Wednesday, May 1

Mayday, and statutory holiday in China.

Thursday, May 2

CdaGov

• telephone call with Deputy Minister Len Edwards re Quebec decision to increase staff in the HK ConGen’s Immigration Section. The challenge was how to accommodate this. Current staff total is 203, including approximately 100 in Immigration and Visas.
• meeting with UN Human Rights Commission Chief Representative Colin Mitchell.

IntOrgs

Colin outlined the history of the HRC’s relationship with China, going back to the early ‘70s onward, with Sino-Vietnamese fleeing the newly united North and South. UN contributed over $100mm to manage the cross-border and ‘Boat People’ flows. Overall, it was not easy dealing with the PRC Government, which does not accept the notion of ‘economic migrants’, (or political, for that matter!). Dialogue with PRC authorities was challenging in other ways, as China does not allow a UN presence on its side of the C/VN border, saying the issue is ‘manageable’, given that ‘85% of migrants want to return to Vietnam’.  

In addition, there are currently about 50 Somali and Burundian families in Beijing. An OAU Refugee Convention provides them with assistance, as well as to a few Iranians currently also housed here. Regionally, there are also issues associated with a small number of DPRK escapees: 580 made it to Seoul via Mongolia in 2001.

Colin also mentioned en passant that his office had ‘acquired’ 7 North Korea refugees in 2001 prefiguring, without either of us imagining it, the entry of 44 North Koreans in our Embassy in September, 2004.

• Exchange with Professor R. St. J. Macdonald, Honorary Life President, Canadian Council on International Law, on the previously addressed issue of congratulating and thanking Professor James Li for his work on international law in China.
• Exchange with Deputy DG Li Quinggui, Foreign Affairs Office, Govt of Heilongjiang, twinned with the Province of Alberta, informing me of the plan to send 59 officials from the HLJ government and entrepreneurs for training in Alberta, and seeking Embassy support on the visa issue.

CCRels

These and similar months-long programs were very promising in terms of Canada/China cooperation and the transfer of Canadian expertise and not coincidentally, Canadian legal and cultural perspectives. They served many Canadian foreign policy objectives vis-à-vis China.  

Exchange with President and CEO Robert Van Adel of AECL, on their current activities in China, and Canadian Embassy support.

Exchange with an exasperated Mr. D. T. over a visa issue.  

CdaIm&Vi

Mr. T. balanced his impatience with the visa process with recognition of the challenges that visa management exemplifies, servicing a product whose demand far exceeds the GoC’s capacity to supply in what is expected to be a timely and error free manner. The dates of the exchange also tell the same story: his letter is dated April 2^nd and my response is exactly a month later.

Letter to Chairman Fred Mannix, Mancal Corporation, following up on a meeting in my office and discussions on business opportunities and challenges in China.

Letter to Chairman and General Manager Alfred Chan of Ports International, reflecting on our recent meeting in Xiamen, and congratulating him for the progress Ports International is achieving in its business.

Exchange with Chairman of the Advisory Board of CH2MHill Canada Maurice Strong about the company’s involvement in China, and the recent appointment of Nick Sonntag as CEO for China. We also discussed ‘engagement’ with the DPRK.

Friday, May 3

Arts&Culture

Letter to the Canada Council for the Arts Director Dr. Shirley Thomson, concerning her forthcoming visit to China and the proposal of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles to sign an Agreement on Cultural and Art Exchanges between the CCA and CFLA.

I advise Dr. Thompson to give serious thought to some of the provisions in the draft Agreement, especially with regard to ‘receiver party expenses’, which would, for example, have the CCA cover all of the costs of visiting Chinese delegations.

Monday, May 6

• courtesy call by the Estonian Ambassador.
• meeting with Professor David Zweig, in preparation for a forthcoming conference at Fudan University in Shanghai. I would be making a presentation.

CdaMinCor

Letter to Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps concerning the forthcoming visit to Canada of Politburo member Ding Guangen, whom Minister Copps will be hosting. The visit’s themes will include media environment in Canada and the role of the CRTC.

Arts&Culture

The letter, based partly on discussions with Ding, provides the Minister with a thumb-nail sketch of the media environment in China at this time, and the mixed-signal objectives of President Jiang Zemin and the CCP. It also encourages the Minister’s engagement, given where the Ding visit fits in Canada’s overall engagement strategy with China.

Exchange with Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions John McCallum, following his visit to China.

CdaGov

The Minister’s letter was very complimentary: ‘It is also apparent to me that your understanding of the changing political and economic landscapes in the Orient is providing Canadian businesses with the guidance they need to seize new opportunities in the region and build relationships that are mutually rewarding.’

This is what an Ambassador likes to read. It is regrettable that, years later, John’s experience as Ambassador to the PRC did not end well. But he worked in a completely different bilateral environment than that of the Balloch/Caron/Wright assignments, when the CCP was exploring governance options for China’s future, and welcomed intellectual exchanges and different opinions. That did not last, the reasons for which should be the subject of further study by academics and historians.

Tuesday, May 7

• Exchange with Professor Pitman Potter on his upcoming visit to China.
• Exchange with Prof Yoshi Kawasaki, SFU, regarding his paper on ‘Formulating Canada’s Grand Strategy in Asia.’

BT&I

• Exchange with my predecessor, Ambassador Howard Balloch, now President, Canada China Business Council, regarding the forthcoming visit of a CCBC-led mission of Canadian companies, exploring business opportunities in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Education Arts&Culture

• Exchange with University of Alberta President Roderick Fraser.

It focuses on the UofA’s ambitions, views on the development, within the Beijing Embassy, of a Public Diplomacy Strategy, and how it could engage Canadian universities. It mentions a number of initiatives that would enhance media relations, education, public affairs and culture, and promises a gathering in Canada in the fall, to move the initiative forward. This was an important personal priority during my years in China.

Wednesday, May 8

• meeting with MOFTEC Vice Minister Ma.
• meeting with Algonquin College President Robert Gillet and accompanying staff to discuss AC’s plans and projects in the PRC.
• Exchange with RCMP Commissioner G. Zaccardelli, following his official visit to the PRC.

CCRels

Yet another example of a senior Canadian official finding resonance in his relationships with his Chinese counterparts: ‘…and I believe our visit to the PRC was a step in building bridges and integrating efforts which are in both our mutual interests’.

• Letter from President Alfred Chan, Ports International.
• dinner hosted by Netherlands Ambassador and Madame Philip de Heer.

Thursday, May 9

I attend Premier Zhu Rongji’s speech at the Great Hall of the People.

ChinaDom

The Premier’s presentation was up-beat and had reason to be. A 7% growth target was consistent with the 2001 results and realistic given the continuing – indeed dramatic – expansion of China’s infrastructure and foreign capital inflows. He admitted that not all Chinese benefited from this growth: while urban workers have experienced important increases in wages, and retirees an improving social security system, rural incomes – and especially that of farmers – had not improved and in some areas further declined. Joining the WTO will put even more competitive pressure on domestic agricultural product markets. Dealing with this issue was receiving a great deal of attention, he asserted. But he had little specific to say about how the government would proceed, other than through tax policies and their reform.

What was undeniable was that economic growth – however unbalanced in terms of sharing of the benefits – was being well-managed: it didn’t take Chinese officials to assert that China had adjusted effectively in the face of the global economic crisis at the end of the last decade: everybody knew that. The evidence was not only at the macro-level: SOE reform was turning companies around, the banking and financial and regulatory systems were increasingly internationalizing – Manulife and SunLife were betting on it through their investments in expansion plans beyond insurance to include investment products and services – and China was sharing in the globe’s expanding markets, as seen in import and exports statistics.

Geopolitically, the world may have been rocked by 9/11, the Afghan and Iraqi wars were on the horizon, and China/US relations were dealing with the aftermath of the EP-3 and Chinese interceptor collision and crash on Hainan Island. Despite this, Zhu Rongji’s comments on the international situation facing his country were pro-forma: good and better relations with Japan and Russia, and reaffirmation of the ‘Peaceful Reunification’ language regarding Taiwan, to which he added that China will not renounce the use of force to solve the Taiwan issue, but ‘we don’t have to repeat it every day and every month’.

There were many reasons for being optimistic about the management and consequences of China’s rise in the year 2002, and Zhu Rongji was one of them. 

 A report on ZRJ’s remarks were summarized in a briefing to the press the following day, accessible below.  

https://news.cctv.com/lm/980/718/82546.html

Letter to Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin, Supreme Court of Canada, regarding the forthcoming visit to Canada of Politbureau member Ding Guangen. It is similar to the letter addressed to Minister Copps on May 6.

Letter introducing Howard Balloch to Mancal Corporation Chairman Fred Mannix, informing him that Howard wishes to call on him in June. The latter also provides Mr. Mannix with a note on the Embassy’s workload: ‘The weather in Beijing is uniformly pleasant, but the pace is unrelenting’.

Amusing exchange with Scarborough East MP John McKay following a chat we had in Beijing on Taiwan and the DPRK. What I said about Taiwan, he considered ‘wrong’, while on the other hand I considered his views to be ‘wrong’, but it was a friendly exchange.

Friday, May 10

CCRels

Meeting with Canada Post Chairman – and former ur-Liberal Cabinet Minister, André Ouelette, preparatory to his meeting with the Director of the State Post Bureau Liu Liqing.

The State Post Bureau was much more than the national post office. It was also a major player as Postal Financial Services, the fifth largest financial institution in China, with a $70B portfolio, accounting for a third of SPB’s revenues. President Xu boasted of a $50mm return in the previous year.

During the meeting, President Xu was interested in learning about governance at Canada Post, particularly at management level. He was considering conducting a study of the management of the Canadian system, and was confident that he could obtain funding from the State Council to that end. His interest in Canada was also spurred by the fact that SPB was utilizing Nortel technology, not at all unusual at the time.

I hosted lunch at the O.R. for M. Ouellet and Minister Liu Liqing on Monday, the 13^th.

• meeting with EVP Eric Siegel, Export Development Corporation.
• hosted a signing ceremony between Algonquin College and their education partners in China.
• meeting with the Governor of Hebei Province.

BOCOG

• meeting with Beijing Municipal Government Mayor Liu Qi. He was previously the CCP Secretary and would become the President of the Organizing Committee of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

While I do not have notes from that meeting, it did serve to establish linkages with the Beijing Government preparatory to the Olympics, in which not only athletes, but many Canadian organizations and businesses.

• Round-table with Chinese academics, co-chaired by Professor David DeWitt, York University and Professor Yuan Ming, BeiDa, followed by dinner at the Official Residence.

As expected, a most interesting and stimulating gathering, with discussions ranging from Asia-Pacific geopolitics – the DPRK was on the agenda – to the domestic political situation in China. Stimulating and impossible to summarize! But it benefited from the openness to intellectual debate characteristic of the Zhang/Zhu era, and difficult to imagine in 2025.

Sunday, May 12  

Wrote response to a Public Policy Forum questionnaire on Canada/China.

Monday, May 13  

• Locally-Engaged Staff Awards Ceremony.

CCRels

• lunch at the O.R. for Minister Ouellet and Minister Liu and 3 members of his senior staff, responsible for international cooperation and ‘technical information’.

CCP

Meeting with Yu Yunyao, First Vice-President, CCP Central Party School, Beijing. He would eventually become a member of the Party Central Committee and Standing Committee of the NPC.

The fact that I was able to take notes suggests that our chat was very much like an interview where First V-P Yu provided a relatively fulsome description of the CCP Central Party School of the early oughts. 

He first touched on the history of the CPS, reaching back to the early ‘30s as provider of ideological training for the emergent PLA, for middle and senior level officers. By the 1940s and into the establishment of the PRC, the CPS expanded its reach from the CCP headquarters all the way down to county levels. He moved on to its post-Mao roles, pointing to the influence of Zhang Zemin in the 1990s in shaping the School to meet the needs of the reform and opening era.

The CPS  – of which there continue to be subsidiaries in other parts of the country – offered training sessions of 3 or 4 months for Senior Cadres, and up to one year for promising Young Cadres. At the graduate level, the history of ‘CCP thought’ from Mao to Deng was taught, as was national governance, economics and foreign policy. The latter included international travel. The CPS/Beijing currently hosted 1,800 students and 1,400 teaching staff, 100 of them having doctorate degrees. There were increasing exchanges with foreign institutions, with focus on strategies for economic development, management of government institutions and ‘social development’, which I understood to be social policies.

At the time, the central task for the school was to study and train for ‘economic development’, both macro and on-the-ground. The focus was on ‘finding solutions to practical problems’. China had to ‘go with the times’, and echoing – we all know who – the need to ‘seek truth from facts’. 

The CPS hosted many foreign speakers – politicians, entrepreneurs and so forth, on subjects ranging from politics, economics and S&T. There had been speakers from the US, UK, Japan, France and Singapore. There were also formalized studies exchanges with Japanese institutions. 1^st VP Yu expressed the hope that Canadians would also be available for speaking engagements and encouraged a discussion on modalities. He would welcome politicians and academics to come to speak, and send students and teaching staff for studies and research. No foreign researchers could stay on the CPS campus however, but other arrangements would be made. 

As with academic Round Tables, it is difficult to imagine this type of openness in today’s China. But at a minimum, if it was reflective of the CCP’s past, it may be – at some future point – an augur of what might again, one day, be possible.  

CCRels

Exchange with Canada-Yunnan United Association’s Peter Wang regarding the forthcoming establishment of sister city relationship between Lijiang and New Westminster. Letter includes Chinese delegation list.

Exchange with Simon Fraser University International Director Randall Martin re forthcoming SFU student visitors to China.

Tuesday, May 14

ConGens

• teleconference with the Heads of our Consulates: Tony Burger in Hong Kong, Stewart Beck in  Shanghai, Jim Feir in Guangzhou.

This was a periodic gathering which generally focused on administrative matters. The top issue during this conversation was the outreach strategy we had discussed earlier in Hong Kong. One challenge was language: English as the best means of communication in HK, as the general capacity was excellent, and there was potential in the broader SAR – Special Administrative Region. But everywhere else in China, the use of Mandarin was sine qua non. Of course, for printed and on-line materials in HK, Cantonese characters were more generally used than the simplified Mandarin used throughout the rest of China.

Nobody said it was going to be easy.

CCRels

• luncheon meeting at the China Institute of International Studies, with Guest Lecturer Tom Axworthy, titled ‘The Friendly Relationship between China and Canada’, reflective of the times.
• Opening Ceremony of the Qinghua University Conference on Public Policy.

ChinaGov Agric

• hosted dinner for Ministry of Agriculture Vice Minister Zhang Baowen, prior to his visit to Canada.

As touched upon earlier, among the Chinese Government’s senior officials with whom I would deal, Vice-Minister Zhang Baowen was among the most interesting and engaging. This view is only in part due to his position in the Ministry – so important to Canadian interests – but also because he was not a member of the CCP. Rather, from 1986 onward, he was a member of the China Democratic League, in existence since 1941 and one of only 8 non-communist ‘parties’ still legally in existence in China, and incorporated in the highest government institutions, including the NPC and the CPPCC. While I was in China, the CDL counted about a quarter of a million members.  Vice-Minister Zhangs fluency in English made of him then and in the future an important interlocutor not only among diplomats in Beijing, but an eloquent spokesperson in international gatherings. I may have mentioned this elsewhere but, of interest, VM Zhang’s daughter studied in Canada.

The dinner discussion dealt with the details of his visit and the principal issues that would be on the agenda.

Wednesday, May 15

Arts&Culture

• meeting with Vice President Li Mu, China Federation of Literary and Arts Circles.

VP Li explained that his is one of 13 associations of artists at the national level, including for example the Writers Federation, with additional groups at provincial and local levels. It wasn’t entirely clear from the conversation what these associations accomplished. Policing the membership would be one important function, no doubt.

• meeting with Dr. Ralph Huenemann, University of Victoria.

CCRels

• arrival of DFAIT Deputy Minister Len Edwards to pursue the Canada/China agenda on bilateral trade issues, and to attend the MoFTEC hosted conference: ‘Emerging Trends in World Trade and Development’.

I briefed DM Edwards along the following lines:

That China has taken a major step in joining the WTO is self-evident. The general expectation is that this is a positive development for China at the macro level, but there will be serious micro distortions, some of which may lead to social instability. The government bureaucracy is reasonably competent, but they know that they are facing serious challenges. Reform and opening, along with globalization is fine in principle, but the pace and effect on individual sectors is hard to predict.

China knows that it is not yet a ‘power’, but it is big in all other respects and the authorities are still working out how they will fit in the globalizing world.

Where does Canada fit in, from the Chinese perspective? Somewhere between 2^nd and 3^rd rank. But the Chinese CCP and Government priorize Canada for a number of reasons: there are no negatives and a number of positives: we have a great international image, we are a niche player in sectors that are important to China: energy, aircraft, rail, telecoms, high technology, quality food and agricultural products, reliable governance, education and – not admitted in public – as an emigration fall-back.

And where is China for Canada? Size matters and China is already an important trading nation for us. We can think of China as 21^st century USA, as America was at the turn of the last century: dynamic economy because of its resources and growing middle class, full of confidence and with global connections given the immigrant inflow. Watch this space.

I also emphasized the importance of maintaining a strong connection to MoFTEC, given the need to understand their priorities and strategies and how they will impact on Canada.

Thursday, May 16

ChinaGov CCRels Agric

Attendance at the Conference, followed by meeting between DM Edwards and Vice-Minister Madame Ma Xiuhong

The meeting between DM Edwards and Vice-Minister Ma addressed both general and bilateral issues. On WTO implementation, she pointed to the 12% average reduction in tariffs; the updated quota and licencing administration; the creation of a WTO Consultation Bureau; liberalization of 1,400 MoFTEC regulations (not addressing liberalization by other Ministries), accelerated opening of rules concerning trade in services and foreign investment.

She was equally specific about issues with Canada: 18 anti-dumping actions against Chinese goods, the first going back almost 20 years; that Canada’s classification system allows different treatment between private Chinese enterprises vs. China’s State Trading companies; the famous textile quotas, currently 23 against Chinese goods; the similar number of quarantine protocols affecting agricultural products, and so forth.

Canada’s list was much shorter: Chinese trade and labelling of Genetically Modified Organisms, and the Tariff Rate Quota system which discriminates against Canadian goods.

Throughout, the discussions were cordial, acknowledging the progressive expansion of the Canada/China relationship overall, while flagging that there will always be a bilateral economic agenda that needs attention if we are to expand our trading relationship. 

Exchange of letters between Immigration and a Chinese citizen refused a permanent residence visa. The names have been blotted out.

Friday, May 17

• attended regular Immigration Section Staff meeting.
• telephone conversation with Professor Yu Hongju, Nankai University.
• hosted a lunch for the Canada-China Development Cooperation Framework consultations, headed by CIDA VP Asia Hau Singtse and MoFTEC Deputy DG of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs, Wang Xinggen, with other guests.
• meeting with Pascal Duquette, Portfolio Manager, Canadian Pacific Railway

Arts&Culture

Exchange of letters with Chairman Frank Potter, Royal Ontario Museum Foundation, regarding the August 1 grand opening of the Treasures from a Lost Civilization: Ancient Chinese Art from Sichuan.

Exchange with President and CEO John Lau, Husky Energy, where he advised me of a forthcoming visit to China at an important turning point in Husky’s work. We subsequently met in Calgary.

Saturday, May 18

Canadian Charity Ball.

In addition to raising funds for deserving charities, these events are always opportunities for socializing among one’s peers. Our guests included the Ambassadors and spouses of Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, as well as senior guests including Vice Ministers from Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Communications.

Sunday, May 19

Hosted tête-à-tête dinner with Mei Ping, former Ambassador to Canada and author /editor of a commercially successful Chinese/English dictionary.

Monday, May 20

WTO

Continuing program for DFAIT Deputy Minister Len Edwards.

• DM meeting with Vice-Minister Hao Zhaocheng, State Administration of Taxation.

The main subject of the call was to address business tax issues, including on Air Canada and the VAT on aircraft sales. Another round of discussions centered on reciprocity, which was ultimately agreed upon.

• DM meeting with MoFTEC VM Long Yongtu.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

• DM meeting with Canadian business leaders based in Beijing, and a number of their Chinese business associates.

DPRK

Exchange with ConGen Astrid Pregel in Atlanta re a possible diplo/academic meeting in Mongolia re DPRK.

Arrival of former Trade Minister and now Canadian Ambassador to the WTO Sergio Marchi. His schedule includes a visit to the CCP Party School, a speech at Fudan University, a meeting with the Canada China Legislative Association and others.

Tuesday, May 21

DM Edwards: Media Round Table with Beijing-based Canadian journalists and Chinese correspondents covering economic issues.

Ambassador Marchi meeting with MoFTEC Minister Shi Guangsheng, part of ongoing Canada/China dialogue re ongoing issues at the WTO.

DPRK

Letter to Senator Lois Wilson, Chair, DPRK Friendship Association on establishment of a ‘friendship’ group.

Good intentions, sad realities…

Exchange with Madame Luning Wang, Director Shanghai Municipal Working Committee on Women and Children, regarding a conference to take place in Shanghai in November. She invited me to attend, or send an alternate Canadian representative.

I congratulated Mme Wang on the conference initiative and introduced her to Consul General Stewart Beck.

Exchange with Director-General Wang Zhijia, Department of International Cooperation, State Environmental Administration regarding the 2002 World Environment Day Celebrations.

CCRels

I remember DG Wang as one of the most interesting among many interlocutors during my China years. Conversations with him on China’s management of its environment were always open, frank, and challenging. He was never defensive. I expressed opinions about the connection between environmental protection and freedom of speech and the press, including the desirability – indeed necessity – of government authorities accepting critical and public reporting on environmental challenges, including on specific cases of illegal behaviours, if policies were to work or be corrected. It was too easy for CCP and Government officials to choose not to inform their superiors of problems. A free press would solve some of this.

During my 4 years as Ambassador to the PRC, I never felt constrained in my exchanges with Chinese officials. Especially, conversations outside Beijing and central government offices, dialogue was generally open and often robust. More generally, this was the zeitgeist: Chinese governance had to adapt to the massive economic and social changes generated by ‘reform and opening’ and most senior officials with whom I dealt were intelligent, well-educated individuals who had no trouble listening to the opinions of others, if for no other reason than that they too were groping for ideas on managing change in conformity with stated Party and Government objectives.

One needed to be more careful with the Foreign Ministry however, as everything said by the Ambassador is considered as conveying official Canadian Government views. Only in informal situations, conversations at a reception or outside the Waijaobu offices, was the conversation relatively free-wheeling, and indeed personal. But even in these opportunities, I remained guarded.

One illustrative incident I will never forget involved a meeting at the MFA with a very Senior Official who excoriated Canada generally and me in particular over an issue involving one of China’s missions in Canada. China was very upset with the prevailing situation. I took all of this in, histrionics included. After I had returned to my office, my Assistant told me that the Senior Official was on the phone and wanted to speak to me. I was expecting more tongue lashing but the purpose of the call was different: a request for help to obtain a visa for a friend of his!

Overall, the best conversational strategy is, first and foremost, to be the questioner, to advance the agenda with your interlocutors by letting them speak, and focus your own comments and responses on Canadian government policy, rather than dominating with personal opinions. Good diplomats are first and foremost good listeners…and then articulate spokespersons of their government’s objectives.

Échange avec Donald Francoeur, Stikeman Elliot, à l’égard de sa visite prochaine à Pékin. Faisant référence à mon discours du 21 février à Montréal, ainsi que celui du Ministre Stéphane Dion quelques jours plus tard, il note ‘la conscience grandissante des Canadiens face à cette nouvelle et incontournable réalité chinoise…’.

Education

Lettre adressée au Docteur Jean Couture, Directeur du projet conjoint Canada-Chine, Faculté de Médecine, Université Laval au sujet de leur collaboration avec l’Université Norman Bethune à Changchun.

Les pièces jointes donne une explication détaillée au sujet de l’histoire et l’avenir espéré de la collaboration. Ce genre de coopération se répétait à travers la Chine durant cette période optimiste à l’égard des relations bilatérales Canada-Chine, allant bien au-delà de celles entre les gouvernements.

Letter from New Westminster Mayor Helen Sparkes regarding the proposed sister-city relationship with Lijiang.

BT&I

Exchange with Chairman and CEO Donald Stewart, Sun Life Financial on the official opening of Sun Life Everbright JV in Tianjin on June 11.

President Stewart was very complimentary about my role and that of the Embassy in smoothing the way with Chinese authorities.

I leave for Shanghai and Fudan University conference.

Wednesday, May 22

ChinaFP

I attend and participate in the ‘Globalization and China’s Reforms: An IPE Approach’ at Fudan University, Chaired by Ni Zhixiong, Dean, School of International Relations and Public Affairs. I have been invited to make the Keynote Address. I also chaired the Panel on ‘The Global Structure and China’s Place in the World’. Other Canadians included Prof. Richard Stubbs, McMaster University, Prof Jeremy Paltiel, Carleton University, Prof David Zweig, Queens University, and Prof Kim Nossal, also from Queens. Professor Zweig played a key role in organizing the conference. A number of presentations at the Conference, including mine, are included in Professor Zweig’s book, Globalization and China’s Reforms. In my keynote address, I provided my views on the impact of China’s rapid economic transition, including on Canada.

I then return to Beijing.

Thursday, May 23

ChinaGov

Meeting with Vice Minister Li Shishi, Legislative Affairs Council. Joined by Ambassador Marchi.

The meeting dealt with the legislative changes that China must implement in order to harmonize domestic laws with new WTO requirements. He stated that the required changes were extensive in number and in scope, and were in addition to WTO implementing legislation. These were not limited to national laws but impacted on provincial and lower level legislation as well. Transparency considerations had to be included, as well as judicial review processes and capacity. WTO terms negotiated by China also impose changes to tariffs, Tariff Rate Quotas, lower domestic subsidies and the elimination of export subsidies. Other considerations included insuring transparency and the rising costs of administration.

Attended Canada China Business Council luncheon for Ambassador Marchi, who provided ‘Perspectives on the WTO’.

With Ambassador Marchi, meeting with Vice Chairman Yu Guangzhou, State Development and Planning Commission.

Arts&Culture

Welcoming letter (also 0527) to Director Shirley Thomson, Canada Council for the Arts regarding her and the delegation’s visit to Beijing and the CCA’s enthusiasm for expanding C/C collaboration in the arts.

Échange avec Vice-Président Marc Audet, La Fiducie Desjardins, au sujet d’un visa refusé. Le nom du candidat est barré.

Friday, May 24

Arts&Culture

Lunch with Dr. Shirley Thompson, Director, Canada Council for the Arts.

Her visit was at the conclusion of a major outreach by the Canada Council, throughout China, from May 12^th to the 24^th, culminating at the Beijing Bookfair, and meetings with the Ministry of Culture, the China Performing Arts Agency and others. I hosted a dinner that evening at the Residence for 43 guests from the arts community and Canadian writers who were attending the book fair. Ambassador Marchi also attended.

Monday, May 27

• Ivey MBA students visit the Embassy, and I provide some welcoming remarks.
• meeting with Canadian Tire President and CEO Wayne Sales.
• meeting with Liu Wenfang, Deputy Director General, Investment Banking Dept, China Development Bank.
• travel to Beijing Airport to greet the Canadian MPs of the Canada-China Legislative Association, including Senators Jack Austin and Joe Volpe.
• dinner meeting with the CCLA host Lu Congmin at the Great Hall of the People.

Diplomatic Note to the Chinese MFA regarding my absence from China between May 30 and June 25.

Tuesday, May 28

I lead a morning briefing session for the Canadian CCLA members and join them for the CCLA meetings, including a luncheon hosted by the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress.

• meeting with Australian Ambassador David Irvine.

We exchange views on the state of our respective relations with China, with the focus on trade and economic issues.

• I host a reception at the OR for the 43 soon-to-depart (and move on to other responsibilities) Canada Based Staff.

Exchange with Toronto Councillor Mario Silva regarding the First International Chinese Senior Festival/Golden Autumn Festival, regarding Chinese invitees requiring visas.

Exchange with Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Youth Services and Post-Secondary Education Minister Sandra Kelly on the ongoing efforts to secure visas for Chinese students accepted by Academy Canada.

CdaIm&Vi

Importantly, there has been some progress with student visa extensions…as well as a better understanding by the Minister and her Department about the significant challenge of bridging, on the one hand, the understanding of students’ Parents regarding the visa issuance process and, on the other, the yes or no determinations.

CIDA

Letter to Deputy Director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, Li Shishi, regarding CIDA cooperation in training the State Development Planning Commission in formulating post-WTO entry employment policy. The letter also flags and briefly describes the WTO Capacity Strengthening Project, the WTO Agriculture Program and the WTO-Rule of Law Training initiative.

Illustrating the level of interest of the Chinese government to ‘pick the brains’ of Canadian and other WTO members in order to inform and develop China’s approach to these highly technical trade rules.

CdaMinCor

Letter to newly appointed Minister of National Defence John McCallum, congratulating and alerting him of a possible visit to Canada by Chinese Defence Minister General Chi Haotian. It also requests that the Minister consider an eventual visit to the PRC.

Wednesday, May 29

• meeting with David Cartwright, Council of Forest Industries of British Columbia.
• distribution of LES Awards in my office.
• déjeuner avec Prof. Louis Massicotte, Département des Sciences Politiques, Université de Montréal. 
• meeting with MFA Vice Minister – and former APEC Senior Official – Wang Guanya.

CdaMinCor

Letter to Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, strongly encouraging an early visit to China, and emphasizing the importance of the broad, cultural sphere as especially welcoming of international collaboration at this time.

Thursday, May 30

Letter of thanks to Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman following her visit to China.

Échange de lettres avec le Recteur de l’Université de Moncton, à Shippagan, à l’égard des efforts de l’Université afin d’attirer des étudiants chinois, et le succès qu’ils ont obtenus jusqu’à présent.

Exchange with Mr. Chen Lanyan, Gender Adviser for Northeast Asia, UN Development Fund for Women, regarding a forthcoming conference organized by the Shanghai Municipal Working Committee on Women and Children. Ties in with a separate letter sent 0520.

Friday, May 31

PubDiplo

Email to Ottawa with a short summary of the Public Diplomacy strategy, following meetings in Hong Kong.