Monday, July 8

Letter from RCMP International Liaison Department requesting performance evaluation of Liaison Officer, Inspector Colin Walker.

(No schedule or notes until July 15)

Monday, July 15

  • various meetings with Staff.

CdaIm&Vi ChinaGov

Hosted a reception at the OR for a 30 member Ministry of Public Security Executive Study Delegation leaving for Canada on July 20.

Few examples illustrate better the balance between Canada’s policy of open dialogue with China, Chinese exploration of its future policy options and Canadian aspirations for a more – lacking a better word, say, ‘liberal’ – China and its ties with Canada than the evolving relations with the Ministry of Public Security – responsible as well for ‘political security’ – a difficult marrying of Canadian and Chinese national objectives as viewed over 20 years later.

The Chinese Delegation was headed by Vice Minister Zhu Entao, and included 4 Directors General, 12 DDGs, numerous Section Chiefs and so forth, many from outside Beijing: Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Hubei, Guangdong, Hainan, Qinghai and Xinjiang…and only one interpreter! (One can draw conclusions about delegation control just from this fact.) Zhu was a former Director General of the International Department, which made him an interlocutor with many foreign security officials, including Interpol. In that role and given his C.V., in 1988, he was barred from entering the US, as he was a suspected spy! (Who would be surprised by that!)

 It will be more than interesting, eventually, to read the Ottawa reports on Zhu and his Delegation’s visit. No doubt, lots of questions from the Chinese side, and little enlightenment among the Canadian as to what these Chinese officials were taking away from visit. More importantly, what recommendations, if any, flowed upward when the Delegation returned, and pondered what they had learned.  

Tuesday, July 16

CCP

Meeting with Zheng Bijian, President, China Reform Forum.

The CRF, under the Chinese Communist Party, is the Central Party School’s think tank. At the time, it was considered to be associated most closely with the ‘liberal’ wing of the CCP. Until 2001, the CRF did not maintain contacts with foreign diplomats: that was the purview of the CCP. It’s areas of research ranged from geopolitics, bilateral relations, trends in the Chinese economy and, it is said, strategic thinking on CCP development. They had written papers on the collapse of the USSR, as well as the fall of single political party states such as Golkar in Indonesia, the KMT in Taiwan and the PRI in Mexico.

The CRF had established relations with 20 or so think tanks around the world, but none with Canada.

President Zheng was well connected: personal secretary to Party head Hu Yaobang and, earlier, Zhao Ziyang, and he survived the purging of both.

Typically, my notes of our discussion are sketchy, but they indicate that Zheng and DG Lin Rong expressed an interest in working with Canadian counterparts on issues such as ‘equity, social security, government administration and e-government’. We also discussed the possibility of a Party School study tour to Canada in the fall.

Wednesday, July 17

  • Exchange with President and CEO of Canadian Tire Corporation Wayne Sales regarding the promising business opportunities identified in China, and his appreciation of Embassy support.

ConIm&Vi

  • Exchange with Peter Wang, VP, Canada-Yunnan United Service Association, New Westminster, regarding the establishment of a sister-city relationship with Lijiang, Yunnan, and the anticipated visit of a five-member delegation from the Yunnan Provincial Transportation Department to New Wes.

I flagged this heads’up to the Immigration Section, which will have to evaluate the visa applications of new Sister City agreements, recognizing New Westminsters’ interests, and assessing the standard risks.

  • Exchange with UK Ambassador Christopher Hum regarding the upcoming visit of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and inviting me to attend a speech entitled ‘Toward a Secure Global Order’ to be delivered at Qinghua University.  

The speech was delivered during my July leave, however it was attended by a member of the Political Section.

  • Échange avec M. Alain Guilbert, VP Communications, Société canadienne des postes à l’égard de sa récente visite et le profit dont il en a tiré, des côtés professionnel et personnel.
  • Exchange with Ms. Susan Kendall, Associate Head of School, Director of Admission, Fulford Academy, Brockville, introducing the School to the Embassy, and seeking assistance in promoting the school in China. I passed on the letter to the Embassy’s Commercial Section and recommended that she also contact the Canadian Education Center Network.
  • Meeting with Sun Life President, Jim Prieur, re SL’s strategic objectives in China, and relations with the insurance regulatory commission.

Eight years later, I would join the Manulife Financial Corporation’s Board of Directors which then included Jim as a member.

BT&I

Friday, July 19

  • Exchange with President Kathleen Taylor, Worldwide Business Operations, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, witch at that point ran hotels in Beijing and Shanghai, with plans for additional projects. I introduced her and her staff to members of the Commercial Section of the Embassy.
  • Échange avec M. Jean-Jacques Elbisser, au sujet de la participation canadienne à la Fête de la Francophonie, auquel l’Ambassade avait fait partie.
  • Exchange with Ron Mannix on Canada/China business links.
  • Exchange with Terence Hui, President and CEO, Concord Pacific Group Inc, regarding CPG’s exploration of business opportunities in China. He added special thanks for the support of Consul General Stewart Beck and his staff during a recent visit.
  • Exchange with Senator Jack Austin regarding the May visit to China of Canadian members of the Canada-China Legislative Association. Included is a copy of a letter of thanks to Co-Chairman Jiang XinXiong, National People’s Congress, on the recent visit.

DPRK

I was briefed by a contact on current conditions in the DPRK: country receiving financial aid from Libya ($100mm rumored), Syria and Kuwait. There appears to be some movement on domestic economic policy, but food situation still very problematic, with scheduled international aid coming to term in August/September, but PRC is expected to cover the shortfall. There appeared to be changes in governing mechanisms, with some devolution of central government responsibilities to cities and provinces.

Kim Jong-Un, then 21, was deemed father Kim Jong-il’s successor (as indeed happened in 2011, to the surprise of nobody). 

Monday, July 22

  • Échange avec l’ancien Maire de Montréal, Pierre Bourque, maintenant ‘Chef de l’opposition’, à l’égard d’une visite prochaine en Chine, à l’invitation des maires de Pékin et Shanghai.

Meeting with Raytheon VP Grant Rustoni, and subsequent contract signing ceremony at Capital Club.

Evening concert performance by Canadian pianist Robert Koenig.

Tuesday, July 23

Meeting with President Nicholas Sonntag, CH2 MHill Canada.

BT&I

The 2008 Beijing Olympics planning was receiving, not surprisingly, considerable attention from the national as well as municipal governments and the international business community, given the potential for profit and publicity. CH2MHill was just one of many Canadian firms exploring the business potential. The Chinese government was said still uncertain about the roles they planned to accord to foreign firms, not only with regard to the Olympic facilities, but also necessary commercial and residential needs, for the events and beyond. Environmental considerations were also coming to the fore. Bid documents would be made public in August, but already, an Olympic Site Design Exhibition was in place. No one doubted that the PRC would, like all hosts, plan and deliver a spectacular event.

Wednesday, July 24

Hong Kong  HK

  • Letter to Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam, of the Government of Hong Kong, congratulating him for his recent appointment and promotion. I sent a similar letter to Regina Ip, just appointed as the new Secretary of Security.

As mentioned earlier, during my work as Assistant Deputy Minister for Asia and Africa at DFAIT, from 1998 to 2001, I exchanged extensively with Foreign Ministry officials from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Hong Kong on the implications for the 1997 handover on our citizens. We were broadly reassured that there would be no immediate legal or administrative complications, which turned out to be largely correct during the early years of the transition. What was less predictable was the reactions and responses of the HongKongers themselves, an outcome that is still playing itself out as I write this in 2025, in light of very changed circumstances, to say the least. In the event, Stephen and Regina also took seemingly diametrically different positions, she becoming Secretary for Security and later elected politician, and Stephen Secretary for Constitutional Affairs. Both would face criticism by proponents of greater democracy in HK. 

Meeting with British Ambassador Christopher Hum.

Thursday, July 25

BT&I

Exchange with Deputy Chairman Bill Downe, Bank of Montreal on the expansion of BofM activities in China, including the recent opening of an office in Shanghai and efforts to establishing a JV with a Chinese partner, once the regulations allow such businesses.

I responded with the information that regulations that allow for foreign investment in the mutual funds business in China had now come into effect, and that we kept in close contact with the China Securities Regulatory Commission in order to be reassured that licenses will be awarded in a transparent and timely manner.

Meeting with Forintek regarding China’s new wood frame housing building code.

Luncheon meeting with US Ambassador Sandy Randt and Mrs. Randt.

Friday, July 26

CCP

Letter to Zhang Bijian, President of the China Reform Forum within the Central Committee Party School, following up on our meeting on the 16th. I indicated that I was reading ‘A Concise History of the Communist Party’ and in parallel, ‘History of the Chinese Communist Party: A Chronology of Events’, which brought me up to 1990. I requested more recent materials available in English.

CPP

Any ambassador, indeed, any diplomat of substance should be immersed in the history of her/his country of assignment, and not only by foreign historians. Little political or indeed even economic reporting is worth its salt if it doesn’t take into account the perspectives and opinions of the country’s leaders and nationals, even those churned in the policy setting mechanisms of something like the CCP. Furthermore, in a country of strictly controlled information such as China, establishing personal relations with ones’ interlocutors helps distinguish the official lines from what lies behind them. But you have to know something of the official lines and their history. It is a sine qua non for effective interaction. That said, I wish that I had known more of the history of the Party and the evolution of its ideology. Fortunately, the China Reform Forum was accessed not only by me, but also staff of the Political Section which included experienced ‘China Hands’ with the speaking and reading skills that I envied.  

Letter to the Minister of the State Forestry Administration, Zhou Shengxian, inviting him to a forthcoming flight demonstration of the Bombardier CL- 415, widely used for aerial fire-fighting.

Media

Meeting with Hu Shuli, Editor-in-Chief, Caijing Magazine.

Media

Founded four years earlier by Hu Shuli, Caijing was already well established as a must-read source on the Chinese economy and economic policy issues. This was an era when the limits and direction of ‘reform and opening’ were uncertain, and Caijing was seen as an indicator of what was allowed in public discourse and what was not. Caijing’s editorial priorities were not limited to China’s economic policies and performance, but addressed, however cautiously, their social implications.

Editor-in-Chief Hu was already a formidable figure in Chinese media when I met her, and would remain so for the next two decades. She outlined her editorial policies as being ‘radical on reform’ but very concerned about the social impact, especially on the farming community and low-income earners. Caijing considered that reform could lead to ‘a good market economy’ but also ‘a bad market economy’, with attendant corruption, unfair income distribution and ultimately unstable capital markets. She flagged the challenges of adapting Chinese trade policy to conform with WTO rules and attendant conformity time-tables. Her greatest worry, she told me, was the development of the Chinese legal system, especially as it addresses the business sector, the transparency in enforcement of the laws and considerations of social welfare.

She said that ‘Canada is important for China’, with regard to education, tourism, environmental rules and practices, and of course the overall trade relationship. 

Monday, July 29

Meeting with Bombardier Amphibious Aircraft Division.

Tuesday, July 30

ChinaDom

Meeting with the legendary Huang Hua (89) and spouse, He Liliang, at his home at No. 20, Dongsi Shiytiao.

What I would give for access to the notes from this conversation, prepared by one of my colleagues – probably Jennifer May – and, even now, buried in the DFAIT/GAC archives, possibly for decades hence. All I can recall is their warm welcome and the opportunity to hear comments on their life experiences, including during the Cultural Revolution, when Huang was one of the few diplomats who was kept largely above the fray by Zhou Enlai.

Wednesday, July 31

Attended Banquet at the Great Hall of the People, on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Peoples’ Liberation Army.

Ambs

An Ambassador cannot not go to such events. Quite apart from ‘politesse’ are the conversations with your table-mates, which are always instructive.