Friday, March 1

Media

Lunch with Goeff York and Miro Cernetig, his successor at the Globe and Mail.

Letter from Director, Trade Development, Port Vancouver, thanking me and the Embassy for our ongoing support, including a recent visit.

Monday, March 4

Having just returned from Canada, meetings throughout the day with senior program managers.

Themes included outreach activities, a cost of living survey, 2001 accounting reports, travel plans from March to May, hiring of interns and so forth.

BT&I

An important discussion dealt with the trade program in Hong Kong. Business was booming, with anticipated annual increase in trade flows of 20%. The overall trade promotion program would need to do more to ride the upward wave. At the top was Capacity Building – bureaucratese for increasing the number of Trade Commissioners and their Sector support staffs – as essential to promotion activities. This meant not only targeting increased Canadian exports to China but also investment, technology – both software and hardware, marketing of education, venture capital flows, tourism and so forth. This of course takes time, but expansion programs of services to business and their geographic scope were eventually put into motion by both the Martin and Harper governments. The bottom line in program terms was enhanced presence and visibility within China. That was the story of the first and second decades of the new century. The third decade would tell a different story. 

ChinaGov  Agric

Letter to Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin, seeking a transition period in the implementation of new regulations on Genetically Modified Crops (GMO）as they would apply to Canadian canola exports to China. The new rules would come into effect on May 23.

This was a 1.9mm ton / $560mm business in 2001, and its disruption would have an immense impact on canola farmers in Canada. The attached Aide-Memoire in the AtC files provides details on the technical aspects of the new regulations. A transition period of one year is proposed, so that the industry can adapt to the changed circumstances. China was still learning the ropes regarding the on-the-ground implications of assuming and implementing the new WTO framework. A ministry, such as Agriculture, would need its own time to understand and adapt to the real-world WTO implications. And the Minister could not ignore the impact that new rules would have on domestic interests: importers, distributors and consumers. 

  • Exchange with Senator and Speaker of the Senate, Dan Hays, re forthcoming Canadian visitors to China.

Tuesday, March 5

ChinaGov

  • attended opening session of the National People’s Congress.

…highlighted, if that’s the right word, by the presence and silent participation of a limited number of China’s 50+ ethnic minorities, in full national costume and regalia, to convey China’s diversity. Cameo appearances on all counts.

  • Exchange with Dr. Dorothy Solinger, UC Irvine on impacts of China’s WTO membership on domestic employment and unemployment. China said in Geneva that the WTO would lead to unemployment of 20mm farming jobs.

Wednesday, March 6

Media

  • interviewed by correspondent of the overseas edition of the People’s Daily.
  • meeting with Centennial College President Richard Johnston. 
  • dinner with the Australian Ambassador, David Irvine.

Thursday, March 7

  • Meeting with Chris Johnstone, our Man in Mongolia as Honorary Consul and development program manager. He updated me on new mining projects by Canadian firms in Mongolia.
  • CIDA Country Programming Framework meeting.
  • Courtesy visit by the Mexican Ambassador.
  • Meeting with Sun Zhenyu, the new Chinese Ambassador to the WTO.

Letter to Xu Jing, General Secretary of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Exchange with Senator Dan Hays, on the forthcoming visit of lawyers from his firm, to discuss with the Chinese authorities forthcoming legislation on the downstream gas transmission and distribution.

Letter to OECD Secretary General Donald J. Johnson, seeking an opportunity to meet during his participation at the China Development Forum, 2002.

Friday, March 8

Arts&Culture

  • Attended the International Society of the Performing Arts, as the opening for the annual China Performing Arts Fair.

Quite the show, literally: the Fair hosts an incredible variety of China’s traditional performing arts – opera (of which there were 1,400 troupes around China), along with puppetry, acrobatics, dance, instrumental music both Chinese and beyond, Xiangsheng comedy, theatre and so forth. I became interested in Chinese opera and occasionally attended Saturday afternoon performances, becoming somewhat of a regular at a small theater located south of Tiananmen Square and, as mentioned earlier, thus became friends with the unforgettable Ghaffar Pourazar, a British Azarbaijani Iranian who was gobsmacked by a Chinese opera performance in London a decade earlier, moved to Beijing to study in an opera school that welcomed a small number of foreigners, and became an established actor in the role of the Monkey King. Ghaffar managed the theater and, on a couple of occasions, allowed me to sit on a corner of the stage next to the musicians so I could better understand and appreciate their performance. China’s future was upon us, however: some of the musicians would kill the time between their parts in the music by spending it on an early Chinese version of a cellphone. 

  • lettre au Président, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, qui explore les possibilités de financement dans le contexte des Olympiques 2008.
  • Dinner hosted by Liaoning Secretary of the CCP, whom I had met in Shenyang, at the time when I was APEC Senior Official.

Monday, March 11

BT&I

  • meeting with Ronald MacDonald, President of the Council of Forest Industries of BC.

 COFI was conducting an ambitious BC lumber promotion program in China at this time, with funding from both the Federal and Provincial governments, Premier Dhaliwal strongly supporting. National Resources Canada also contributed.

Education

  • meeting with University of Alberta President Roderick Fraser and a small delegation.

The objective was recruitment of graduate students. UofA already hosted over 400 Chinese grads and was seeking to double that number, aiming for a total complement of 20% among the graduate cohort. UofA was hosting $286mm in research grants, thanks to the strong engagement with the business community.

Arts&Culture

  • meeting with Adrian Hobbs, agent for Diana Krall, re lining up a performance program in China.

Ms. Krall performed in China 2 years later, as part of her ‘The Girl in the Other Room’ tour, which brought her to Beijing and Shanghai.   

  • courtesy call by Li Yonglin, Mayor of Dalian City and Wang Yanhui, Liaoning Foreign Economics Commission.
  • dinner meeting with Dessau-Soprin, the engineering firm, to discuss their marketing plans in China.  

Tuesday, March 12

  • meeting with newly appointed Executive Director of the Canada China Business Council, Scott Fraser.
  • meeting with Mark Corey, ADM, International Development , Agriculture Canada, followed by meeting with MoFTEC VM Long Yongtu.

BC&I Agric

The key issue for AgCda and Mark Corey was understanding the impact on China and on Canada of the PRC’s entry into the WTO, now that it was a fait accompli. It was also to explore further how Canada could contribute to training Chinese officials on WTO’s complex of product rules and standards, and if possible contribute to ‘capacity training’ of Chinese officials. The closer China’s practices are to ours, the greater Canada could benefit from China’s entry. One important area was, then as now, GMO rules, viz Genetically Modified Organisms, where harmony among inspection and certification systems can vary greatly, and impact exports and imports.

I hosted a dinner that evening for potential sponsors of Diana Krall’s future tour(s).

Wednesday, March 13

Meeting between AgCda ADM Corey and Chinese Ministry of Agriculture.

Meeting with Senior Embassy Managers on the Audit and Inspection report.

Meeting with Graham Perkins, Air Canada, Manager Greater China region.

Meeting re Immigration Canada FS Officer training.

Speech at University of Alberta alumni reception.

BC&I

Attended dinner hosted by AgCda ADM Corey for participants in day’s workshop on agricultural standards, and senior officials, including Vice Minister Zhang Baowen, Ministry of Agriculture, MoFTEC WTO Affairs and Trade and Economic Affairs Directors, Officials from AQSIQ, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the Ministry of Public Health DG for Health Legislation and Supervision.

Thursday, March 14

LCX

Meeting with RCMP Commander Giuliano Zaccardelli and delegation.

The most important issue between Canada and China on police and judicial matters at this time, as always, was the case of Lai Changxing. It would take another 9 years to return him to China. On a somewhat lighter note, there was also a discussion about the idea of bringing the RCMP Musical Ride to China.

Meeting with the Vice-Minister of Education, Zhao Qinping.

Meeting with the Minister of Public Security Jia Chunwang, accompanying the RCMP delegation.

GovChina LCX

Jia Chunwang had been earlier and would continue subsequently to be one of the most important players on state security matters. A member of the Party Central Committee from 1987 to 2007, his ‘background’ went from collaboration with the CIA in training Afghan guerrillas to fight the Soviets, to a leading role in the Tienanmen, 1989.

When dealing with other governments, you have to play the cards you are given.

Hosted a reception at the Official Residence for the Canadian Rugby Team.

Attended dinner hosted by MPS Vice-Minister Zhao Yongji for the RCMP delegation.

Arts&Culture

Échange avec Marise Labreque de l’Association National des Éditeurs de Livres, annonçant sa visite à Pékin pour participer à la Foire International du Livre en mai.

Je me souviens bien de cette Foire et la participation non seulement de Mme Labrecque, mais aussi des représentants du monde du livre et francophone et anglophone. C’est événement, à lui seul, offre un exemple de l’ouverture qu’expérimentait le Parti Communiste et son gouvernement durant cette époque, ce qui animait nos espoirs de voir évoluer la Chine vers certaines des normes de droit, de démocratie et d’ouverture. Pas tous nos espoirs furent réalisés.

Friday, March 15

  • RCMP delegation meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • Meeting with Minister of Justice, Zhang Fushen

LCX

My notes indicated that China proposed the negotiation of a bilateral Extradition Treaty. Minister Zhang also extended an invitation to visit China to Justice Minister Martin Cauchon.

  • meeting with Dr. Dennis Law, Managing Director, Four Brothers Entertainment Company.
  • hosted dinner for the RCMP delegation. Guests included 7 officials from the Ministry of Public Security, headed by Vice Minister Zhao Yongji, 2 from the Ministry of Justice’s Department of American and Oceanic Affairs, and 5 Embassy staff.

Exchange of letters with Dr. Michael J. Kelly, Dean, Faculty of Administration, University of Ottawa, thanking me for my presentation to the UofO’s Alumni Breakfast Speaker series.

Letter to Sheri Xiaoyi Liao, President, Global Village of Beijing, on follow-up to their proposal for partial funding of a planned ‘First Forum on Sustainable Consumption in China’. This would involve not only Government of China representation, but also that of small and emerging Chinese NGOs, which would stretch the framework of government/civil society cooperation. Unfortunately, it was not to last.

Exchange with Margaret Cornish re links to Lu Congmin, Deputy Secretary General of the Standing Committee of the NPC.

Margaret was (and remains) an outstanding person among Canadian China Hands.

Monday, March 18

  • briefing on the opening of the National People’s Congress.

GovChina

 Notable focus on the stimulative budgets being proposed, more formalized transfers of powers to provinces, WTO implications. At the same time, the Political Section staff who attended also pointed out that entry to the NPC session by diplomats was increasingly constrained.

MAM CdaFP

Among other issues, we touched on an imminent Canadian foreign policy review, being directed by PMO. It was to be very broad, including relations with the USA, the UN, EU, the Islamic world, and the Asia-Pacific. Our view was that an A-P review should include immigration objectives and strategies, and Central Asia in order to strengthen bilateral relations where they were thought to be weakest. A presentation to Cabinet was scheduled for April 30. The presentation deck was to be provided to Missions in the region for their input and views.

CdnIm&V

  • meeting with Daniel Jean, DG International, Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Daniel advised that C&IC would be proposing new legislation which would impact on Canada’s relationship with China, given the expectation of increased intake in the future. There is desire at the political level to broaden diversity by expanding the number of economic migrants, perhaps targeting an annual global flow equivalent to 1% of Canada’s population. There was also reference to migrants in high technology sectors, and those from the ‘new middleclass’ emerging in China. The increasing number of Chinese students choosing Canada for their higher education would also have an impact, given the number who may choose to remain in Canada. Tourism would also be a factor, should Canada receive Approved Destination Status. ‘Open the door and they will come’ was how it was addressed. These considerations would impact on the overall Canada/China relationship and would necessitate an ongoing review of our China Strategy. Consideration would eventually have to be given to expanding immigration services in Quanzhou and Shanghai, although not in the near term.

Admin

  • meeting with Dr. Michel Lapointe, Director, Overseas Medical Service, Health Canada.

Consideration was being given to increasing the medical staff by an additional CBS and one LES. The Embassy already had a wonderful Canadian nurse on staff, originally from Ethiopia, whose husband was the Director of the World Health Organization’s China Regional Office. And what is more, that office was down a side-street near the Embassy. This would prove to be immensely helpful when we faced the challenges of SARS outbreak.

  • meeting with Staff on Outreach activities.

Tuesday, March 19

  • Lunch with US Ambassador Sandy Randt.

Sandy – all ambassadors address each other by their first names – was certainly among the most accomplished of my diplomatic colleagues. Outwardly modest, his c.v. was most impressive: lawyer (Yale, U.of Michigan and Harvard Law), 1st Secretary at the US Embassy in Beijing in the early ‘80s, 18 years practicing law in Hong Kong, with specialization in business in the PRC, fluent in Chinese. And the clincher: Yale fraternity house friend – Delta Kappa Epsilon – with George W. Bush, who appointed him Ambassador to the PRC in the spring of 2001, arriving a couple of months ahead of me. He would remain Ambassador throughout the two Bush administrations. Always accessible, and always forthright.

Given that it was our first meeting, Sandy provided a thumbnail sketch of the policy framework defining the US/China relationship: the 1972 Shanghai Communique signed by Nixon and Zhou Enlai, followed by two others – on cross-recognition in 1979 and economic relations in 1982.

US policies also had to take into account President Zhang Zemin’s ‘Three No’s’ – no independence for Taiwan, no Taiwanese membership in international organizations, and no ‘Two China’s’. The Americans, while nominally respecting these constraints, still had in their back-pockets the Taiwan Relations Act which, among other important elements, assured the defence of Taiwan and the transfer of military means to protect itself. In the news out of Washington at this time, there were musings from the former US Ambassador to the UN – among many other foreign policy positions – Richard Holbrooke, that a new Communiqué was in order, to move the bilateral relationship forward. Sandy told me that there was some discussion of the idea in the Bush White House, but that the counter argument – that the Chinese would use it to limit American relations with Taiwan – was a non-starter, particularly for the Taiwanese, and not only for matters of defence, but also to maintain the dynamic of US/Taiwan economic relations, which were booming.

He listed some of the key – and shared – items on the US/China agenda: defence and security relations (front line military assets: ‘you cut, we cut’); religious and human rights; trade, the WTO and GMOs. For some reason that I cannot recall, my notes, written over the course of the conversation, indicate that Ambassador Randt also mentioned something about Hainan and US EP3 aircraft. It was well-known that the US, not recognizing the China’s claim to the application of ‘exclusive economic zone’ in the South China Sea, was conducting freedom of navigation flights over the area. Our discussion was taking place 12 days before the famous Hainan/EP3 episode occurred. An indication of the seriousness of the issue on the US/China agenda?

Wednesday, March 20  

MAM

  • another Mission Agenda Meeting, with emphasis on the Public Diplomacy Strategy.

  • luncheon with Netherlands Ambassador  Philip de Heer at a Japanese restaurant, because Philip was the quintessential China/Japan specialist. We presented our credentials in Beijing on the same October day. We would both serve as Ambassador to Japan during roughly the same period – 2005-2008 – having enjoyed earlier Japan postings in our respective careers. We and our spouses became good friends. But Philip was and is also a scholar, a graduate of Leiden University, if memory serves. Appointed as Diplomatic Adviser to Queen Beatrix. Fluent in both Japanese and Chinese. It is perhaps for this reason that I have no notes of our first luncheon! Philip and I had too much to talk about.
  • made a presentation to the Canada-China Business Council Annual General Meeting and election of Board of Directors.
  • Letter to MFA Vice Minister Li Zhaoxing, regarding the delay in obtaining the approval for Sun Life’s JV in Tianjin. It refers as well to the forthcoming visit of Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions, John McCallum.
  • Letter to MP Joe Volte regarding the forthcoming visit to Canada of Tian Jiyun, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples’ Congress (NPC), as the most senior Chinese official visiting Canada in the first half of 2002. Letter lists some of the key issues currently preoccupying the NPC. Also addresses the forthcoming 5th bilateral meeting of the Canada-China Legislative Association. I also argue for China strategies for Canadian business, academia, arts groups and so forth.
  • Letter to Robert Greenhill, CEO, Bombardier International, alerting him of the Tian Jiyun visit to Canada. Ditto to Bill Thorsell, CEO, Royal Ontario Museum.

Thursday, March 21

BT&I

Meeting with Maurice Strong and Nicholas Sonntag, CH2M Hill, environment/engineering firm.

At the time, CH2M Hill was a powerhouse Canadian engineering and environmental remediation company, with 13,000 employees worldwide, including 200 in Canada. It was also engaged in design, construction and operations of transportation infrastructure, as well as nuclear decommissioning. At this time, they were undertaking an aggressive expansion of business and engineering activities in the PRC, with an office in Beijing which Nic would manage beginning in June. In this, they would receive the assistance and support of the ever-influential Maurice Strong, who was already ensconced near the Embassy in the Fortune Gardens apartment complex.

List of fine art works in the Official Residence.

Lettre adressée à l’Honorable Stéphane Dion au sujet de la visite Tian Jiyun.

Sunday, March 24

  • attended the two-day China Development Forum, opened by Premier Wen Jiabao and attended by Don Jonston, the Canadian Sec-Gen of the OECD.

ChinaEc

The Premier spoke of China’s recent economic developments, flagging that PRC’s GDP was now 7th in the world, and that, over the last 9 years, it has been the world’s largest LDC recipient of foreign direct investment. China seeks to maintain a fair and equitable market system, he stated. Its continuing vitality depends on further opening. At the same time, the world needs China’s market, predicting that it would purchase $1.5 trillion in commodities over the next few years, along with myriad services. China will keep its promises to the WTO, he asserted, pointing to the fact that China’s average tariff rates had declined from 15.3% to 12%, as of 2002. China, he said in conclusion, is an ‘important power’.

Don Johnston, then Secretary-General of the OECD, but who had previously held three Canadian ministerial portfolios: S&T, Treasury Board and Ec&Regional Development – outlined to the audience the principal conclusions of the Organization’s study of the Chinese economy: given the transformation of the economy, the scope for further sectoral reform is narrowing; that said, the inter-relations among parts of the economy require more coherence, to provide better capital and resource allocations. China must work to restore the solvency of its companies, through market-based governance, and bring greater order to public finances.

Chen Qingtai, VP of the Forum, stated that WTO access would prove to be more significant in the transformation of the Chinese economy than 20 years of reform and opening. That said, reform of the taxation system, credit system and social security was also essential. On the negative side of the balance sheet however, he said that WTO admission is a double edged sword, as it will increase ‘contradictions’ in the economy…(by which I understood he meant social inequalities and corruption). 

Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley Dean Whitter opined that transparent fiscal policies are key to continuing to attract FDI. He expected that current US economic troubles would reduce consumption of Chinese consumer goods, made worse if the US sinks into a recession. Accordingly, Chinese economic policies must be tactical as well as strategic. As for China’s domestic economy, he feared that the combined impact of joining the WTO and State Owned Enterprise reform would include a loss of 10 million or more jobs. China must move from foreign to domestic growth engines, using fiscal policies as the instruments to achieve this.

A panel on ‘Agriculture and the Rural Economy’, chaired by Minister Du Qinglin, made the following points: in 2000, agriculture produced 15.9% of GDP, with household incomes about half of that of urban dwellers; as recently as 1996, the agricultural sector employed half of total national employment; there is surplus labour in rural areas in the order of 100mm Chinese, up from 80mm in recent years. This demographic has to move to construction and industry – (but nothing was said about the restrictions based on the constraining huko residential registration system) – Chinese agriculture must gradually move from pure production targets to focus on productivity and diversification; this is fine, but it is in the nature of agriculture that opportunities are for the long-term, but challenges vary from the immediate to the short term.

On the issue of GMO: the Chinese government supports GMO research, but before products are introduced, China needs to strengthen its ability to manage their introduction, given concerns about their impact on health.

All in all, an educational and topical set of presentations, and a good indication of the relative openness of information and debate on issues under Jiang ZM and Wen JB. (It wouldn’t last…) 

I attended post-session dinner hosted by Wang Mengkui, member of the State Council and Director of its Development Research Center.

Monday, March 25

  • attended opening ceremony of the Spruce-Pine-Fir Group Seminars on wood-frame construction.

Tuesday, March 26

  • meeting with RCMP Chief Superintendent Gerry Braun, in China for operational meetings with Chinese counterparts.
  • meeting with Yin Ronghua, a General Manager from the Diplomatic Services Bureau

ChinaMFA

Formally called the Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions, founded in 1962. An affiliate of the Foreign Ministry, it provided services – from staffing to construction – to the Embassies and consulates throughout China. During its early years, it kept a monopoly on many if not most services, and thus foreign governments had to rely on them for staffing and major construction projects, with the DSB setting the salary rates and material costs. (Ambassador Fred Bild, who presided the handover of our new embassy building in 1991, opined that its construction had cost 50% more than it should have.) Thus, the staffs in our Embassy, the consulates and the Ambassador’s Residence were primarily locally-hired Chinese, and significantly outnumbered the Canadians. We could choose our Locally Engaged Staff from among candidates presented by the DSB but, in the early days, could not otherwise go ‘on the market’. It was assumed throughout that our LES were required to report what they heard and saw in the course of their everyday employ back to the DSB and thus the Foreign Ministry. Managing information security was a challenge to all foreign missions based in China. That said, the DSB monopoly was beginning to loosen during my stay in Beijing: we along with the US, Germany, even UN institutions were increasingly raising with the MFA our dissatisfaction with the DSB, in light of the evolution of China’s labour markets. Thus, our Official Resident Chefs were sourced from DSB candidates, that is until we were able to employ non-DSB Canadian Chef, the incomparable Nolan Ledarney, who counted among Canada’s Chefs Olympics winners. Nolan will introduce himself in this narrative in October, following his arrival.

Meeting with the Canadian Massed Pipes and Drums Band Group, on a performance swing to Beijing, Xian and Hong Kong, in tandem with an Ontario trade mission and a Canadian food show in HK. Heretofore self-financed, I was told that they were now looking for financial support, perhaps from the GoC. 

Visit of Secretary of State for Financial Institutions (and one of my successors as Ambassador to the PRC) John McCallum. Call on China Insurance Regulatory Commission Ma Yongwei, where we were informed that the Sun Life Everbright JV in Tianjin had been approved. The office would be opened in June.

Attended Atomic Energy of Canada dinner hosted by AECL President Bob Van Adel, in tandem with the Nuclear Industry China 2002 conference.

Letter to Dr. and Professor Tsolmon Davaa, regarding his wish to launch a USA and Canadian Studies association in Ulaanbaatar.

Exchange of letters with the Chairman of the Beijing Capital Club, declining his invitation to join the club’s Board of Governors.

Exchange of letters with Inspector Keith Thorm RCMP re Embassy support during a recent visit.

Wednesday, March 27

Petit déjeuner avec M. Jean-Claude Scraire, Président de la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

Meeting with Michael Lim, Investment Planner, Royal Bank of Canada.

Meeting with Raymond Chan, former Member of Parliament and Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, re marketing BC education services to Chinese students.

Exchange with Lloyd Axworthy about his forthcoming visit to Beijing.

CCRels

Letter to Chief Statistician of Canada, Dr. Ivan Fellegi on his forthcoming visit to China, concerning – among other issues – cooperation between Statistics Canada and China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

This is not a well-known area of collaboration between our two countries, and deserving of its’ own study, especially to understand China’s approach to statistics gathering on the one hand, and controlling its availability on the other, both for domestic and international publics, given the CCP’s control over Government communications and propaganda.

Letter from Senator Dan Hays, referring to my letter to him of the 20th not in file but similar in content to my letter to Senator Volpe, and reporting on the visit of Tian Jiyun.

Exchange re the 2002 China Henan Economic and Trade Fair.

Exchange re the Zhu Fu Tang Award ceremony.

Thursday, March 28

Media

  • meeting with The Economist Corporate Network.
  • déjeuner avec journaliste et auteur Eric Meyer, dont le livre ‘Sois Riche et Tais Toi’ a joui d’un certain retentissement.  
  • attended opening of the Beijing Machinery and Electricity Institute with John McCallum.
  • meeting with McCallum and Sun Life.

Hosted an Evening of Music at the Residence.

Friday, March 29

Media

  • round table meeting with Canadian journalists in Beijing.

ChinaEc

  • Meeting with China Security Regulation Commission Chairman Zhou Xiaochuan with McCallum. (Zhou had attended the previous evening’s concert.)

Zhou sought to accelerate foreign competition to spur the further development of the securities business. Because securities’ market penetration was first negotiated by the Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation in the context of WTO access, the approach was overly conservative. He told McCallum that he hoped for a clarification of rules in the coming months, including with regard to Joint Ventures. There was also great resistance to introducing Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor regulations. At the time, China still did not have financial holding company laws. The CSRC was studying Japanese and Korean regulations and environments as a stepping stone to further liberalization. The State Council was very suspicious of securities markets, and did not consider them as reliable – and controllable – as banks, given that non-performing-loans only show up in time, and therefore add volatility to open markets. The issue of convertibility of the Chinese yuan was seen by the finance authorities as something for the distant future. Zhou himself felt that convertibility would lessen capital flight.

  • meeting with Li Ruogu, Assistant Governor, People’s Bank of China.

Letter to Chief Judge Zhang Luming, Intellectual Property Rights Court, re a case involving a Canadian firm.

Échange avec une étudiante Québécoise à l’égard d’aide financière afin de poursuivre un projet d’étude en Chine.

Chinese opera evening at the Zhengyici Temple Opera House.

Saturday, March 30

  • arrival of House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken and parliamentary delegation.
  • Meeting and dinner for the Speaker hosted by NPC Chair Li Peng.

Sunday, March 31

  • Hosted dinner at the Residence of Speaker Milliken and 5 MPs, with Minister McCallum also in attendance.