Thursday, October 10

CIDA

Lettre de Jean Couture, Directeur du projet conjoint Canada-Chine, l’Université Laval.

M. Couture exprime sa déception, partagée par collègues à l’Université, pour le refus par l’ACDI d’une proposition de travail sur la santé en Chine, citant le fait que ce sujet n’est pas une priorité selon le ‘Cadre stratégique de programmes’ de l’ACDI en date de 1994.

Je réponds le 28 en exprimant le regret que la proposition n’a pas été accepté et –  malheureusement – en offrant pas d’espoir que cette décision soit renversée. Bien sûr que j’ai consulté avec l’ACDI sur cette question avant de répondre.

Friday, October 11

PubDiplo

  • session with staff on Public Diplomacy.
  • meeting with Hing C. Mung, President, ALCAN Asia.

President Mung briefed me on ALCAN’s 50/50 JV with Ching Ting Sha Company for a mining project in Ningxia, which is moving forward with a $100mm expansion plan; issue is tariff rate on imported alumina, promised to be reduced from 12% to 8% in 2004.   

Luncheon meeting with Maurice Strong, Senior Advisor, Nicholas Sonntag, Chief Representative, CH2MHill Consulting company.

BT&I

No notes but I am quite certain that the conversation centered on the strategy that CH2MHill and, for that matter, their competitors, would be using to approach the 2008 Olympics management groups in the competition for design and construction contracts. At that time and as I earlier mentioned, Strong was living in Beijing, with CH benefitting from his extensive experience and contacts among China’s elites. I met Maurice on a number of occasions over the years: there is no question that he was a supremely engaging man, highly intelligent, articulate, funny and charming. These and other qualities made him an influential and well-connected man throughout his life.

Meeting with Howard Balloch re next Canada-China Business Council Annual General Meeting.

Meeting with Ercel Baker re his consulting business in China.

Meeting with Staff on DPRK.

Meeting followed by dinner with Vancouver Port Authority Chairman David Stowe, and Trade Director Scott Galloway.

BT&I

The Port of Vancouver was in hot competition to be the Number 1 shipping destination for products moving from China to the West Coast of North America. It goes without saying that US ports, notably Portland and Long Beach, were also competing for same. Given the incredible boom in Chinese exports to NA, even N.Y., Montreal and St. John’s were in the running. Vancouver could handle up to 4 million containers per year but had to remain competitive and work well with the stevedore unions. (BTW, the same competition was also intensifying among West Coast and East Coast airports, as first stop destinations for Chinese airlines.) The Port of Vancouver was conducting at the time a study of future Chinese demand for port services. The Pacific Gateway Strategy was key to delivering infrastructure and services.  

Sunday, October 13

Admin

Given my absence from Beijing during the speaking tour, I had a great deal of catch-up to do: language training budget, Mission budget and audit, Cost of Living Allowances, bilingualism within the Embassy, renovation work in the Official Residence kitchen, spousal employment and salary steps, staff retreat. All to prepare for next morning’s MAM.

Monday, October 14

MAM

Mission Agenda Meeting, followed by meetings with individual senior program managers: Rob Mackenzie on ministerial missions and Huawei’s investment plans in Canada ‘going slightly awry’; David Gauthier on mid-year financial reviews; the Public Diplomacy Strategy with Michael Martin, especially re outreach activities; EA (and future successor Ambassador) Jennifer May on upcoming activities and correspondence; Col David Burke had just returned from the DPRK, with whom a dialogue of sorts was continuing, not that our North Korean friends were particularly loquacious. 

In terms of incoming missions by our political leaders, expected in the short to mid-term: Secretary of State for Asia Pacific David Kilgour, Ontario Minister Jim Flaherty, provincial ministers from Manitoba (agriculture), Alberta’s Economic Minister as well as its Minister responsible for education, Québec Minister Lucie Papineau, and BC’s Minister of Forests Mike DeJong. That these were planned is not to say that they would all take place, either in the near future or later. Circumstances dictated the availability of all Government ministers, federal or provincial, and this impacted on our activities at the Embassy.   

Media

Lunch with John Pomfret, Bureau Chief, Washington Post.

Meeting with Shan Mingwei, Director, Legal Affairs Division, Beijing WTO Research and Consultation Center.

BT&I

Director Shan was a graduate of l’Université d’Ottawa and spoke a very fluent French, with a charming Chinese accent, of course. The Center has close relations with MoFTEC, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and provides advisory services not only to the Beijing Government but also State-owned Enterprises. Providing advice to Beijing’s Shunyi District on how to attract FDI under the new WTO rules would be a typical example of the work that the Center is asked to do. Only Beijing and Shanghai had such centers in place. MoFTEC maintained similar advisory offices in each Chinese province.

CCLA  CCRels

Dinner at OR for China’s Chairman of the Canada China Legislative Association, Jiang Xinxiong.

CCRels  PMJC

The bilateral association was established in 1998 by the Speaker of the HoC, at the time, Gil Molgat and his counterpart Chairman Li Peng of the NPC. Substantively, the discussions between the Canadian and Chinese parliamentarians would be fairly broad, from the machinery of government – which would interest the Chinese – to issues important to Canada: HR and rule of law, rights of minorities, the development of civil society, protection of the environment, and so forth.

This evening’s dinner however was clearly focused on nuclear cooperation, as the guests included Luo Xiaowei of the China National Nuclear Corporation, Paul Ferhrenbach, COO of AECL, the VP of the Qinshan Nuclear Program, Keith Bradley , President of AECL Asia, Canadians Ray Sollychin, Director of AECL’s Shanghai Office overseeing Qinshan and others.

To remind: Built near the mouth of the Qiantang River, to the East of Hangzhou and Southwest of Shanghai, the Qinshan nuclear power plant was by far the most emblematic example of Canada-China economic cooperation, a three phase energy development project, the initial phase of which was of Chinese design and plans for construction. For the second and third phases however, China turned to Babcock&Wilcox of Cambridge, Ontario for the steam generators and AECL’s CANDU-6 series nuclear reactor, which came on line in 2003. The fact that China opted for foreign technology and partnership, and that country would be Canada, was as clear an expression of confidence among the Chinese leadership of the relationship as can be imagined.

PM Chrétien visited the site later in the year.

Tuesday, October 15

Memorandum from the ADM for International Business and Chief Trade Commissioner on staffing the Commercial Section in Beijing and in the Consulates. Includes methodology utilized by DFAIT for determining the allocation of Human Resources in the embassies’ Trade Sections.

Media

Interview with The People’s Daily. Article in files.

Wednesday, October 16

Letter of strong support addressed to the UBC Faculty Nominating Committee for awarding to Dr. Pitman Potter the ‘Distinguished University Scholars Award’.

Lettre de Raymond Beaulieu, Président, Ouellet Chauffage Électrique, L’Islet Québec, m’invitant à la cérémonie d’ouverture du Parc Industriel du Québec à Shenyang le 25 octobre. Il indique que le Gouverneur Bo Xilai sera présent.

Malheureusement, conflit de programme, et je n’ai pas assisté.

Meeting with CEO China Robert Mao, Nortel.

BT&I

Accompanied by a few of his staff members, Robert outlined major personnel changes in Nortel’s China operations, reflecting – I understood – changes in the Chinese market: ‘teledensity’ is overbuilt at the moment is how Robert explained it. Third generation wireless was now the future, as it improved capacity utilization. R&D operations in China will grow as a consequence. A visit by Nortel CEO Frank Dunn was in the offing.

Meeting with Professor David Zweig, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Conference call with Consuls Stewart Beck/Shanghai, Tony Burger/Hk, and Rob MacKenzie, Senior Trade Commissioner.

Working lunch with Staff re DPRK strategy.

Meeting with Gordon Houlden regarding the forthcoming visit of the Secretary of State for the Asia Pacific David Kilgour.

Meeting with Natural Resource Canada Deputy-Minister Irwin Iztkovich.

Opening remarks at a reception hosted by NRCan for Chinese Government counterparts.

BT&I

With Canpotex CEO Steve Dechka, co-hosted dinner for visiting Saskatchewan Minister of Industry and Resources Andrew Thomson and the Canpotex business delegation. Chinese guests included officials from the State Economic and Trade Commission, the China National Chemicals Import and Export Corporation and the Potash and Phosphate Institute.

CANPOTEX was a very important player in Canada-China relations, given the importance of potash fertilizer in Chinese agriculture. The company took the long view in its marketing strategy, a perspective shared by Chinese state purchasers of the essential component of crop growth. 

The following two days, I accompanied Minister Thomson and CEO Dechka on a tour of farming co-ops in Shandong Province. I remember this visit well, in part because of the opportunity to meet with Chinese farmers, literally on their home grounds, followed by the kind of evening feasting that is so typical of Chinese social behaviour. The mao-tai no doubt flowed as I have difficulty recalling the details of the event.

Thursday, October 17

Email to Ambassador Fred Bild (ret) and one of my predecessors as Ambassador to the PRC, thanking him for hosting the dinner at l’Université de Montréal during my outreach visit. I sent similar letters to others who hosted events during my outreach tour.

Friday, October 18

Returned from Tianjin in time to host a dinner at the OR for Ministry of Foreign Affairs Assistant Minister Zhou Wenzhong and senior officials from the North American and Oceanian Affairs Department.

ChinaMFA

This was an informal social gathering, the rule being that business was not on the agenda. The subjects were wide-ranging and often personal. These types of contacts are essential in all cultures, not least in China.

Saturday, October 19

Arts&Culture

A wonderful break: attended exhibition of imperial paintings of the Qing Dynasty, followed by a separate lecture on the history of Chinese ceramics.

Dinner with faculty members of the University of Regina, then off to the airport for the arrival of the Secretary of State for Asia Pacific, David Kilgour.

Sunday, October 20

Hosted dinner for Secretary of State for Asia Pacific – thus, SSAP –  Kilgour and, coincidently, the Honorable Gilbert Parent, Canadian Ambassador for the Environment, who was in Beijing to meet Chinese counterparts engaged in the global environmental agenda.

Monday, October 21

Letter of thanks to the Trade Staffs of the Embassy and Consulates from Deputy Minister John Bannigan of Industry Canada following an extended visit to our missions in China to better understand the C/C economic relationship from the ground up. To which I respond on October 28, promising continued cooperation.

CdaGov

Briefing session for SSAP Kilgour.

Mission Agenda Meeting, with SSAP attending.

Subjects included the implications for Canada of the US/HK Air Services Agreement and Bombardier sales strategy in China.

Accompanied SSAP at meeting with Dr. Hank Bekedam, World Health Organization.

Given that the conversation was conducted between Dr. Bekedam and SSAP, I had a chance at being note-taker, as per the following:

  • WHO’S China budget is $10mm/year (including the cost of 30 staff members);
  • the bulk of the project budget goes to a number of small initiatives. Hank said however that there is an overall lack of strategic focus, which diminished the impact of the contribution;
  • these projects include fighting TB, the largest of the programs;
  • immunization programs focus on the eradication of polio and fighting AIDS, a program which is experiencing some success.
  • WHO conducts many health surveys, including those in cooperation with the China Academy of Social Sciences and universities;
  • the very large issue in China is the cost of hospital services which, for example, two thirds of farmers cannot afford.
  • WHO is working with the IFIs (International Financial Institutions) on addressing this and other issues;

Met with RCMP Drug Enforcement  Head Mike Gaudreau.

Meeting re preparations for Terry Fox run.

Luncheon Round Table for SSAP with local Canadian business representatives.

Meeting and signing ceremony at AQSIQ.

CCRels  AQSIQ

As previously indicated, AQSIQ was one of the most important interlocutors for the Embassy given its oversight and control over all food and agricultural imports, which accounted for about a quarter of our total exports to China at the time. The Government of Canada’s objective was to insure that AQSIQ would conduct its work on a scientific basis, and not use import controls for political purposes. To the best of our ability, Agriculture Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency developed extensive ties with AQSIQ, often at a personal level, so that Canada-China communications on quality of foodstuffs imported from Canada, adhered to scientific criteria. A Memorandum of Understanding on such elements as administrative procedures and dispute resolution was one tool to insure, as best we could, that this was achieved. While I can’t measure this in any mathematical sense, I would say that my personal relations with AQSIQ during my years in Beijing were among the closest that I maintained, and it was always a pleasure, in part because of the high degree of professionalism on both sides.  

CCRels ChinaEc ChinaDom DPRK PMJC

I accompany SSAP to his meeting with a Vice-Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee, National People’s Congress.

  • Canadian Parliamentarians and their Chinese counterparts – sort of – have had exchanges with some regularity, encouraged of course by PM Chrétien. President Zhang Zemin had visited Canada in 1997. NPPCC Chairman Jia Qinglin had also visited, the latter noting during the visit the high level of education of Chinese Canadians. The Vice-Chairman of the NPC’s Foreign Affairs Committee would be visiting in a few weeks.
  • that said, leadership changes decided by the CCP were unpredictable, so maintaining a cadence of visits of the highest Government and Party officials was essential.
  • the role of the National People’s Congress, at the top of the government hierarchy, includes the fact that it, formally, elects the President, the members of the Supreme Court and so forth. In fact of course, it is the CCP’s apparatus, starting with the Chairman and the Politbureau, that actually makes the decisions, which are then formalized by the NPC.

All of these form and substance realities aside, it is possible to have real and substantive discussions with the Chinese officials, as per below:

  • China’s economy was ‘so so’ in the 1980s, and was damaged by the effects of the collapse of the USSR in 1991, demonstrating to China the negative effects of the Soviet model;
  • but the faults also lay within China, because of ‘internal policy weaknesses’, despite having begun reform efforts. (The changes necessary to accede to the WTO were still a decade away of course.)
  • China needed peace and stability in order to prosper and modernize.
  • this led to a long discourse on North Korea, with which he had had many exchanges.

Some of his points:

  • China encourages DPRK to engage in a broader set of dialogues with third countries, especially with countries that have good relations with the US, such as Canada;
  • DPRK citizens have nutrition and health issues; the country needs food assistance, which China among others is providing. (NB: so was Canada);
  • NK agricultural production is improving but still not sufficient to feed the country;
  • the IBRD and AsDB do not come into play, as NK does not maintain relations with these IFIs;
  • re Kim Jong-il: met on 5 occasions; some of his ideas are ‘weird’; he can’t think quickly; some Japanese consider Kim to be ‘an idiot’, but our interlocutor does not believe that is the case; he just has a funny way of thinking, jumps from one subject to another;
  • Kim has learned that peace is important to the Korean Peninsula, but he is not clear on how peace is to be preserved.

SSAP shifted the conversation to the Canada-China relationship:

  • re Approved Destination Status, it is hoped that it can be achieved.
  • re Human Rights: it has been discussed in exchanges with Canadian parliamentarians; HR is improving continuously in China, for example, the Constitution guarantees freedom of belief.
  • SSAP stated that the issue of Falun Gong persecution is of great concern to Canadians and their Parliamentarians; we believe that hundreds of FG members have been killed in and by China;
  • this was denied: FG members died because they refused to accept medical assistance;
  • re religious freedoms: new regulations in China allow registration of religious groups, however none has registered to far; but there are many temples and churches throughout China, which accept Muslim and Buddhist belief systems as well;
  • to which SSAP asked if the Bible was available for sale in China, and if so, how many Bibles were sold?
  • the Vice Chairman said he did not know, but that Bibles were available in all good book stores, even simplified versions for children;
  • SSAP replied that he would check this out;
  • the Vice-Chairman’s concluding remarks were that he was a great friend of Senator Jack Austin, and that they had met on many occasions, going back to the 1950s.

On that, the meeting concluded.

Dinner at OR for SSAP/Kilgour with the Canada-DPRK Goodwill Delegation, consisting of 15 Canadians representing organizations such as The Global Aid Network, the Campus Crusade for Christ-East Asia, BC private education and training schools and an investment firm.

DPRK

From among my staff, Counsellor Sven Jurschewsky, my side-kick on visits to North Korea and certainly the most informed Foreign Service Officer on NK from DFAIT, provided his views on developments in the DPRK, domestic and international, with SSAP reporting on discussions that afternoon at the NPC.

At the time, the WHO, the WFP, UNICEF and, if I recall correctly, the FAO had offices in Pyongyang and worked on projects in the DPRK, in addition to a number of smaller, national and private aid organizations also were active there, including a few Canadian aid agencies, involved mostly in health care and education. They were not shy in describing the immense challenges that they faced in dealing with the government authorities, but they were also greatly attached to the people with whom they worked and committed to helping them improve their lives. These guests were some of the most impressive people I met during the course of my career.

Tuesday, October 22

Breakfast meeting at OR for Don Rickerd, Director, Center for Joint Studies, University of Toronto, and Mrs. Rickerd.

With Minister Gordon Holden, we discussed political and economic developments in China, and the state of the Canada/China relationship. Regrettably, Professor Bernie Frolic was to attend, but had to cancel. 

ConGens BT&I

Early that afternoon, I welcomed a three day gathering of the Senior Trade Commissioners from the Embassy and the Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou Consulates, as well as Taipei. They were joined by the DFAIT China team in Ottawa, headed by Ken Sunquist, the DG of the Trade Commissioner Service Overseas Programs and Services. The overall theme was International Business Development, one of the four pillars of Canada’s China strategy. (N.B. and to remind: the Four Pillars were Active Engagement, Economic Cooperation, Human Rights and Peace and Security.) The principal agenda topic the first day was communication: how to use it to pursue Canada’s trade objectives vis-à-vis China, and do so both in China and Canada and how to measure outcomes. 

Wednesday, October 23

Following onto Tuesday’s initial discussions by the trade teams, the second day was on aspects of the trade strategy proper: identifying market opportunities and threats; responding to those opportunities; the concepts and principles of Results-Based Management, Mission roles, followed at the end of the day with a reception with the Canada-China Business Council.

Media

Lunch with Eric Eckholm, New York Times.

Thursday, October 24

Échange de correspondance avec Christian Detellier, Professeur de Chimie et Doyen de la Faculté des Sciences de l’Université d’Ottawa au sujet d’une question de visa refusé.

Concluding sessions of the Trade Strategy meetings.

Friday, October 25

ConGens  BT&I  ChinaEc Taiwan

Breakfast meeting with HK ConGen Tony Burger, Shanghai ConGen Stewart Beck, Guangzhou ConGen Jim Feir and Ted Lipman, Director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei.

Given that the Consuls General and CTOT Director were in town, I followed with a day-long Head of Mission/Senior Managers’ Retreat as an opportunity to take a look at the overall Canada/China strategy, as we on the ground saw things. John Morrison, the Director of the China/Mongolia Division provided Headquarters’ perspectives; the HoMs provided the view from the regions and Taiwan; and general discussions addressed political and security relations with Canada, the economic relationship as viewed from differing regional perspectives, immigration issues, development cooperation and public diplomacy.

‘All quiet on the China front’, seemed to be the agreed opinion from the Canadian perspective. The Canadian Parliament was consumed with the Maher Arar case and gun control legislation. While a foreign policy dialogue was anticipated, neither its direction nor timing was entirely clear.

Hong Kong was still adjusting to the 1997 transition to being a ‘special administrative region’. Economic restructuring, in particular the steady integration with the Pearl River Delta, Article 23 legislation defining ‘treason, ‘cessation’, ‘subversion’ added to the complexity of integration. Canada would be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of its office in HK in the near future, and the options on how to best do so were being considered. A ‘distinguished speakers’ event?

Shanghai faced the challenges of responding to the rapid economic growth curve obvious to all visitors to the city and region. There was increasing Canadian business engagement, although it paled in comparison to that of the Asian Tigers, the Europeans and the US. With growth also came fraud, corruption and the rising power of the triad gangs. Increasing Canadian visibility in the business sectors was a priority activity. The Mission website was becoming the primary tool but could be used more broadly vis-à-vis the local media, for example.

Guangzhou and the Pearl Delta were increasing in trade and economic significance, given not only multiplying connections with Hong Kong, but also the fact that the region is more entrepreneurial than other parts of China, the role of State-owned Enterprises is comparatively less, and the fact that the overseas Chinese communities had and continue to have the greatest links with Southern China. This includes of course the Canadian Chinese community. These dynamics impacted on the HK and Guanzhou Consulates, as the consular load – responding to needs of Canadian citizens – was increasing and the capacity to meet the demand for visas by non-Canadians was not expanding in tandem. The trade program however benefited from proximity to a Canada China Business Council office in Shenzhen.

Taiwan was experiencing economic difficulties: unemployment, reduced investment flows, a trade deficit. There was a need for financial sector reforms. Despite these problems, Taiwan remained the world’s 15th largest economy, boosted as it was by its role as a portal to the Mainland.

The Mission in Taipei faced the usual set of challenges of smaller representative offices: tight budgets, concerns about performance capacity in case of natural disasters – typhoons and earthquakes frequently plague Taiwan; need for increased Commercial Officer personnel to better serve a growing number of Canadian firms engaged in Taiwan as a bridge to China, and so forth.

The Reform and Opening strategies and messages put forth by the CCP and implemented by the Chinese central government and on down were almost over 20 years old as the new century began. To these dynamic were added the acceptance and legal implementation of WTO rules and practices, which further pushed the process of internationalization of China’s macro and micro economies.

And there was more to it than that: everywhere I travelled in China, meeting Governors and Mayors and CPP Officials, I was told of administrative, rule and tax changes that they were implementing ‘because of the WTO’. In the vast number of times I heard this, I couldn’t help but note (to myself) that these reforms had nothing to do with the WTO, since they largely dealt with local issues. It was evident to me that the CCP and Central Government were encouraging a much broader reform agenda, all the way down, and permitting local entities to claim that changes were in response to Chinese membership to the WTO. This wink and a nod had multiple effects: yes, it loosened the rules on the books, and allowed for all sorts of changes, with positive macro and micro economic impacts, but it also further opened the gates to corruption up and down the food chain, the abuse of administrative powers, the decline – willful or otherwise – of CCP oversight on the behaviour of its officials, and eventually, a Chinese public that was losing confidence in the system.

But this was for later. The period that this narrative covers is at the front end of the early 21st century China story. Not surprisingly therefore, the Government of Canada strategy was not to change its China strategy, that is until the Conservative Party under Prime Minister Harper chose other priorities. As did the CCP.

Saturday, October 26

The Terry Fox Run.

CdaPD

The first Terry Fox Run took place in 1999, and despite its brief history, already enjoyed a high reputation among Beijing’s running and jogging communities. The principal organizers were the Beijing Cancer Institute and the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office. The Cancer Research Center was also involved. The Embassy provided significant organizational skill and motivation for the event, and coordinated the Canadian and foreign corporate donations. Most importantly, the run was becoming a significant source of funding for cancer research. The previous year, it had garnered 754,000 RMB in donations.

As noted, the run itself began at the Workers’ Stadium. The runners were divided into 10 groups, with bicycles leading the way. 10 ‘stations’ managed by volunteers were available to receive donations and provided water to the runners.

All of this makes Beijing one of the 50+ cities around the world inspired by the incredible Terry Fox.

Monday, October 28

The regular Mission Agendas Meeting

BT&I

Letter to Chief Administrator of the Certification and Accreditation Administration regarding the certification of the Apple Directive, by which 68 Chinese casing plants would be allowed to ship their apples to Canada. Also mentioned is the documentation confirming revisions of regular bovine embryo protocol sought from the Administration by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

All in a day’s work.

BT&I

Accompanied NORTEL CEO Frank Dunn to the opening of PT/Expo Comm China 2002 for meeting with Vice Minister Zhang Chunjiang, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Phone call meeting with Tsinghua University Professor and close friend Sunami Atsushi who is doing research on higher education in the sciences in China.

ChinaDom

I had first met Dr. Sunami in Japan. Some of his comments:

  • Chinese sciences are moving rapidly, and could lead Japan in areas such as biotechnology, computer programming and new computer languages in the near future.
  • re the Zhonguancun science city in Beijing’s Chaoyang district: it’s strength is that it is close to the universities and government labs, but it is far from the downtown business core, which is a disadvantage;
  • it is nevertheless moving forward, competing with Shanghai and other development zones;
  • Dr. Sunami’s own work includes reports to the Ministry of Finance on strategies to leap-frog the world’s leading countries in science and technology research and development.

CdaPs&Ms

Meeting followed by OR luncheon with Manitoba Minister of Industry, Trade and Mines Mary Ann Mihychuk and delegation, including representatives of the Manitoba Trade and Investment Corporation, in addition to a group of 11 business people representing 9 companies.

Received Swedish Ambassador Borje Ljunggren on a courtesy call.

BT&I

Attended gala banquet at the Diaoyutai Guest House, hosted by Nortel Networks CEO Franck Dunn, celebrating 30 years of business in the PRC. The senior Chinese guest was Vice Minister Cai Qinghua of the Ministry of Railways.

A week earlier, Nortel had signed a US$280mm contract with China Unicom for wireless networking infrastructure.

Tuesday, October 29

CCRels

Breakfast meeting with Prof. Bernie Frolic, York and Toronto universities.

As mentioned earlier, Bernie was and remains Canada’s ur-scholar on China and the bilateral CC relationship. While I have no notes of the meeting, I expect that we would be comparing views on current developments in the CCP and the Chinese government, and connections with Canadian interests.

Meeting with President Michael Stephenson, Simon Fraser University.

Education

President Stephenson had been visiting Chinese universities with which SFU continues to have close relations: Qinghua University’s Shenzhen campus providing an MBA in Management of Technology and English as a Second Language training; a field school in archeology with Beida and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Also exploring ties with universities in Nanjing and Zhejiang.

Attended opening of PT Expo, China’s flagship ICT exposition.

Attended luncheon hosted by Nortel.

Meeting with Counsellor Michael Martin and staff re the Public Diplomacy Strategy.

Meeting with Rob Mackenzie re International Business Development funding and business plans.

Ambs

Courtesy call by new Ambassador from Greece Charalambos Rocanas.

Meeting with University of Calgary Professor of Chemistry Dennis Salahub, subsequently attending UofC reception.

Evening at the opera: Alban Berg’s Lulu.

Wednesday, October 30

CCRels PMJC

Transmitted PM Chrétien letter to Premier Zhu Rongji about a proposed MOU between the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission and their provincial counterparts in Canada, confirming Canadian commitment to regulatory cooperation between China and Canada.

Meeting with Immigration Program senior staff.

Education CdaPs&Ms

Meeting with Alberta Minister of Education Lyle Oberg, followed by briefing session for his 23 person delegation, all from Alberta institutions engaged in education, from universities (e.g. Lethbridge), colleges (Mount Royal), institutes (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology), and even the Alberta School Boards Association.

In a letter to me sent in September by the Deputy Minister, it was explained that ‘the purpose of the mission will be to promote Alberta’s high quality education programs and to assist post-secondary institutions and school jurisdictions in accessing international markets. The Minister recognized that political leadership on the international stage can help to open doors and contribute to the success of international initiatives.’

I must add that I rarely received, from upcoming visits, such a clear statement of their objectives. One can assume a great deal simply by the portfolio and list of wanna meets, but it’s helpful to receive a confirmation. It is generally better, in life as well as professionally, never to assume anything. So, the clarity of the objectives of incoming visitors always helps.

In response, I wrote to the Deputy Minister to provide a bit of information in advance of the visit, indicating that education was clearly one of the highest priorities of PRC governments – national and local – and that throughout much of China’s history…although in ancient times i.e. until the mid-19th century, education was limited to the elites. Expanding internationalization of the economy also meant that schooling increasingly had to achieve international standards. Given the evident interest of the Canadian education sector in attracting Chinese students, Readers will have noted that the Embassy insured that education support was a priority among our activities.

Luncheon hosted by State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs Wan Xueyuan.

ChinaGov

This Ministry, founded in the 1950s, was responsible for hiring foreign experts in the fields of healthcare, engineering, management, technology and so forth, to assist in modernizing Chinese industry and science. (It would be interesting to learn how it survived the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution…) A number of Canadian experts were recruited through the auspices of the State Administration, some of them finding their way to CIDA programs as well.

Attended Alberta education delegation to signing ceremony. …confirming that negotiations on some collaborative projects had been agreed upon.

Dinner with Minister Oberg.

Thursday, October 31

Mongolia

I address a letter to Mongolian Ambassador to Canada, G. Batsukh, following his letter of October 11, on the future of the Mongolia-Canada relationship. My response flags the foreign investment strategy of the Mongolian government in the resource sector, and the resulting flow of Canadian investment in his country. The reality is however that Canadians know little about Mongolia, with Mongolians similarly uninformed about Canada. One result is that political level engagement between our two countries is rather thin. However, Senator Dan Hays was then scheduled to visit Mongolia in the new year, and I had been urging SSAP Kilgour to visit in 2003 as well. 

More progress will be supported by negotiating a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement, which had yet to be launched.

Batshukh proposed establishing a Canada-Mongolia friendship society of sorts. The reality was however that while there are many Canadians living in Mongolia involved in the mining sector and these scattered around the country, there was no similar Mongolian interest group in Canada. As with other such proposals, the policy ideas were ahead of the reality on the ground.

Meeting with Vancouver businessman David Fung, involved in the energy sector.

BT&I

David provided useful advice for doing business in China:

  • ideas are free: you have to protect them if you want to be paid.
  • a major risk factor in the PRC is that they can break warranty agreements.
  • value packaging is key.
  • there is a great opportunity to promote the Canadian content of goods.

Flight to Shanghai…but first:

BT&I

In October, the Trade Section had gone through a full International Business Development Review by DFAIT, which could have human and financial resource implications. The most important immediate outcome was a decision that over-all and on a China-wide basis, we would concentrate on six priority sectors: agriculture, construction and forest products (ie those linked to construction and those in other economic sectors), environment, information and communication technologies, services and capital projects, and transportation. Specific business plans were in development in conformity with the new resource-based management system. The end result, it was hoped, would be a positive adjustment to our resource base.