestigious; when I arrived in Shanghai Canada did not have a member on the Council and the membership came with strict obligations – two consecutive absences meant automatic removal.

A series of personal connections would prove critical in leveraging this influential forum for Canadian interests. AIG’s CEO, Hank Greenberg, was responsible for organizing the forum and recommending new Council members. Fortunately, a Canadian connection emerged – the son of AIG’s Canadian CEO for Asia happened to live in the same Shanghai apartment building as the Official Residence for the Consul General. Through this neighborly connection, I was able to establish a relationship with his father. Greenberg was hesitant about putting a Canadian on the Council because Nortel’s CEO had been asked to step down for missing two consecutive meetings. But, through my new relationship with AIG’s Asia CEO, I was able to make the case for Bombardier CEO Bob Brown, while ensuring Bob understood the seriousness of the commitment. Bob’s background as a former senior Canadian government official, combined with his corporate leadership role, made him an ideal candidate who understood both the business and diplomatic dimensions of the role. And, more importantly, access to Shanghai’s senior leadership through IBLAC would allow Brown and Bombardier the opportunity to pursue its commercial interests with the city.

Shanghai was in the running to host the 2010 World’s Fair and securing the bid was clearly a priority for China. Canada’s support was seen as critical given our outsized influence at the BIE, demonstrated through successful hosting of Expo 67 in Montreal, and Expo 86 in Vancouver. Moreover, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) delegation evaluating Shanghai’s bid was led by a Canadian, adding another layer of credibility. This provided Shanghai officials with additional confidence in our assessment of their bid’s strength and viability and gave us leverage with senior Chinese officials, as Canada’s support carried weight given our World’s Fair experience and direct involvement in the evaluation process.

However, the challenge was significant. Canada’s Heritage Minister had indicated her support for Korea’s World Expo bid, and while this wasn’t public knowledge, shifting this position to support Shanghai would require careful diplomatic handling. After consulting with my political colleague in Beijing, it became clear that success would depend not just on the strength of our arguments, but on how we framed the shift. The key was to position any change as a natural evolution of Canada’s broader relationship with China, particularly in the dynamic Yangtze Delta region, rather than as a choice between competing bids.

Working through multiple channels would be crucial to this effort. As CEO of Bombardier, a major Quebec-based multinational and important domestic player, Bob Brown had his own access to senior decision-makers in Ottawa. Meanwhile, another personal connection provided rare direct access to the Prime Minister’s Office. The Prime Minister’s Director of Policy had lived down the street from us, and his wife had provided daycare for our two boys. These family ties enabled a crucial meeting that might not otherwise have been possible. During that meeting, I presented our comprehensive strategic case, hoping it would reach the key decision-maker, the Prime Minister. Shanghai’s rapid development, the scale of opportunities for Canadian business, and our unique position as a trusted G7 partner all pointed toward the strategic value of supporting Shanghai’s bid.

The evolution of Shanghai’s approach to securing Canada’s support became clear through two crucial mayoral meetings. At the 2001 IBLAC meeting, Bob Brown had a private session with then-Mayor Xu Kuang Di. The mayor laid the groundwork, exploring the broader opportunities that Shanghai’s development presented. Mayor Xu outlined Shanghai’s ambitious development plan and the potential for expanded Canada-Shanghai cooperation. The discussion focused on the scale of opportunity – Shanghai’s metro system infrastructure needs, its aviation sector development, and the transformative impact the World Expo could have on the city.

By September 2002, at the time of the next IBLAC meeting, the new mayor (who also served as Party Secretary), moved the bilateral discussion with Brown from exploration to specific linkages. This meeting was strategically timed to coincide with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Bombardier and the Shanghai Aviation Industries Corporation (SAIC) for the assembly of CRJ700/900 series aircraft. The meeting’s composition reflected its heightened importance – the Shanghai side included the Executive Vice Mayor, chairs of four Municipal Commissions including the Economic Commission, and senior SAIC officials.

The mayor began by outlining Shanghai’s qualifications for hosting the World Expo, then smoothly transitioned to discussing the enormous opportunities in transportation infrastructure – over 200 kilometers of new urban rail lines planned for the next decade, plus the aircraft needed to bring visitors to Expo 2010. Then came the moment that crystallized the reciprocal nature of Chinese decision-making. Switching to English for emphasis, the mayor stated simply but clearly: “a vote for us is a vote for you.” The message was diplomatic yet unmistakable – support for Shanghai’s Expo bid would create an environment conducive to success in future procurement decisions.

This was Chinese relationship-building at its most sophisticated – no explicit promises, but a clear vision of mutual benefit wrapped in the broader context of strengthening bilateral relations. Similarly, while our strategy was in place and networking complete, I never received prior confirmation that we had shifted our support – interesting but not surprising given how these decisions typically unfold.

In December 2002, just days after Shanghai won the Expo bid, Bombardier secured a contract worth $121 million for 60 metro cars for Shanghai’s subway system. The timing and speed of this development was striking – while the potential order had been known since early November, serious negotiations didn’t begin until after Shanghai won the Expo bid. What happened next was unprecedented: the deal was completed in just seven days, which the General Manager of Shengtong Holdings (the metro system’s owner) noted was the fastest negotiation in Shanghai Metro’s history.

The significance of Canada’s support was underscored at the mayor’s celebratory reception following the announcement of Shanghai’s successful bid. In a telling moment, the mayor took me aside and specifically noted Canada’s support, mentioning that China’s representative sat beside Canada’s delegate at the Bureau International des Expositions. He pointed out that the Chinese official had carefully observed Canada’s support through all four rounds of voting. This kind of detailed attention to diplomatic gestures – noting not just the support but tracking it through each voting round – exemplified how Chinese officials value the nature and significance of this type of diplomatic effort.

The Director General of Shanghai’s Expo Bidding Office further confirmed the success of our strategy. He acknowledged that Canada’s Consulate General had been the most active foreign mission in promoting Shanghai’s bid, and notably, we were the first to offer congratulations after the success of the bid. He made it clear that Canada’s support would “not be forgotten and would work to our future potential advantage” – a statement that, in Chinese diplomatic parlance, indicated real opportunities ahead.

The successful outcome validated our strategic approach to diplomatic engagement while illustrating several key principles about how decisions are made in China. The sequence of events – from relationship building through IBLAC, to the carefully calibrated mayoral meetings, to the rapid conclusion of the Bombardier contract – demonstrated the interconnected nature of business and government relationships in China. Also, China’s careful tracking of Canada’s support through each voting round demonstrated their attention to every detail.

Yet it would be overly simplistic to draw direct correlations between diplomatic support and business success. What this episode demonstrated was how creating the right environment through careful relationship building could help position Canadian companies for success. The Bombardier contract not only had immediate value but, as company officials noted, positioned them strongly for upcoming bids on Shanghai Metro lines 4 and 5. The unprecedented speed of the contract negotiations – seven days from start to finish – suggested that while the technical and commercial aspects had to be sound, the broader relationship environment could significantly influence the pace of decision-making.

The experience yielded several key insights about effective engagement in China. First, the importance of working at multiple levels simultaneously – from informal neighborhood connections that opened doors to the Prime Minister’s Office, to securing Bob Brown’s position on IBLAC through apartment building friends, to maintaining close contact with Shanghai officials. Second, the value of Canada’s unique position as a friendly G7 nation, which allowed us to be seen as a trusted partner without historical baggage. Third, the critical role of timing and patience – the groundwork laid through the 2001 mayoral meeting and subsequent relationship building created the foundation for the more specific discussions in 2002.

Perhaps most importantly, the episode demonstrated that successful diplomatic engagement in China requires understanding the indirect nature of decision-making. The mayor’s careful phrase – “a vote for us is a vote for you” – exemplified this approach. It was clear enough to signal real opportunity while maintaining appropriate diplomatic ambiguity. Our political colleagues in Beijing had advised precisely this kind of careful positioning, avoiding any appearance of transactional decision-making while allowing natural relationship building to create favorable conditions for Canadian interests.

The Shanghai World Expo experience validated the role of the Consul General and the Consulate as active relationship builders, demonstrating how understanding Chinese decision-making processes, combined with strategic networking and timing, could advance both diplomatic and commercial objectives. The results – from the Bombardier contract to broader future opportunities – showed that working within local practices while maintaining appropriate diplomatic protocols could create significant advantages for Canadian interests. Most importantly, it demonstrated how understanding and using leverage – in this case, our World Fair expertise and BIE connections – is crucial for successful negotiations in an Asian environment.

The initial $121 million contract proved to be just the beginning for Bombardier Mass Transit in Shanghai. Over the years, Bombardier would deliver more than 1,122 metro cars to the Shanghai Metro system and 300 next generation automated cars to the network. By 2010, contracts worth over $1.2 billion included major orders for Lines 7, 9, and 12. The success extended beyond Bombardier, creating significant benefits throughout the Canadian economy. Manufacturing of key components like propulsion systems remained in Canada, supporting high-value jobs particularly in Québec and Ontario, while Canadian suppliers to Bombardier also benefited from the expanded business.

This broader economic impact was amplified by Canadian companies securing significant World Fair contracts – from Vancouver architect Bing Thom’s master plan for the entire Expo site, to SNC-Lavalin’s development of the Canada Pavilion and Cirque du Soleil’s cultural programming. What began as an order for 60 metro cars grew into a broader Canadian success story, validating the value of diplomatic engagement and pursuit of national interests.

I have no doubt whatsoever that the Canadian support for Shanghai’s bid was very much the result of the efforts of Consul General Beck and his colleagues at the Consulate, with the long-term results quite evident from the Essay.

Not surprisingly, the 2010 expo was a spectacular success. According to some sources, total attendance was over 73 million. I did not attend the fair in 2010, but a subsequent trip to Shanghai a year later offered an opportunity to visit some of the ‘legacy’ pavilions. It’s fair enough to think of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Expo to which I would add the 2013 launch of China’s Belt and Road initiative as elements of modern China’s ‘coming out party’. These, along with the urban skylines and the trade and investment figures and outward-going FDI left no doubt – if there was still some doubt – that China had arrived.

  • hosted dinner for Vice Minister Chen Xiwen, Development Research Center, State Council.

ChinaGov 

The Development Research Center is part of the State Council of the PRC, the most senior administrative authority of the Government. In Canadian terms, it would be called the Cabinet, but including a broader set of governance institutions emerging from the National People’s Congress. Regrettably, I have no notes of our discussion, reflecting the fact that the discussion was animated and left little time for note-taking.

  • letter to President Victoria Wang of Green Capital – EIMAC China on the launch of the bi-weekly Chinese language publication Global Carbon Trading News.

ChinaEc 

China’s government and the private sector were increasingly public in their concerns about domestic and global environment issues. The publication of GCTN could – should it be both accurate and widely available – increase public awareness of the nuts and bolts of trading of petroleum and other sources of carbon.

BT&I

  • letter to the Deputy Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China Long Simin, expressing appreciation for the city’s support for the negotiated contract between the Beijing Radio, Film and Television Group and Canada’s IMAX Corporation to build an IMAX Theater in the newly established China Film Museum.

CCRels

Out of interest, I obtained a list of the 39 Canadian recipients of China’s ‘Friendship Award’ between 1992 and 2002, 4 women and 35 men. The ‘Award’, established in the 1950s, was given to ‘foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China’s economic and social progress’. One that I got to know was Walter Redekop, an ur-expert in the development of agriculture. He had spent 15 years on CIDA projects in China.

(https://ottawacitizen.remembering.ca/obituary/walter-redekop-1066319326)

The Award should not be confused with the ‘Friendship Medal’, established in 2015, and given to foreign nationals who contributed to China’s ‘socialist modernization, the promotion of exchange and cooperation between China and foreign countries, and the protection of world peace’. One wonders what contribution to world peace was made by the medal’s first recipient: Vladimir Putin.

Thursday, December 5

 BT&I  CdaPs&Ms

  • exchange with Alberta Minister of Economic Development, who thanked me and the Embassy Staff for the briefing sessions we provided. He states that: ‘I agree with you that China is certainly a dynamic market with great potential, but we need to remind ourselves and our clients that it is also a challenging market that requires focus and dedicated resources in order to succeed’.
  • rencontre avec le Sous-ministre pour l’Immigration, M. Abraham Assayag, Gouvernement du Québec.
  • meeting with Lorna Wright, Schulich School of Business, York U.
  • meeting with David Hamilton re article on Canadian forest products marketed in Chongqing.
  • meeting with Michael Lim, financial planner.
  • meeting with DG Cui Tiankai, Policy Research Department, MFA
  • meeting with senior executives of Hatch, BC consulting and engineering company.
  • meeting with Max Brotman, Canadian businessman, re an education project, seeking advice on processing visas.

Friday, December 6

  • meeting with Consular Section.
  • luncheon at the OR hosted my Kumru and me for Ambassador Sandy Randt and Madame Randt.
  • meeting with Ambassadors re the Land Mines Treaty, followed by a meeting with MFA DG Liu Jieyi, to discuss Chinese views on the LMT. Currently – early 2025 – there are 164 signatories to the Treaty, important exceptions being China, Russia and the United States.
  • attend reception hosted by John Lao, CEO, Husky Energy.
  • social evening at OR. Among the guests: MFA Vice Minister Li Zhaoxing, International Department Central Committee Vice Minister Wang Jiarui; Minister Wan Xueyuan, State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs; Jeff York, Beijing Bureau Chief, G&M; Kwong Wailap, General Manager, City Contemporary Dance Company; the Mexican Ambassador and other guests.

I had invited, for our guests’ enjoyment, Chinese lute player Pipa, whose performance I had earlier heard in one of Beijing’s many music clubs.  

  • Échange avec l’ancien Maire de Montréal M. Pierre Bourque m’annonçant qu’il sera en visite à Pékin en janvier – dans un mois – et signalant une application pour visa d’une des connaissances du Maire, et demandant mon intervention. Malheureusement, nos plans de voyages respectifs ne permettront pas de nous rencontrer. En ce qui concerne l’application pour un visa, je lui ai informé que je passerai son message à mes collègues d’Immigration mais que la décision serait la leur.

Sunday, December 8

  • arrival of ADM David Mulroney, an eventual successor in the job.

Monday, December 9

DFAIT MAM

David and I had a catch-up breakfast, followed by the weekly Mission Agendas Meeting. It illustrated the usual mix of day-to-day issues that engage the Embassy Staff, a lot of it humdrum, with some more central to our work: forthcoming visit of CIDA Minister Susan Whelan, problems providing up-to-date translations of commercial intelligence, financial and personnel resource issues, Québec immigration program visit, transparency and cooperation with educational institutions recruiting Chinese students, the security situation at the Mission. The Consulates flagged some of their preoccupations:  HongKong/strategic priorities review; Shanghai/nuclear energy seminar, high level visits; Guangzhou/Hainan visit, DPRK refugees, immigration issues, and so forth. In other words: BAU.

  • I hosted lunch at the OR to allow David to meet and exchange with the senior Program Managers.

CCRels

Hosted dinner in the evening for our senior MFA interlocutors, Vice Minister Zhou Wenzhong and Director General of North American and Oceanic Affairs, He Yafei, who would also become Vice Minister in 2008. Also included were representatives of Canadian companies based in Beijing. And because David was the lead host for the event and thus VM Zhou’s interlocutor, I was able to take notes of the discussion.

  • re bilateral C/C priorities, most important to maintain the pace of high level ministerial exchanges;
  • re Approved Destination Status, the Chinese government was taking a positive attitude (i.e. yes but not yet); discussion on Australian experience where ADS was granted;
  • high level theoretical discussion on the constituent elements of ‘civilization’ (!), viz: the spiritual, natural and political, as the newest component. We did not reach any conclusions on this.
  • C/C cooperation between Ministry of Public Security and the RCMP; plans for a meeting of security agencies of the US and Canada in Hong Kong.
  • Meeting with MFA DG for Asia, Fu Ying.

ChinaMFA DPRK

The discussion focused on China’s relationship with the DPRK;

  • Fu Ying described the North Korea’s relationship with most of the world as ‘cold tension’; China could launch ‘reform and modernization’ in the mid-70s because, inter alia, it felt secure along its own borders and in the region; ‘the DPRK does not have this luxury’;
  • China works to encourage economic reform in NK by touring their diplomats as well as DPRK officials around and across China, to explain and demonstrate the results of its economic policies; they seek to demonstrate that ‘raising the plant to make it grow faster is better than pulling up on the plant with its leaves to help its growth’. (Presumably, this sounds better in Chinese.)
  • approximately 2mm Koreans live in China, many along the DPRK/China border and while my notes don’t address this, it was known that this was a continuing source of tension between China and NK as relatives on each side of the border interact – illegally from the North Korean perspective – by providing information on what is happening in the real world vs. the artificial world created by the Kim regime’s domestic propaganda machine, and assist in the cross-border movement of peoples. Religious groupings are heavily – however discreetly – involved in this. All this and more add complications to the PRC/DPRK relationship.
  • David also had one-on-one sessions with senior DFAIT program managers.

BT&I

  • Meeting with Executive VP of the Bank of China, Ms, Zhang Yanling, to address specific commercial problems brought to our attention by Canadian businesses who accuse Chinese companies of specific cases of fraud, involving the BoC.  

CCLA

  • Letter to the Canada China Legislative Association Co-Chair Jiang XinXiong, National People’s Congress, thanking him for hosting dinner in honour of the visit of Senator Jack Austin.

The good Senator had to leave the dinner, due to ill-health. Back in Canada, he was diagnosed as suffering from a mild kidney ailment, but I was able to reassure Co-Chair Jiang that Jack had fully recovered, and passed on Jack’s message expressing his great regrets that he had to cut short the dinner, but looked forward to future opportunities to meet along with other CCLA colleagues.

  • Letter to Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Long Yongtu.

CIDA  ChinaGov CdaGov

I informed him that Susan Whelan, Minister for International Cooperation, was planning to visit several countries in Asia in January, and that she wished to include China among her destinations. The purpose of the visit would be to review the Canada-China development cooperation program and meet with Chinese Officials and program partners.

My letter included proposed calls on 1) MoFTEC, to discuss development issues arising from China’s accession to the WTO, and sign several memoranda of understanding on new cooperation projects. 2)a call on a State Councillor; 3) a one day visit to Xi’an, to include a visit to the Sino-Canadian Dairy Project village, 4) meet with a Shaanxi government leader, 5) visit a Canada Fund school reconstruction project and 6) view the Terra Cotta Warriors site. I sought the Vice-Minister’s concurrence and added that the Embassy would follow-up with MoFTEC’s Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs re details of the visit.

BT&I  ChinaPs&Ms

  • letter to Guangzhou City Mayor Lin Shusheng informing him that Alcatel Canada, a world leader in rail signalling systems, will bid to supply these systems for the Guangzhou Metro Line No. 3. The purpose of the letter was to introduce Alcatel Canada to Guangzhou Metro and confirm the company’s ability to meet the technical requirements of the bid.

I pointed out that Alcatel was recognized worldwide as a leading supplier of advanced signalling and control products. Alcatel had already succeeded in penetrating the market through involvement with the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation and the MTR Corporation in Hong Kong. I went on to provide additional technical details. The Embassy proposed organizing a presentation by Alcatel Canada to Guangzhou on its capabilities in providing state-or-the-art equipment for major rail and urban transit projects. A similar letter went to the President of Guangzhou Metro.

It was a matter of judgement as to what form the Embassy would choose to indicate Canadian Government support for Canadian firms’ business objectives and activities. Connecting to the ‘political class’, that is the Government in Beijing, as well as provincial and municipal governments, was very much a responsibility of the Embassy and Consulates. How, who and in what way this outreach would be effective was very much – and here, I am employing a Japanese phrase – ‘kayssu by kayssu’. Something as significant as a transportation project – notable by its size but also strategic importance to the Chinese sponsors – merited intervention from the top, that ‘top’ being from the Prime Minister on down.

Tuesday, December 10

CdaFP

  • letter to the Director General of Arms Control and Disarmament at the MFA, Liu Jieyi, thanking him for meeting with me and other Ambassadors to encourage China’s accession to the Ottawa Convention on Land Mines. I emphasized the importance Canada and the signatories attribute to the Convention, in support of the universalization and full implementation of the Convention, including by China. The letter also reiterated the offer of conducting a seminar on military alternatives to landmines, a subject that could be of interest to both the MFA and the Ministry of Defence. It also offered to sponsor a Chinese delegate to attend future meetings of the Ottawa Convention.
  • lettre adressée au Ministre Pierre Pettigrew donnant suite au congrès du Parti Communiste Chinois.

ChinaEc  BT&I  CdaGov

Ayant expliqué au Ministre, comme à ses collègues, les résultats du congrès du PCC, j’élabore ce qui l’intéressera surtout : l’état de l’économie de la Chine. Je signale d’abord que la première année de la Chine comme membre de l’OMC a été très positive. Les statistiques des trois premiers trimestres indiquent que les exportations chinoises ont augmenté de 19%, les importations de 17%, l’investissement directe étranger en Chine est en hausse de 23% et le produit intérieur brut augmente de 7.9%. L’intérêt du Canada pour cet important marché qui se développe rapidement demeure élevé. Il nous faudra, de façon à soutenir cet intérêt, continuer à échanger et travailler avec les dirigeants chinois. L’accession à l’OMC et les réformes des règlements en marche ont changé beaucoup de choses, mais l’influence du Gouvernement du Canada demeure important. Les obstacles administratifs auxquels font face les fournisseurs Canadiens des biens et services comptent sur l’appui de l’Ambassade et les Consulats.

J’ai ajouté une note personnelle espérant qu’il visitera la Chine en 2003, afin qu’il rencontre ses homologues et continue de construire les liens stratégiques essentiels à nos politiques à l’égard de la Chine.

Il m’a fait plaisir ajouter ces mots, car Pierre et moi étaient liés d’amitié depuis bien des années, du fait que nous avions travaillé les deux au Secrétariat des Affaires Étrangères et la Défense au Conseil Privé, le petit regroupement de conseillers auprès du Premier Ministre, à l’occurrence, le PM Pierre Trudeau, nous sous l’égide de Robert Fowler, le conseiller principal du PM en matière des affaires étrangères.   

  • meeting with Michael Martin on Media Guidelines for the Embassy and Consulates.
  • meeting with Denis Scown re the new Immigration Act and its public relations implications re, for example, visa application terms and processes, of special interest to educational institutions.
  • meeting with Dr. Brian Dobie to discuss Public Service Health rules and working hours for the Embassy nurse.

My conversation with Dr. Dobie touched primarily on the terms and conditions of the Embassy nurse’s work. It also served to flag that increasing numbers of Canadians based in Beijing were seeking medical advice and that in English.

  • hosted lunch for MFA Vice Minister Wang Yi and Deputy DG for Asian Affairs Cheng Yonghua.

ChinaMFA

Again, host’s disadvantage: you can’t be the host and note taker at the same time. One can guess that, first and foremost would be the 2003 agenda in the Canada/China relations calendar, but also Chinese foreign policies and current events – US response to 9/11 including the Afghanistan invasion and search for Osama bin Laden, instability in Asia viz the Nepalese civil war and India/Pakistan tensions over Kashmir.   

  • meeting with Jeff Nankivell re forthcoming visit to Tibet of former Foreign Affairs Minister Flora MacDonald.
  • attended reception held for Embassy Administration staff.

Wednesday, December 11

Media

  • interview with Michael Lev, Chicago Tribune.
  • various meetings with Staff.

Discussions focused on 2003 visits calendar: another possible PM visit? To discuss with Claude Laverdure, Foreign and Defence Secretariat and PM’s senior foreign policy adviser; high level business missions; Vancouver South MP Herb Dhaliwal; Finance Minister John Manley; Minister of International Trade Pierre Pettigrew; Victoria MP David Anderson; Premier of Nova Scotia John Hamm.

Arts&Culture

Exchange of letters with the Director of the Canada Council for the Arts, Shirley Thomson.

Madame Thomson had visited China in the fall. For her and the Delegation, the visit was an eye opener, ‘enriching and instructive’. It revealed to the CCA the extraordinary wealth of opportunities for cultural exchange between Canada and China. She expressed the hope that the visit would promote extensive cultural dialogue. And the visit had indeed been productive: two groups from China had visited Ottawa, including a delegation from the Ministry of Culture. A signed MoU was one of the products of the visit. A delegation from the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles was expected in  2003 which promised to lead to artists exchanges, residencies and exhibitions.

In response, I flagged my personal commitment to the CCA’s and Madame Thomson’s objectives. I wrote that during another extended outreach program in Canada in September and October, I met with many cultural organizations and individuals (as indicated in my 11.22 schedule). I informed Dr. Thomson that the Embassy had almost completed a report on the internationalization of the arts and cultural institutions and markets in China, and will outline promotion strategies linking China and Canada. To that end – and as she was aware – I was convening a one day conference in Ottawa on Friday, March 7. The purpose of the gathering was to assemble leading Canadian cultural institutions and to invite them to outline their respective interests, as well as  initiatives that would contribute to furthering Canada-China ties among their artistic clients. I would be encouraging the attendance to establish an ongoing network of institutions with special interest in promoting Canada-China cultural and artistic relations.

I also informed her that I would be assembling the Heads of Mission of Greater China – the Consulates as well as Hong Kong and Taipei – for a strategy session in the New Year.

Thursday, December 12

Travel to and outreach program in Shenyang, largest city and capital of Liaoning Province.

ChinaPs&Ms

Regrettably, no notes of my conversation with Governor Bo Xilai. As mentioned earlier, he was the Chinese politician with whom I developed the closest relationship, from first meeting him at the APEC Senior Officials’ meeting in September 2001, visits to Lioaning and especially following his appointment as Minister of Commerce, 2004-2007. Those were his good years…

Friday, December 13

Arts CdaPD

By email to my Heads of Mission colleagues in ‘Greater China’, I invited them to plan to attend a meeting in Shanghai on January 27, to discuss the development and implementation of the Greater China Public Diplomacy Strategy, as I called it. It would be the follow-up to the initial meeting of January ’02, which led to the drafting and circulation of a deck on the Strategy and the subsequent setting of operational priorities. I informed them of plans for a gathering of Canadian cultural institutions and agencies with an active interest in China for March 7, in Ottawa.

The objective of the forthcoming Shanghai meeting was to discuss how we, as the senior managers in the region, could make full and effective use of public diplomacy in all of its aspects to achieve better results for our clients in a rapidly changing China. I felt, and knew from discussions with my colleagues, that public diplomacy could contribute to the delivery and reception of Canadian interests and programs in China. A meeting would provide a venue for sharing views on the methods and tools of public diplomacy, and that I expected full attendance at the meeting.

Saturday, December 14

Return to Beijing.

Kumru and I hosted a Christmas buffet dinner – with piano and violin accompaniment for 93 guests consisting of the Embassy’s Canadian staff with spouses, but also including the visiting President of Mount Royal College, Dr. Thomas Wood and members of his staff, as well as two of his students, Chu Yue and Chen Xi, pianist and violinist of age 12, already very promising musicians. A fantastic evening, for me, never to be forgotten.

Monday, December 16

  • Mission Agenda Meeting.
  • meeting with Gordon Houlden.
  • meeting with CEO Bill Blaney of Gain, a Vancouver Island-based firm.
  • Lunch with Mao Yushi, Unirule Institute of Economics.
  • meeting with Canadian businessman Eric Tang.
  • meeting with TVI Pacific executives.
  • meeting with RoK Ambassador Kim.

BT&I

  • letter from Noulan Bowker of Strategy Navigator, thanking the Embassy’s Commercial Section for their strong, ‘beyond the call of duty’ support, before, during and after their business trip to China: ‘there was no way (we) could have participated in this show (i.e. a trade show), on such short notice and derived so much benefit from it without the help of your people’.

Not a surprise at all, given the quality of the Commercial Section Staff…but nice to read the appreciation as well.

  • hosted dinner for 18 guests, notably Zhang Zhijun, Vice Minister, International Department Central Committee, CCP; Ms Zhang Yanling, EVP Bank of China; Céline Galipeau, Bureau Chief, CBC; Bruce Murray, Resident Representative of the Asia Development Bank (and a Canadian); Brian Wallace, Director, Red Gate Gallery and others.

Tuesday, December 17

  • meeting with Colin Walker and Gordon Holden regarding the infamous and tragic case of Amanda Zhao.

CCRels

This was a very sad, unredeemable story. Amanda Zhao was a 21 year old student from Shaanxi Province, studying at Coquitlam College outside Vancouver. She was reported missing on October 9, 2002. Her body was found 11 days later. The autopsy revealed that she had been strangled to death. Two suspects, her boyfriend and the latter’s cousin, were sought. The boyfriend – the alleged murderer – had returned to China precipitously, but 7 years later was arrested in China and convicted of her murder. However, his incarceration was limited by a decision of the Supreme Court of Beijing. The cousin was charged and convicted in BC as an accessory but was acquitted by the provincial Supreme Court over issues regarding his confession. The case raised complex sets of legal considerations because of the differing conclusions on what, indeed, were the details of the murder, investigative procedures and the Canadian and Chinese differences of views on matters such as evidence and Canada’s disallowance of the death penalty. All and all a tragic death with complex outcomes.

The tragedy of Amanda’s death was further brought to me when I met her Parents in my office in Beijing. Tearfully, they pleaded with me to accelerate the processes and procedures necessary to transfer evidence held in Canada to the Chinese legal authorities, so as to speed up the boyfriend’s conviction in a Chinese court. Other than reporting the meeting to Ottawa, there was nothing that I could do to provide succor to the parents, beyond expressions of profound sympathy, profoundly inadequate these were…

BT&I

I addressed a letter to my most important Chinese interlocutors in the economic and trade ministries, congratulating them for their work since China formally joined the WTO in December 2001, as per:

‘China’s accession to the WTO last year was a historic event for the world trading system and a very important step in China’s process of economic reform. It has taken (and will take) much work to implement all of the commitments that China made as part of accession, but I believe that the positive impact of WTO accession on China’s long term economic prospects will make this effort well worthwhile.

Trade is essential for Canada, and last year, China was our third largest trading partner. As China implements its WTO commitments, I hope to see further increases in two-way trade and investment between Canada and China.

I also believe that China has an important role to play in the WTO, both in the day-to-day work of this organization and in supporting progress on the Doha Development Agenda. Canada looks forward to continued cooperation on both these fronts.

Congratulations on a historic first year as a WTO Member.’

BT&I

I sent a letter of thanks to each of the Canadian and Chinese businesses and organizations which supported the Terry Fox Run:

‘I am writing to thank-you again for your support of this year’s Terry Fox Run and for the photos you sent from that day. You will be pleased to know that over 12,000 people participated in this year’s run in Beijing and close to RMB700,000 was raised for the Beijing Cancer Research Institute. In Shanghai, more than 10,000 people participated.

The Terry Fox Run has two goals: to raise money for cancer research and to convey the message of Terry Fox’s heroic actions to people around the world. I think we can be proud of what was achieved this year in Beijing in both of these areas. I look forward to building on this success in the years to come.’

BT&I

  • exchange of letters with the Chinese branch of the Potash and Phosphate Institute of Canada regarding the October visit of Canpotex CEO Steve Dechka and the visit to Tianjin and Shandong to promote P&P use in the agricultural sector. The PPIC thanks the Embassy for its engagement, stating that ‘it highlighted the continuing care Canadians have towards the Chinese people and their development’.

Arts&Culture

  • letter to John Hobday, congratulating him as the new Director of the Canada Council for the Arts. I wrote that one of Canada’s top priorities in China is the development of a Cultural Diplomacy Strategy to promote Canadian art and culture in China and build bridges linking Canadian and Chinese artists and cultural institutions. I expressed support for the recent signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Council and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the objective of which was to promote exchanges and cooperation. I informed him that I was organizing a session in Ottawa in March that would bring together the key Canadian institutions interested in promoting Canadian culture in China.
  • attended a reception hosted by Japanese Ambassador Anami Koreshige on the occasion of the Heisei Emperor Akihito’s birthday.
  • signing ceremony at the Beijing Taxation Bureau.
  • attended dinner hosted by Maurice Strong. 

Wednesday, December 18

  • Signing ceremony announcing the collaboration of IMAX with Beijing Radio Film and TV Group.

ChinaEc

The end of the year provided a timely opportunity to assess the first year of China’s accession to the WTO. Our conclusions included the following points:

  • during Year 1, there were no indications that China was either pulling back or ignoring its WTO commitments.
  • trade related laws and regulations were put into effect, one result being that Canadian exports to China were increasing, this also in tandem with China’s economic growth, an estimated 9%+ for the year.
  • there had been, to date, few WTO disputes, although this was an early assessment.
  • viewed from the other side of the equation, China joined a WTO dispute against US steel safeguards; it had also put in place domestic rules that gave industry associations the responsibility of mounting defences against allegations of dumping of Chinese goods abroad.
  • China’s Doha Round priorities were agriculture and trade remedy rules.
  • it was too early to assess fully the impact of WTO-lead liberalization on China’s overall economy.
  • we anticipated – somewhat presciently – that China’s WTO adherence, and the attendant policy and regulatory adaptation moving forward, would indeed strengthen trends that would make of China a global manufacturing powerhouse, (something for which evidence was already available at any large Canadian Tire outlet).
  • we projected a $3B expansion of Canadian exports to China in the next half decade.

CdaPD

Email to ADM David Mulroney in which I outlined the need for additional resources in Beijing and the ConGens on the mainland necessary to implement the Greater China Public Diplomacy Strategy, following an operational planning document distributed in November. Money and staffing needs outlined, the do-or-die determinant for virtually all initiatives in all program planning. Always an uphill – no, an up-mountain effort. Also sought DFAIT support for the proposed – and essentially announced – March 7 2003 gathering in Ottawa of Canadian cultural institutions, meant to focus their attention on Canada-China cultural relations.

Wednesday, December 18

BT&I

Letter to Paul Tellier, congratulating him on his appointment as CEO of Bombardier. I acknowledged BBD’s strategic role in the development of China’s rail and aerospace capacity. The decision-making processes in China frequently had an overtly political dimension: thus, the Canadian government’s interventions vis-à-vis Chinese authorities and advocacy efforts on behalf of Canadian companies were the norm in China.

I repeated my basic message to the Canadian business community: Chinese growth and potential were real and, in all probability, long-lasting and thus each Canadian player had to develop their own objectives and strategies, in accordance with their long term corporate goals and market realities. I also repeated that strategies needed to be both offensive and defensive. I committed Embassy and ConGen support, as I did to all Canadian firms.

Thursday, December 19

  • meeting with Adrian Kuypers, President, IBT.
  • attended a reception to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the China Performing Arts Agency.

Friday, December 20

  • other than a meeting with David Gauthier on administrative matters, nothing else on my schedule. The usual Beijing visitors are staying in Canada it would appear.

Education

  • exchange with University of Calgary Harvey Weingarten regarding the UofC’s recent promotional visit to China and its success in connecting with potential partners to attract Chinese students to Calgary.

CIDA HR&RoL

Letter to CIDA Minister Susan Whelan regarding her scheduled visit to the PRC during the coming January.

I provided a few comments on her forthcoming visit, stating that the program would provide a good overview of her Department’s development cooperation program and the results it is achieving, including support for the economic reform process, promotion of environmental sustainability, and the strengthening of the elements necessary for good governance, human rights and democratic development to take hold in China. ‘Long term’, I wrote, was very much the operational phrase. While China had made great strides in reducing poverty and raising living standards, life for most Chinese was still a daily struggle and it would take many years before the average Chinese citizen would meet definitions of ‘well-off’ by international standards.

I expressed my view that the Government of China was generally committed to reducing poverty and closing the gap between advanced and less developed regions in the country, but that it was still groping for the most effective ways to deal with the difficult challenge of meeting these goals. Canada’s value-added, in my view, was to work with China on approaches which emphasized people over things, stressing the importance of basic human-resource development and the meaningful inclusion of all groups in society, including women and ethnic minorities. All of which were and are components of the human rights of the Chinese people.

I expressed the view that while human rights remained a sensitive topic in some quarters, there was no question that some progress was being made: while the CCP remained a Leninist monolith – and that in many respects – among the Chinese public  and even among some Party members, there was a growing clientele for developing a rights-based society with rule of law. HR had to be looked at from the perspective of both demand and supply: demand indeed was growing, but it was fundamentally important to develop the range of tools, the ‘plumbing’ necessary for a modern, divers and well-governed society. This involved judges, lawyers, and a host of other players developing a professionalism and institution-based outlook which is, for the most part, new to China. This, I was certain, CIDA was helping to provide.

With regard to Canada’s commercial interests in China, I considered that these were best supported by CIDA programs which helped to strengthen the rule of law and build modern institutions.

I also felt that 20 years of CIDA programs in China had created a reservoir of goodwill towards Canada: I saw this as I travelled the country.

Monday, December 23

DPRK

  • Meeting with DPRK Ambassador Choe regarding DPRK’s removal of IAEA safeguards equipment at its ‘frozen nuclear facilities’.
  • Review of the Operational Budget request of the Immigration Section.

PMJC

  • Transmitted letter from Prime Minister Chrétien to State Council Premier Zhu Rongji, expressing his pleasure in learning of the selection of Shanghai for Expo ’70, and its theme of ‘Better City, Better Life’.
  • Letter to the Director-General, Department of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Civil Aviation Jin Ergang, providing an information kit on Canadian governance policies and practices regarding civil aviation in Canada which he had requested.

BT&I

Letter to Vice Minister Zhang Baowen, Ministry of Agriculture, regarding his Ministry’s interim procedures for the importation of GMO product, including canola. These procedures put Canadian canola exporters at a serious competitive disadvantage. The letter proposed an alternative procedure and sought an opportunity to discuss the matter further.

  • Dinner hosted by Mme Yang Meng, China Education Association for International Exchange.

Tuesday, December 24

BT&I

  • letter to President Tang Xiaoping, President of AVIC 1 Commercial Aircraft Corporation, in support of the marketing efforts of Thales Avionics. Similar letter to the President of the China Aviation Industry Corporation.

HR&RoL

  • Letter to the Right Honorable Beverly McLachlan, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Canada.

I had just learned that the President of China’s Supreme Court, Xiao Yang, would be travelling to Canada in January, and wished to meet – not surprisingly – with Canada’s Chief Justice. I provided Madame McLachlan with a brief update on Rule of Law in the China of 2002:

  • Subsequent to the devastation caused by the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution’, during which legal procedures were mocked as ‘bourgeois’, law schools were closed, and the Ministry of Justice abolished, China had, since the late ‘70s, slowly but surely transformed its governance models, as it had understood the central place that law and legal institutions and concepts play in the governance of modern societies. Although these efforts were modest at first, rapid economic growth and internationalization had accelerated the need for modern institutions.
  • During the last 13 years alone, the legislative efforts of the National People’s Congress and its standing committees had resulted in the formulation of more than 100 laws. In parallel to these legislative reforms, the Chinese Government had embarked on judicial reform to support the drafting of legislation and subsequent implementation and enforcement. In 1999, a formal commitment was finally made to insert the term ‘rule of law’ into the Constitution. Building the RoL remains a stated priority of China’s Leaders.
  • Having said all of that, it was equally clear to most observers that the CCP remained Leninist to its roots, and the notion of RoL when stated by the PRC Party and Government  doesn’t have the same meaning as what we expect in functioning democracies. When the Party’s interests are threatened, this was clearly evident. Nevertheless, matters were evolving on the ground, as the Party and Government also saw the need for implementing internationally accepted standards of governance. Thus, exchanges and cooperation with Western jurists, scholars and legal institutions were good for everyone: Chinese officials learning about Canadian legal institutions and the foundational principles on which they were based, and their Canadian counterparts learning about Chinese perspectives, including their historical roots.
  • And Canada was not alone: Chinese Party and Government officials had broadened and deepened their dialogues with other Western countries on matters legal. All the better. CIDA program funding thus provided the means for connecting the Canadian and Chinese Supreme Courts at the Chief Justice levels, and on down. Indeed, CIDA was supporting a number of legal cooperation projects involving a wide range of Canadian and Chinese partners, including the Supreme People’s Court, the Ministry of Justice, legal aid offices, the National People’s Congress, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the All China Lawyers’ Association, academic institutions as well as emerging civil society organizations, however small and tentative. The substantive areas of law covered in these projects vary from social security to criminal law, human rights and women’s rights. Projects also dealt with issues of access to the legal system, education and public awareness, and institutional development. Support was provided through two complementary sets of activities: some in the form of government-to- government bilateral projects, as well as projects undertaken by Canadian stakeholders and their Chinese partners.
  • CIDA was also working to improve the implementation of legal reforms through the ‘Judicial Personnel Management Reform Project’. It supported the Supreme People’s Court to develop new policies, practices and structures regarding the recruitment of judges, the assignment of their responsibilities and workloads, salaries and benefits, and promotions.
  • at the time, CIDA’s Country Development Policy Framework for China was being updated. Still, CIDA remained committed, through its ‘good governance’ priority, to continue supporting China in its efforts to build a developed society based on the rule of law, however distant that objective might be.
  • to suggest, as some critics have done, that all of these efforts, Canadian and Chinese, were some form of play-acting, is not to understand the multiple dynamics shaping an emergent China at the turn of the century. Globalization, ‘reform and opening’, rapid economic growth, WTO adaptation, self-interest by G7 and OECD countries in a compatible Chinese polity and, most importantly, internal Chinese debates about long-term governance within the highest governing institutions, including think-tanks, created an undisputable dynamic in favor of change and adaptation. No one could predict what kind of China that would be, in both the short term or the long.

Mongolia BT&I

One of the last issues of the year on our Embassy plate was concern among Canadian mining companies about the evolution of the investment environment in Mongolia. No question that the Government was deeply committed to attracting foreign direct investment in mining, given the key role the international mining industry could play in building the national economy. However, it had recently become evident to Canadian and other foreign mining companies that proposed amendments to Mongolia’s mining law would have negative impacts on the security of tenure for foreign firms. The Canadian firms had passed on their concerns to the Embassy. The potentially positive news, also provided, was to the effect that the Government would be establishing an informal committee, to include representatives from the foreign investment community. So dialogue would be part of the decision making process.

Given the interest of Canadian firms in the decision-making process on terms and conditions for foreign investors including Canadian mining companies, I sent a letter to Prime Minister Enkhbayar, who I had met and conversed in considerable length during my visit to Mongolia, and expected to meet again in the coming year. I wrote that it was commendable that the views of foreign stakeholders will be taken into consideration during this policy process and welcome Mongolia’s desire to do so.  

DPRK

  • Meeting with MFA Asian Department DG Fu Ying to discuss implications of DPRK’s removal of IAEA safeguards equipment at its ‘frozen’ nuclear facilities.

Friday, December 27

Took a moment to send a note to MFA Vice Minister Li Zhaoxing, thanking him for his contributions to overseeing the Canda-China relationship, and that I looked forward to the next round of bilateral political and security talks with his counterpart, Deputy Minister Gaëtan Lavertu for February of the New Year.

Arts&Culture

  • Exchange with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet regarding a Chinese multiple entry visa issue.
  • Exchange with Hai Run International Group regarding the recent and successful despatch of 15 of their China staff to select Vancouver and Toronto scenery and backgrounds for ‘Jade Buda’ a TV series of 27 episodes, and plans for another shoot in Canada in 2023.

Saturday, December 28

New Year reception and concert hosted by Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.

CCRels

As flagged earlier, this again provided privileged seating arrangements at sit-down dinners, as it provided rare opportunities for discussion with FM Tang in Japanese. This was yet another occasion to use what talents you bring to the table, in this case literally, even on a social occasion. 

Monday, December 30

  • meeting with Raymond Chan.

Education

Liberal Parliamentarian Ray Chan served as Secretary of State for Asia Pacific 1993 to 2000, when he lost his Richmond seat. He was returned to Parliament in the 2004 election. Not surprisingly, Raymond and I crossed paths many times. Between 2000 and 2004, Raymond played a number of roles, including assisting Canadian companies seeking advice and counsel on doing business in China. This visit was to introduce me to a BC-based entrepreneur establishing a school for Chinese students in Vancouver.

  • courtesy call by Palestinian Ambassador Zakaria Abdul-Rahim.
  • Letter of congratulations to the Governor of the People’s Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, on his recent appointment.

Tuesday, December 31

Education

Letter to Alberta Learning Minister Lyle Oberg as follow-up up his and his delegation’s visit to China to promote education in Alberta among Chinese youth, and the Embassy’s commitment to support their efforts.

…and thus, the Year 2002 comes to an end. And what a fantastic year it had been.