Friday, February 1            

Notes for speeches and presentation in Canada, February 8-28, 2001, both political and economic.

Exchange with Chairman, Tony Comper, Bank of Montreal about meeting and speaking in Toronto.

CdaIm&Vi Education

Letter from David Brown, AVP, Office of the President, Brock University, re ‘the proliferation and practices of academic agents (some official and unofficial and some rather suspect) seeking to recruit international students into Canadian universities.’ Letter goes on to describe the ‘fraudulent practices’ it has observed.

I replied that the issues he raised were known to the Embassy and our Consulates, with ramifications on the issuance and extensions of visas to prospective students. The letter encourages Brock to promote discussions among Canadian educational institutions and encourage dialogue within the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and the Canadian Education Centre Network in Beijing.

Dr. Brown responded 0207 proposing to take the lead in developing a set of ‘principles and practices for Canadian post-secondary institutions’…to be used as a guide in dealing with international recruitment agencies’.

Again, a classic statement of the issue: the tension between the objective of substantially increasing the number of Chinese students in Canadian educational institutions on the one hand, and on other, the task of preventing fraudulent practices which use the broader movement of those seeking a higher education to criminal advantage, the purpose being to enter Canada illegally. The solution, if there was one, required collaboration among a variety of educational institutions and provincial governments who understood the current dynamic, and worked to maintain the integrity of the visa and immigration system. But absent agreed leadership among the concerned institutions and the development of a collective strategy, a ‘code of ethical practices’ as recommended by some institutions did not emerge, at least not in my day.

ChinaDom

Lecture presented by Victor Yuan, Chairman, Horizon Research Consultancy Group

Victor, who I got to know quite well, founded his company in 1992. He was permitted by authorities to conduct public opinion polling in China on social and economic issues. He told me that he was also retained by the CCP to conduct polling for their purposes. As of this writing – 2025 – Victor still leads a much expanded polling and advisory company. His comments, based on my notes, provided a snapshot of trends as assessed by his company.

• polling is possible, but three forbidden topics: Leaders’ standing, even at municipal level; Fallon Gong and minority issues; Taiwanese independence.
• what Horizon does study include market trends for consumer products among 35 and younger cohorts, among other socio-economic topics;
• the floating population, living in Chinese towns and cities, officially said to attain 80mm is actually closer to 120mm, with 45% not wishing to return to their villages;
• 70% of service industry staffs are from among these migrants, ‘working animals’ without the hukou residential rights; their social rights are only available to them in their home village;
• one effect of Chinese membership in the WTO will be the increase in the number of these migrants, in search of opportunities in China’s globalizing economy; in some regions, 70% of the population may choose to risk being on the move; this migrant population could triple in number, a population which cities cannot absorb;
• people want to change their lives;
• millions of China’s youths are in one child families; they have a very different concept of authority and society;
• priority for parents is the education of their youths, and the lives and benefits they may potentially enjoy in the future;
• in the consumer economy, products, packaging including appearance and colour and so forth, are influenced by youthful cohorts; parents are consultants, their (single) children are like the Chairperson of the Board;
• Zhu Rongji is the most popular of the Leaders, ‘just like a father’;
• white collar workers have their own culture;
• business ethics do not have a place in this group;
• the Ministry of Public Security is very well informed about these and other trends, but don’t publish their findings;
• there is corruption within the hukou residential rights system, so much so that bribes for documents have declined in price from 60,000 yuan a half dozen years ago to 20,000 and even 8,000 yuan today; hukou are essential to obtain local passports and education for the cohorts’ children;
• future households will consist of singles, or Double Income no Kids couples, therefore care for the aged will become a major social issue;
• the middle class is defined by financial status, annual income of Y300,000; entrepreneurs, managers, professionals such as doctors etc; they aspire to send their children to universities abroad.

DPRK

That evening, I was hosted for the first time by the Ambassador to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Accompanied by the Political Counsellor, we made our way to the Embassy gates, on which Chinese police kept an eye, presumably to prevent Chinese citizens from attempting to enter and escape China (as was to be the case via our Embassy in September, 2004). The police presence was for show: as mentioned earlier, it is hard to imagine Chinese people, during Reform and Opening, choosing Kim Jong-il’s DPRK as a life-style option.

The dinner was held in a vast, dark reception hall, with just four of us, hosts and guests – a scene right out of The Adams Family’, as my Political Counsellor termed it. As always with the North Korean dinners – there were few exceptions – we were fed in equal measures with propaganda and food of equal quality. Under these circumstances – likely recorded – there was nothing to learn of value from our hosts, however pleasant they can be, on real world issues. Our lines were about the world as we see it, and our hopes for useful and productive relations with the DPRK, not neglecting to remind them that Canada was delivering substantial food aid. Unlike these social occasions with other dinners among Ambassadors, where there is as a matter of course and tradition exchanges of opinions and insights on events in China that could be put to good use, meetings with DPRK officials offered little…unless they had specific asks of their hosts or guests, and substantive discussions could take place. That was not, however, on tonight’s menu. It was an exercise in remaining open for exchanges in the future. 

Monday, February 4  

I had lunch with my predecessor, Howard Balloch, who had remained in China to establish a commercial enterprise which became quite successful. Howard wrote a book, Seminomadic Anecdotes, about his experiences as a public servant and a diplomat.

Exchange with Dr. Michael Stevenson, President and Chancellor of Simon Fraser University, who had updated developments since an earlier letter from me (01-1108) providing information relevant to SFU’s China aspirations.

Hosted a dinner and musical concert at the Residence for a wide variety of senior Chinese contacts, e.g. MOFTEC Vice Minister Long Yongtu and his spouse, President of COFCO Liu Fuchun and spouse, former ambassadors to Canada, and so forth.

When appropriate and according to the ranking of the guests – with focus on senior Chinese officials – I included a musical interlude with Chinese musicians, which was appreciated and humanized relations that were formally ‘official’. The list of guests is in the archive.

Tuesday, February 5

BT&I

Covering letter to MOFTEC, with a copy of a letter from Minister of International Trade, Pierre Pettigrew, complaining of the delays in extending to Sun Life-Everbright operating approvals, despite the fact that Vice Minister Long Yongtu had promised that such granting would be provided ‘shortly’. A copy of the letter also went to MOFA Vice-Minister Li Zhaoxing.

Sun Life Everbright did obtain its licence eventually, but I am not sure of the time lines.

Letter to David Della-Boudreau, who works at the Qinshan CANDU Project, inquiring about employment opportunities at the Canadian Embassy or consulates for his daughter, during the summer months.

Undated letter to the readers of the Beijing Today newspaper, wishing everyone the best of the New Year of the Horse.

Letter from CEO Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe Mines, regarding the Oyu Tolgoi mining project, reporting on progress. He also cites the development objectives of Mongolian authorities.

Wednesday, February 6

Education

Thank you note to Dr, Katy Bindon, President, Okanagan University College, who commented on the growing importance of education in the Cda/China relationship, and the work of Kevin Tompson at the Embassy.

Senior diplomats often receive notes of thanks from people in business, educators, arts directors, for example, for the work performed on their behalf by Mission staff. But perhaps not as often as would be merited.

ChinaGov

Letter of thanks to Vice Minister Zhang Chunxian of the Ministry of Communications. He accompanied me on a visit to Zhouzhouqiao – famous for the Anji Bridge, ‘the world’s oldest open-spandrel segmental arch bridge of stone construction’ – as Wiki describes it, and Shijiazhuang, where Norman Bethune worked and which is memorialized by a statue of Bethune.

CdaPs&Ms Education

Letter to the Honorable Sandra Kelly, Education Minister, Newfoundland and Labrador, reiterating our commitment to solving the student visa issue, and providing a copy of a letter to the President of Tianjin Foreign Studies University, restating the Canadian commitment to advancing Canada/China academic relations and the pursuit of studies by Chinese students in Canada.

Again, the issue arose because of the documentary shortcomings of the student applicants. My letter would not offer much consolation to Canadian institutions of higher education who were making serious and concerted efforts not only to recruit students but to establish long-term ties with Chinese universities to promote exchanges not only of students but faculty. The visa processing challenges were not intentional barriers to achieving these objectives, but I am sure that many Canadian institutions did not see it that way. 

Thursday, February 7

Arts&Culture

Letter to Zhang Shesheng of China Central Television, proposing the production of a film on ‘A Day in the Life of the Canadian Embassy’.

There was no follow-up on this idea, which I favoured, to show the work of an Embassy and how it connected to home government objectives and the continuing effort to develop and expand Canada/China relations. In Tokyo in the 1980s, under Ambassador Barry Steers, I conducted, on one or two occasions, such ‘openings’ to the staffs of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, so that our MFA colleagues could see where and how we worked. I should have pursued the idea more actively in China, recognizing the limits regarding what we could, and could not, show. I expected that there would be opposing views, but that these could be managed. Still, I didn’t move it forward and regret it. 

Education

Letter from Brock University Associate Vice-President, International Cooperation regarding the student visa issue, and proposing to play a role in initiating, with other interested Canadian institutions of higher learning, a statement of principles and practices to be used as a guide when dealing with international recruitment involving agents. Should there be interest among these institutions, Brock would organize a work-shop to discuss the proposal in greater detail. The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada would be invited to participate in the initiative.

My view was that this initiative would at a minimum increase understanding of the dimensions of the recruitment and visa processing challenges – and would not specifically target Chinese students and institutions – so it was welcomed, but it was up to the Association to pursue the initiative…and it was not, to my knowledge, pursued during my assignment in China. 

Friday, February 8

Exchange with Prof Yan Ming, School of International Studies, Beijing University, providing an article she has written entitled ‘Nurture the Elite Opinion of International Studies in China’.

Thursday, February 7 – 28 Travel to Canada

Cda/Outreach

On February 7, 2002, I left Beijing for a speaking tour of Canada, the first of two significant tours that year. Throughout all three of my postings as Ambassador, I considered that only one part of my job was at our Embassies. As mentioned earlier, it was – and remains – important to convey what we learn as Heads of Mission about our host countries, and explain their relevance to Canada and Canadians, and that to as many audiences as possible. I felt that my role as a public servant included interaction with the Canadian publics, on their ground and in the context of their interests.

This meant coast to coast speaking engagements at many venues, beyond Ottawa: Chambers of Commerce, individual businesses and their Associations, law firms, universities, provincial and municipal governments, museums and performing arts institutions and so forth. Interest in China was such that audiences were not difficult to draw. I would inform visiting Canadians of my travel plans for the spring and fall and say that I would be pleased to meet them and their professional colleagues to deliver a speech and exchange views. Colleagues in Ottawa would also help spread the word of forthcoming visits.

I always wrote my own speeches, as I was conveying my own views. Of course, these views were shaped as much by Canadian policy as the insights and experiences of my colleagues and me at the Embassy and Consulates. As a rule, I would prepare an economic speech text, a political/social text, and fold in an advice and recommendations text, from which I would draw to meet the variety of audience expectations and interests. I depended on my staff to ensure that the texts I drafted were factually correct. My task was to explain what was happening in China in ways that were meaningful and relevant to Canadians. This I articulated in a sort of ‘my message to Canadians’ texts which encouraged them to consider how developments in China could be of benefit to them, on the one hand, and how these developments could in fact pose a challenge. Not everyone nor every institution would be impacted by China’s growing role in the world, but every institution did have to draw its own conclusions as to the effects of this growth. My simple tag line was: everyone needs a China strategy, if only to conclude that they don’t need one.

The other important point to make as well is that public speechifying is an opportunity to draw on the information one has gathered from the public domain of course but also what one learns in meetings and discussions which are ‘classified’ because the sources and circumstances should be protected. That’s what gets reported, considered and filed away in the DFAIT and ultimately Archives Canada. The ‘classified’ information one gathers however, stripped for example of identifying the sources, becomes part of the learning process and provides the information, impressions and advice that the general public is anxious to hear from its diplomats.

Accordingly, attached are my speaking notes for the February 2002 presentations, providing substantive information and my advice, based on the economic and governance transformation that I observed and which I considered relevant to the federal and provincial governments I met, the business community, the media and academia so as to help determine the relevance of the day’s China to them: China’s ongoing transformation, the impact of joining the WTO, its impact on Canadian interests, Chinese successes and failure, and the need for offensive and defensive strategies in the pursuit of ones’ interests.  

…and with these notes in order, I proceeded with a busy schedule, as per the following…

Tour highlights:

Vancouver

Friday, February 8

• Meeting with Premier Gordon Campbell;
• attend APEC Business Advisory Council;

Ottawa

Monday, February 11 – Tuesday, February 12

CdaGov

• Meeting of Asia-Pacific Heads of Mission.

These periodic gatherings provided a venue to discuss A-P regional and country specific management issues with Minister Pierre Petitgrew and Senior Departmental Officials at the Deputy Minister and ADM levels. An important Guest Speaker this year was Kishore Mahbubani, Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations and non-resident High Commissioner to Canada.

Kishore, who Asia Hands have known well over the decades thanks to his books and op-eds in numerous publications, always had and continues to have informed views on both the big picture in Asia, as well as on-the-ground developments. His thoughts are also of value as not everyone agrees with him, depending on the issues. Among the books that I have most enjoyed, I would include ‘Can Asians Think?’ (1998) and ‘Has China Won’ (2021).  

Here are a few thoughts that he conveyed in his presentation:

• epicenter of 21^st century will be mid-Pacific, with the US and China East and the other West…when Hawaii is in the middle;
• 9/11 ripples are far and wide;
• conflict of views between West and Islam will also be a fault line;
• Southeast Asia (SEA) is in the middle of both of these;
• China has proposed an FTA with SEA; Singaporeans is taking it seriously;
• US return to Philippines a significant step; the strategic role of US/Spore FTA demands attention;
• ‘plastic’ moment in world history when anything can happen, positive and negative;
• China is the most pragmatic actor on the world stage: can change position on a dime when it suits;
• ASEAN thinks: China will be biggest guy on the block, outpacing the US; ASEAN governments have to build solid and constructive ties with China, no choice; in cultural terms, recognize Chinese superiority;
• if China works constructively with ASEAN countries, others – US, Europe, Japan – will have to follow.

Wednesday, February 13

• Meeting with Mongolian Ambassador Galsan Batsukh
• Meeting with DND Minister Art Eggleton
• Meeting with Dr. Shirley Thompson, President, Canada Council of the Arts

Thursday, February 14

• Speech at the University of Ottawa (my alma mater) for the Distinguished Lecturer Series.
• Lunch with Senate Speaker Dan Hays.
• Meeting with House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken.

Toronto

Friday, February 15

• meeting with President and senior staff of Ran International.
• Keynote Address and Round Table Discussion hosted by Export Development Corporation, Toronto.
• Technology Action Program/TAP Luncheon speech at Metro Toronto Convention Center, followed by Round Table Discussion.
• Meeting with University of Toronto President Robert Joseph Birgeneau, followed by Roundtable on China: speech followed by open discussion: Impressions of China.

Monday, February 18

Meetings:

• Bill Boyle, CEO, Harbourfront Center.
• Tony Comper, CEO, Bank of Montreal.
• AMR Technologies President Peter Gundy.
• Toronto International Film Festival Group CEO Pierce Handling.

Tuesday, February 19

Meetings

• Art Gallery of Ontario Director Matthew Teitelbaum.
• Sun Life Chairman Don Stewart.
• Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman re Toronto-Chongqing twinning.
• William Saunderson, Chairman, Ontario Export Inc.
• Interview with Canadian Business Magazine.
• Reception and dinner hosted by Manulife CEO Dominic D’Allesdandro, attended by 11 CEOs of Canada’s largest financial, legal, industrial, resource and technology companies.

Wednesday, February 20  Montréal

• Déjeuner avec le Département d’Étude Est-Asiatique, Université McGill.
• Discours et table ronde avec académiques de l’Université.
• Meeting with McGill Principal Bernard J. Shapiro.
• Rencontre avec Françine Senécal, V-P, Comité Exécutif, Ville de Montréal.

Thursday, February 21

• Breakfast round-table with the Hong Kong Canada Business Association.
• Interview: Magazine Entreprendre.
• Rencontre, Collège Ahuntsic DG Roch Tremblay.
• EDC Round Table.
• TAP luncheon speech, Centre Sheraton, with 150 in attendance.
• Rencontre, Vice-Recteur Robert Lacroix, Université de Montréal, suivi de rencontre avec des étudiants.
• Dîner-causerie ‘Montréal Business Leaders’, organizé par Davies, Ward, Phillips and Vineberg.

Friday, February 22

• Breakfast with Robert Greenhill, President, Bombardier International.
• Meeting with Robert Milton, CEO, Air Canada.
• Meeting with CAE Executive VP Nick Leontidis and Don Campbell, VP, Military simulation and training.
• Table Ronde organisée par le Ministère d’Industrie et commerce, Province de Québec.
• Rencontre avec Louise Beaudoin, Ministre des Relations internationales.
• Lettre de remerciement du Brigadier-Général Marc Caron, suivant la visite de la Délégation du Secteur du Québec de la Force Terrestre, pour l’appui de l’Ambassade durant leur visite en Chine.

Saturday, February 23 To Vancouver

Monday, February 25

• Round Table hosted by Simon Fraser University with academics, including former Ambassador Earl Drake, then at the David Lam Centre for International Communications.
• Round Table hosted by EDC, with 18 local business leaders
• Luncheon and keynote address hosted by TAP Vancouver, 200 in attendance.
• Meeting with UBC President Martha Piper.
• Round Table discussion with UBC scholars.
• Dinner with Japanese Consul General Ozawa Toshio.  

Tuesday, February 26

• Asia Pacific Foundation hosted breakfast meeting the Asia Pacific Business Network of Vancouver, assembly of BC based senior business people.
• Telephone meeting with Honorable Judd Buchanan, Canadian Tourism Commission.
• meeting and luncheon with the Vancouver Port Authority.
• meeting with SNC Lavalin Transportation Division.

Wednesday, February 27

Return to Beijing.