Letter to Bo Xilai…AECL…why Finance Canada should assign a Finance Counsellor to the Embassy…Minister Ye Xiaowen of the State Administration of Religious Affairs…China and the Asia Development Bank…Tibet…Education et les problems de visa…
Spring Festival and the New Year of the Goat.
Spring Holiday Festival
Evening performances of traditional Chinese performing arts hosted by the MFA.
It was truly enjoyable to hear the Chinese in the audience sing along their favorite songs from Beijing operas!
Letter to Liaoning Governor Bo Xilai:
“Please accept my congratulations on your recent re-appointment as Governor of Liaoning Province. You have a challenging portfolio in an important province central to China’s modernization.”
“I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet you again in December of last year. Canada and China are cooperating closely in Liaoning, particularly in fostering economic development in the Northeast of China. I very much appreciated the insights that you provided on China’s economic development plans for the coming years. I look forward to your continued support for Canadian business in Liaoning and meeting with you again over the course of your tenure.”
No one can predict the future.
Briefing by AECL on nuclear file.
With the promise of increased commissioning of nuclear reactors in China, competition from France and the USA was increasing. China was seeking to install 30,000 gigawatts of nuclear power generation by 2020. (They would in fact be producing over 40,000 gigawatts by then.) The State Council had recently approved two Pressurized Water Reactors. China National Nuclear Corporation was planning reactors for Guangdong, with France in the running. AECL had established a CANDU Engineering Center in Shanghai as one base for future marketing campaigns and enhanced credibility of their commitment to the long-term. Canada’s strategic interest in establishing CANDU as one of the viable energy options for China, beyond the technology, was also based on the availability of uranium from Canada, as well as competitive cost factors.
In fact, no additional CANDU 600-megawatt reactors were built in China. Domestic technological, design and construction capacity would soon take the lead. As of this writing (2025), Chinese nuclear power production has reached 58,000 gigawats, produced by 50 reactors with additional units under construction or on the drawing boards. A variety of technologies are involved, viz. small modular reactors, high temperature gas-cooled units and so forth.
Lunch with Susan Lawrence, Far Eastern Economic Review.
According to my notes, Susan shared her sense that there were signs of increased openness in communication between some institutions and the general public;
No question that there was a very slight sense that the rules governing what media could and could not address might be changing and transparency potentially on the rise.
Of course, that is as far as things went, but at the time, there was a sense that change at the social level, if not at the political, might augur a somewhat more open dialogue within the country.
Discussion with Rob Mackenzie re current Trade Section priorities: staff Performance Agreements; outreach to Canada plans.
Priority sectors: AECL, Approved Destination Status, lumber and housing, aircraft sales, services sector, 2008 Olympics infrastructure, agriculture.
Échange de lettre avec Gilles Déry, Directeur Général, Événements internationaux et Promotion, Patrimoine Canadien. Son bureau a la responsabilité de coordonner la participation Canadienne aux expositions internationales. Il exprime le désir de consulter au sujet des plans de Shanghai. Je le remercie et passe la balle à Stewart Beck, Consul-Général.
BT&I
Exchange with Simon V. Potter of Ogilvy Renault in Montreal, about the Government of Québec support for a Noranda magnesium plant. He attaches a National Post article speculating that there will be pressure on Trade Minister Pettigrew to launch an anti-dumping case against China.
Meetings with various staff;
Meeting with CIDA’s new Program Director Jeff Nankivell – who replaced Henri-Paul Normandin – to discuss the forthcoming visit of Minister Whelan. Also, update on CIDA developments in Yunnan e.g. Montreal link to training in municipal management, Alberta re community forestry management, and in Inner Mongolia, e.g. bio-diversity project, community management of forestry reserves, grass-lands project, Cdn university linkages.
Preparations for upcoming China Round Table.
Meeting with Bill Blaney, Director for International Development, Global Aid Network.
The discussion focused on international assistance for the DPRK.
With Kumru, hosted restaurant lunch for the Official Residence staff: Ji Langui/Chauffeur, Nolan Ledarney/Chef, Hu Zhongshan/Butler, Liang Yulan/Ayi – indispensable housekeeper, Yu Xiuqing – equally indispensable housekeeper.
They were wonderful people – hardworking, patient, all with a sense of humour: there were tears all around when we would leave in 2005…
Bar duty at the ‘Canadian Club’, the Embassy downstairs bar and informal gathering place; all Embassy staff – no exceptions – had their turn at staffing the bar.
MAM issues: double taxation agreement and impact on Air Canada; AECL strategy; PM Chrétien October visit ‘deliverables’, aka outcomes that will be both substantive and grab public attention; Conférence de Montréal.
J’ai assisté à 3 reprises à la Conférence, qui focalise sur les liens économiques parmi les Amériques. J’ai encouragé l’élargissement de l’agenda pour inclure l’Asie, mais sans succès, à l’époque, du moins. Ma présentation aux participants apportait la seule perspective ‘asiatique’.
Lunch with Political Minister Gordon Holden and E.A. Jennifer May, re specific subject of religion and religious practices in contemporary China, this preparatory for the next day’s luncheon meeting with a delegation of Chinese religious organizations headed for Canada.
Telecon with ConGens at their posts.
Meeting with Richard Liu re hosting dinner for sponsors of Special Olympics.
Planning meeting for Canadian Embassy Charity Ball.
Not to anticipate matters but the Ball would also feel the impact of SARS, and would be cancelled.
Exchange with Director General Yi Xiaozhun, Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, extending the deadlines for CIDA funded agricultural projects: the Integrated Dairy Cattle Breeding Project, the Lean Swine Production Project and the China Feed Industry Center Project.
Message to the Department of Finance making the case for the permanent posting of a DoF Finance Counsellor to the Embassy. My argument in favour was along the following lines:
These arguments were eventually accepted by Finance Canada, but not under my watch.
Dinner hosted by Vice Minister of Personnel Yin Weimin, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
No notes but discussion no doubt focused on the role of the ministry – labor standards and policies, as well as managing the social security system. VM Yin would rise to the Ministerial position, as well as Deputy Head of the Organizing Department of the CCP.
Work on the forthcoming Canadian Center for Management Development presentation in Ottawa.
Hosted lunch for Minister Ye Xiaowen, SARA, viz State Administration of Religious Affairs (now the National Religious Affairs Administration). Minister Ye would lead a ‘religious freedoms’ delegation to Canada, hosted by the Secretary of State for Asia Pacific, David Kilgour, and Senator Lois Wilson. SARA was a United Front Work Department institution responsible for overseeing the activities of the five sanctioned religious assemblies in China: Buddhist, Taoist, Muslim, Protestant (Three-Self Patriotic Movements) and Catholic. Minister Ye would lead SARA/NRAA from 1995 to 2009, a mark of his bureaucratic and political skills. The group he would lead to Canada consisted of representatives of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, The Institute on World Religions of the China Academy of Social Sciences, the Information Office of the State Council, the Foreign Affairs Department of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, the Foreign Affairs Office of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, and two officials from the MFA’s NA Bureau.
The purpose of the visit, quoting The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops which met with the Delegation, was as follows: ‘The visit was to outline CCCB involvement in ecumenical, ethical, pastoral and faith education programs in Canada, and to show how religious diversity in Canada, respect for each other’s differences and the respective autonomy of Church and state were ways of ensuring religious freedom.’
Whether some of the discussions between our Chinese guests and their counterparts in Canada influenced the individual members and, down the line, their respective flocks is impossible to say. But it would change nothing from the lock that the CCP keeps on all organized religious groups.
Call on Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng.
Absence of notes from this meeting is again so very frustrating. Hopefully, students and scholars will be able to access all of the classified email and other materials – such as the report of this meeting – for the 2001-2005 period, the mid-period between what I would call the culmination of Reform and Opening and the CCP’s reaffirmation of its Leninist roots. Minister Sun would remain in place from 1998 to 2008, subsequently becoming – and for a full decade – the Chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
I send 27 congratulatory emails to DFAIT colleagues on the occasion of their recent promotions.
Dinner with Shan Minwei of the People’s Bank of China.
The PBC was an important ‘waystation’ for many Canadian companies doing business in China.
Lunch with Bombardier China representative John Cheh and Xiao S.C. re rail and regional aircraft businesses.
Bombardier’s business was booming. President Paul Tellier was projecting a visit in tandem with stops in India and Russia. An important decision was imminent re Guangzhou Line 3 requirement for 60 railcars. Shanghai had confirmed a contract for 100 cars. Potential business in Qingdao and Changchun was anticipated. Regional airlines were in discussion with BBD for its family of CRJ aircraft as well.
Meeting with Clare Cowan, founder of the Global Exchange Network.
China’s economic boom was based on both domestic and foreign capital, involving a wide variety of firms, from the largest banks to sources of venture capital for small and medium enterprises not listed on the major exchanges. The GEN was proposing a major gathering of SMEs and venture capital sources in Shanghai. GEN’s efforts were aimed at assembling a regional Asia-Pacific audience, to be attracted to the event by the participation of, for example, the Mayor of Shanghai, as well as venture capitalists from Canada. I do not recall if such a gathering took place, but whether it did or not, there could be little doubt that this sector of financial markets was on a growth path.
Lunch with John Pomfret, Washington Post.
John was – and remains as of this writing – an important source of wisdom and understanding of China, past and present. A reporter over many years with AP and WaPo and author of several books, fluent in Chinese given his education at Nanjing University, his insights on Chinese society were especially valuable.
My notes of our chat are sketchy but dealt with the long-term effects on Chinese society of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen – he was there and was a friend of Liu Xiaobo. Chinese society had, as one result, become more fragmentary, social values, ancestor worship, the centrality of the family had been damaged. In its place was a more hedonistic society, a cult of money behind a race to higher social status. Social harmony, the ancient Confucian notion of ‘the rectification of names’ had been damaged. One social response could be seen in the rise of religious beliefs and association.
What to Read
John Pomfret: ‘Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of New China’.
Meeting with VP Colin Fernie, of MessierBugattiDowty, now Safran Landing Systems, the world’s largest manufacturer of airplane landing gears, incorporated in Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier aircraft, among others. The purpose of the meeting was to inform me and the embassy of MBD’s marketing efforts vis-à-vis AVIC 1.
Meeting with Bruce Murray, Asia Development Bank’s Country Director in China, Chief Economist Tang Min and other Senior Staff.
Bruce&Co provided me and embassy colleagues a fulsome briefing on the AsDB’s programs and current activities in China. As an example, the briefing focused on a strategy termed An Action Plan for Governance, with economic growth and poverty reduction as the overall focus. To design and obtain authorization for individual programs to serve those objectives required first and foremost buy-in by the most important Ministries: Finance, State Development and Planning Commission, the People’s Bank of China and others. One big problem at that higher level of policy discussions: significant lack of communication and coordination among these large ministries. This weak connectivity was compounded by an additional layer of decision making: the directives issued by National Peoples’ Congress’ economic committees and the Ministries over which they had nominal policy authority. Bruce gave the example of agricultural land degradation: the AsDB had funding to help remedy this growing problem, but the lack of policy coherence with the NPC and among ministries, e.g. Agriculture and Environment, makes program design and delivery difficult, at best.
Another challenge comes from the different perspectives between the national government in Beijing and the individual provincial governments, and respective budget priorities. An example: who pays for social service delivery at the local level? There are restrictions put in place by the central government on the rights of lower orders of government to raise their own taxes for social services. To cover the expenditures, some provinces and municipalities therefor impose off-budget fees and charges which conflict, in policy terms, with national government priorities. On top of that, it can be difficult to get local governments to open their books. National economic imperatives, as defined in Beijing, can thus conflict with local initiatives aimed at promoting economic growth and business activities. There is ‘structural imbalance’ in financing national objectives set by Beijing and provincial responsibilities…something with which Canadians are ever familiar!
Letter to Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Vice-Minister Ma Xiuhong.
I informed the Vice Minister that Industry Canada’s Director General for Aerospace and Automotive sectors would be visiting Beijing and that we were seeking an opportunity for a meeting. Among the issues for discussion was the status of the Canadian request to have equal VAT-tax for aircraft above 25 tons and those below 25 tons. Also of interest to Canada was the forthcoming decision regarding preferential VAT rates for aircraft manufactured or assembled in China and sold to domestic airlines. Canada would take the position that any such violations of the National Treatment or the Most-Favoured-Nation principles would be inconsistent with China’s WTO obligations.
I added that, regrettably, I myself would be travelling to Canada and could not attend the meeting, with Chargé-d’Affaire and Minister Counsellor Rob MacKenzie in my place.
Note to the MFA informing the Ministry of plans to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region, accompanied by my Wife, Kumru, as well as Jeff Nankiwell and Gérald Chauvet (CIDA) and Nadia Burger, Political Section.
In fact and as Readers are aware, this visit did not take place thanks – as mentioned – to SARS.
Dinner hosted by Richard Liu, Canadian Tourism Commission, and Ms. Li Xiaolin, VP, Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. The CPAFFC is a ‘Front’ organization but one that plays a useful role in assisting the organization of Canada/China exchanges – when we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of C/C diplomatic relations in 2000, the CPAFFC took the lead in organizing commemorative events, both independently and in cooperation with the Embassy. It was also a vehicle to promote our yet unmet objective of becoming an Approved Destination country for Chinese tourists.
Meeting with Phillis Chang, China Law and Development Ltd.
Ms Chang provided her views on the day’s China:
Various meetings with Staff.
Lunch with James Li, Tsinghua Law school
Professor Li informed me that the Chinese Society for International Law was sponsoring a May conference on the International Criminal Court. One of the speakers will be Dr. Roy Lee, a McGill Law graduate who became a distinguished official at the UN on humanitarian law and human rights and served as Chief Secretary of the International Criminal Court. The purpose of the gathering would be to explain the history and role of the ICC, and the connections with domestic laws in countries where the ICC has been given legal status, including Canada.
Dr. Li reflected on law and the CCP: while DXP and his CCP cohorts believed that law was essential to control their opponents and the general public, the current Chinese leadership is better educated than their predecessors and see ‘rule of law’ as a tool to shape the society they are building. But ‘rule of law’ has ‘socialist characteristics’: unquestioned authority of the CCP; as with the Legalists of the Warring States period, law must be used to shape all aspects of society; corruption and other problems can be fought without an independent judiciary; political power cannot be constrained by law; the Constitution is a guideline, and cannot be subject to judicial review, and accordingly, there is no Constitutional Court; accountability of leaders is not due to ‘the people’: it is to one’s superiors. And so forth.
Rule of Law is understood by citizens in democracies as the principal tool to protect citizens from nefarious behaviour by fellow citizens but also act as a restraint against bad behaviour by the State: it is a constraint on Government. In China, Rule of Law only serves the first half of these purposes.
Meeting with Vice Chairman of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles Li Mu.
The CFLAC was and remains a state organization tasked with supporting artists and artistic endeavors, overseeing fifty plus national cultural groups (including for example the Chinese Writers’ Association, the China Theater Association, the Chinese Artists’ Association and the China TV Artists Association etc). Accordingly, CFLAC had hosted the first visit of the Canada Council for the Arts to China in 2002, resulting in the MOU signed between the two bodies. Thus, it was potentially an interlocutor for our efforts to increase the connections between Canadian and Chinese arts and artists. And so I explained to Vice Chairman Li. I informed him that plans were in the works for a March 7 gathering in Ottawa of representatives of cultural organizations, the purpose of which would be to stimulate efforts to increase China/Canada linkages between and among arts organizations, from museums to the performing arts. Our Embassy would be seeking cooperation where possible with CFLAC, and encouraged Li to visit Canada as part of the effort to increase linkages in this sector.
Vice-Chairman Li expressed interest in the March 7 event, and indeed said that CFLAC needed to fill gaps in its understanding of how the Canadian Government supports artistic creativity. He wished to facilitate a timely exchange of information on developments in both countries on the Arts. CFLAC hoped to send a return delegation to Canada in September for two weeks. For my part, I encouraged V-C Li and CFLAC to contact the CCA as soon as possible in order to establish a window for their visit to Canada.
Letter to Senator Vivienne Poy
I invite Senator Poy to join me for the March 7 gathering in Ottawa to discuss the implications for Canada and for the Canadian arts and cultural community of the internationalization of culture and the arts in China. I explained that the meeting was being organized in cooperation with the Arts and Cultural Industries Promotion Division and the China Division of DFAIT. I wrote that ‘China’s ongoing process of economic growth and liberalization, and the emergence of a large and growing consumer class was creating a new and significant demand for cultural products and services. This provided new opportunities for artistic and cultural partnerships between Canada and China.
Using a round-table format, the discussions were to be structured in three parts: an introduction and briefing on the internationalization of culture in China; sharing views by participants on their recent experiences and interests in China, and a summation of conclusions and next steps.
Lettre et texte semblables adressé aux institutions culturelles :
Exchange with the Honorable Peter Lougheed who will, along with Madame Lougheed, be visiting Beijing on a ‘private visit’ in mid-May. He requests an opportunity for a briefing on Canada-China relations. I immediately reply, offering him and Madame the options of either a luncheon or dinner event, including a small group of people with direct interests in Alberta as well as the Province’s representative in the Embassy…or a private dinner à quatre at the Residence.
Exchange with William A.W. Neilson, Director and Professor of Law, Center for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria, informing me of an early March conference at UVic entitled West China Development: Domestic Strategies and Global Implications, and inviting me to attend. From the materials Professor Neilson has provided, this will be a major endeavour, with international participation. Regrettably, I was already booked, with the visit of International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew, as were senior Embassy Commercial Section staff who would otherwise benefit from participating in the planned conference.
I do add that one of the key issues facing Western China was what some Chinese commentators have referred to as its ‘governance deficit’ and added that this would perhaps be addressed during the Conference. Center/region relations, development of a mature legal system under the rule of law, institutional transparency and the role of the Communist Party were all issues that impacted on everything from China’s urbanization drive to the reform of State-Owned Enterprises and China’s sustainable development.
Exchange with Sergio Marchi, former ur-Cabinet Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, Environment and International Trade, and now Ambassador to the WTO. He has been invited to speak at a WTO-related conference in Shanghai in April and asks me to suggest an additional Canada-focused program in either Beijing or Shanghai, to add to his program. I propose a day and a half program targeting the Foreign Trade and Agriculture ministries – at the center of the action for China at the WTO – as well as the People’s Bank of China and the State Development Planning Commission. A luncheon with like-minded country Ambassadors could also be of interest.
Exchange with AECL Senior VP for Nuclear Products and Services Gary Kugler, arranging for a meeting the following week in Ottawa to discuss AECL’s Replication Strategy in China.
Dinner hosted by Turkish Ambassador Rafet Akgunay.
Draft travel advisory for Canadians planning to visit North Korea. 20 years later, the advisory is not notably different.
Attended the World Figure Skating Championships, including Canadians Emanuel Sandhu (8th in points; who would go on to win the 2004 Grand Prix Final championship), Jeffrey Buttle, Jennifer Robinson, Joannie Rochette. Anabelle Langlois and Patrice Archetto came in 5th in pairs.
Exchange with Erich Weingartner re the 4th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights regarding funding for CanKor’s participation at the Conference. I referred the issue to Ottawa and suggested that we meet the next week, when I would be in Ottawa as well.
Off to Vancouver.
My notes are sketchy but the thrust of that conversation was about the steps that UBC could take in China to increase its visibility as an educational institution but also a partner in academic research. One option would be establishing a physical presence – perhaps a campus of sorts with a partner university for example. The legal status of such an institution would have to be determined. The fact that the UBC Campus includes the Museum of Anthropology suggests the possibility of including arts and culture as part of a collaborative program with Chinese partner institutions.
UBC also has links with the Trudeau Foundation, which could add a dimension to a UBC/China partnership of sorts.
Venerable Lhakdor is an active defender of Tibetan culture and Buddhist beliefs and traditions, but also an articulate ‘realpolitic’ analyst of the best means of dealing with the Government in China. ‘Let’s leave history to historians’ is how he began our discussion of Tibet’s challenges. Tibet has to live with China, and that through negotiations. Not independence but ‘genuine autonomy’ is what is being sought, meaning inter alia complete freedom of religion and culture. He referred to meetings in Beijing in September (2002) as an effort to have a real dialogue, to ‘break the ice’. While ‘the Chinese don’t always want to listen to us’, sometimes they appear to be listening. Why? Perhaps because they want to deal with the Dalai Lama before he passes away. Perhaps they respect his insistence on non-violence. Consideration was being given to sending another delegation. Meanwhile, the frustration among Tibetans continues to rise. Their culture is being preserved in India. In Tibet itself, the PLA presence is extensive. While there is some economic improvement in the lives of Tibetans, there continues to be persecution of monks and monasteries.
Venerable Lhakdor senses spiritual bankruptcy in China, a need for revitalization. He believes that Chinese leadership recognizes this as well. There appears to be a change in attitude among Chinese leadership about the role of religion and, specifically Buddhism.
The conversations over the course of dinner, as could be expected, bounced from one China issue to another. Topics nevertheless provide a picture of some of the current concerns and interests within academia:
Flight to Ottawa.
Dinner with former Secretary of State for External Affairs and variously Minister of Communications and Employment and Immigration Flora MacDonald.
I wish I had kept notes for that evening, although it was purely social. An extraordinary Canadian politician and even more extraordinary human being.
Coordinating Committee of Deputy Ministers: Half-day session for Public Servants:
I was invited to do the opening lecture on China.
I had been asked to speak about governance in China, how China rules itself and the implications for those who deal with its governing institutions. I started with a quotation not from Chinese sages but from a Japanese history, the ‘Heike Monogatari’, the Tale of the Heike, whose opening lines are known to all Japanese: ‘The bell of the Gion Temple tolls into every man’s heart to warm him that all is vanity and evanescence’. Then I drew from ‘The Three Kingdoms’, among the defining literary works of China: ‘The Empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide.’ My purpose in using these lines was to draw attention to the sense that for the Japanese, human behaviour is at the source of history and the fate of men, while that for the Chinese, the great determinant is China and its civilization itself, something above politics and society, something much bigger than the people and the leaders and the institutions of the moment. It is the notion of “China” that is the motive force of history. It is not, as I put it in my remarks, that “China” is a ‘deus ex machina’, it is rather the ‘deus intra machina’ that provides the existential rationale for whatever politics determines is important at any given time.
What follows the text of the speech is the complete set of notes I prepared for the CCMD presentation. I would draw on it for other presentations and briefings as well. These notes are among the more extensive that I assembled during my China posting, regarding the China that I observed.
DFAIT organized a ‘China Workshop’ for Departmental officials involved directly and indirectly with the China/Canada relationship. Topics dealt with the administration of programs and political/economic relations issue:
Meeting with Claude Laverdure, Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat and Senior Adviser on Foreign Policy to PM Chrétien.
The meeting dealt of course with the forthcoming visit of PM Chrétien. The objectives of the visit were many: meeting the new leadership, President Jiang Zemin to be replaced by Hu Jintao and Premier Zhu Rongji by Wen Jiabao, thus maintaining the well-established Canadian strategy with the PRC of establishing close personal ties with China’s leaders. The trade and commercial dimensions of the visit had yet to be sorted out. A cultural component was also discussed, given the objective of raising Canada’s visibility in China. I also debriefed Claude on current relations with the DPRK.
Meeting with PM Chrétien senior Political Advisor Eddie Goldberg, PMO.
Largely the same discussion I had with Claude L.
Meanwhile, at the Embassy, first plans were being laid out for a projected visit by Environment Minister David Anderson for early September. Discussions with the State Environmental Protection Agency had begun. Minister Anderson was well acquainted with his counterpart, State Environmental Protection Agency Minister Xie Zhenhua (who was clearly committed to environmental improvements in China and around the world). China and Canada held largely compatible positions on international issues at the time. The Conférence de Montréal had already invited Minister Xie to its 2004 meeting the following May.
Other planned Canada/China agenda items re the environment file included the annual meeting of the Canada China Environment Committee, with the proposal by the Chinese that it be held in the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone in March. This was exceedingly short notice for Environment Canada and the Embassy and would be subject to further discussions.
Meeting with Mongolia Ambassador Batsukh.
Meeting with Senator Dan Hays.
Meeting with DFAIT Deputy Minister Gaëtan Lavertu
Meetings with DFAIT Asia staff.
Exchange with WTO Ambassador Sergio Marchi re a suggested schedule for a visit to Beijing in late April. I proposed meetings with the MoFTEC, Bank of China, the Agriculture Ministry, the SDPC and a speech at the University of Beijing.
DFAIT meetings on Beijing staffing issues. Also, an update on the challenges of Information Management and Technology.
Return to Beijing, arriving on Sunday the 23rd.
Mission Agenda Meeting/MAM
I reported on my visit to Ottawa, with focus on forthcoming high-level visits, the most important being that of the PM, and Agriculture Minister Vanclief.
Meeting with Minister of Construction Wang Guantao.
We had a very substantive meeting, both in terms of Canadian commercial interests but also because of Chinese interest in the role of Canada’s Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, as well as that of CIDA’s China program. Thus, housing was the focus of our discussion. CIDA’s programs in China addressed energy efficiency standards in specific geographic areas viz. Harbin, Tianjin, Changzhou in Jiangsu Province, and Beijing. CMHC, for its part, was collaborating with the Ministry of Construction on a variety of issues: housing finance, training and education of construction systems, including of course Canada’s 2X4 wood frame housing (with the export of Canadian construction materials very much in mind), energy efficiency in multistory buildings, heating and insulation modernizations, and urban infrastructure development. Although not raised during our meeting, I could have added the active interest of British Columbia in this sector (for obvious reasons). PM Gordon Campbell would be visiting during my watch.
Meeting with Howard Balloch, my immediate predecessor as Ambassador. After leaving the Foreign Service, Howard founded The Balloch Group, based in Beijing, offering advisory services for doing business in China. He also served as the on-the-ground representative of the Canada China Business Council, becoming its President in 2005.
Our luncheon meeting dealt primarily with plans for PM Chrétien’s forthcoming visit, and the CCBC engagement in the program. This would be significant, as the CCBC was celebrating its 25th anniversary as the key Canadian business group promoting trade and investment linkages between Canada and China. It played a very important role in Prime Minister Chrétien’s Team Canada trade strategy.
A number of key issues were at play during the planning period: promoting the participation of provincial Premiers – a matter for which PMO was responsible; assuring that the all-important anniversary banquet would host China’s top leaders and take place in the Great Hall of the People. The Embassy of course would be involved in assisting the CCBC in achieving these top-of-the-line objectives, as well – and this was equally important – providing one-on-one assistance to the members of the CCBC business women and men during the PM and CCBC visit, in the pursuit of their individual commercial objectives.
Interview with BTV regarding Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada. Established in 1997, BCCSC offered both Canadian and Chinese high school education.
Opening remarks and presentation to a visiting group from the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program of Ontario. It consisted then as now as a vehicle to improve executive leadership to help shape the future of the agriculture and food industry and make a positive difference in rural communities across Ontario. Over two fall/winter periods, Chinese participants took part in seminars and study tours – both North American/International – culminating in a spring graduation.
Various meetings with Staff, including on the Public Diplomacy Strategy.
Received a briefing on the upcoming National Peoples’ Congress. Work reports of various NPC committees would be presented and approved. Leading issues included the growth of urbanization in China and its consequences, improving the standard of living of rural populations as well as their aspirations for the future in a modernized and mechanized agricultural sector. Reports on the Supreme Court and the Procuratorate would address the issue of corruption. Premier Wen Jiabao would close the session with a press conference, à la CCP.
Meeting with Thales President and CEO Philippe Quentin.
Lunch with Rodney Palmer, CTV Bureau Chief. Rodney had been nominated the previous year for a Gemini Award for Best Foreign News Reportage.
Comme exemple des défis auxquels font face les objectifs d’institutions éducatives qui cherchent à attirer les étudiants de la Chine, d’une part, et la nécessité d’assurer la légitimité des applications de l’autre, voici un exemple typique des défis, faisant face à l’objectif partagé par les écoles et le Gouvernement du Canada de promouvoir l’éducation en Chine pour des universitaires canadiens, et au Canada pour leurs homologues chinois:
Conclusion : Apprentissage et adaptation sont nécessaire de la part des institutions d’éducation et au Canada et en Chine, étant donné la demande croissante pour une collaboration effective, et aussi important, la nécessité d’augmenter l’effectif responsable à l’Ambassade de l’émission des visas, dans un ‘marché’ en pleine expansion.
Travel to Tianjin – one of the nine national central cities in China – for an outreach program of activities to advance the trade agenda. (The other 8 cities: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xian and Zhengzhou.)
Various meetings with Staff, including re Tibet.
Meeting with Vice President Ms Chen Jixin, Beijing Time New Century Entertainment Co.
A major player in the emerging arts and entertainment sphere, my meeting with Mme Chen and, later in the day, Zhang Yu of the China Performing Arts Agency, were part of the effort to link the Canadian and Chinese arts and performance worlds.
Madame Chen provided a thumbnail sketch of the progressive privatization of the performing arts world, and its increasing internationalization, replacing in some respects the state direction and control of a once all-powerful Ministry of Culture. The Ministry still has oversight responsibilities re licencing policies, but the entertainment business is now largely privatized, with authorized licensing bureaux who work with promoters to organize events. Hosting foreign performers – e.g. Diana Krall – is accomplished by linking with private agencies and promoters, as private capital is necessary to pay for them and their entourage. Markets for the performing arts are growing rapidly, as even smaller cities want to see famous acts. For less famous performers, participation in local arts festivals can be very helpful, as it provides visibility and credibility.
Lunch with Italian Ambassador Paolo Bruni and Mrs. Bruni, hosted by Kumru and me.
President Zheng Yu of the China Performing Arts Agency echoed many of Chen Jixin’s comments, especially the evolution of the marketplace rules and regulations, but added a number of points of interest. He stated that while the Ministry of Culture remains very important at the top of the pyramid, the market was influencing the art world to an increasing extent, and that involving not only Chinese agencies but foreign as well. ‘The performance world is still a ‘small pond’ but becoming an increasingly big lake’ is how he put it. CPAA itself is growing rapidly, from 3 offices to over ten, including Shanghai and one in Germany. There are plans to open as well in Nanjing, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, all of which are potentially rich and growing markets. He expects that competition will grow accordingly. There is also increasing investment in movies, for TV and domestic and foreign movie house releases. Still, ‘the box office receipts remain very low’. The best market opportunities are at the high end, viz Cirque du Soleil – btw, CPPA is the main provider of Chinese performers for Cirque – while at the other, non-commercial end, government subsidies are still needed, or the help of private sponsors. Ballet and musicals can be money makers, but music – jazz, dance music – are still a harder sell.
Meeting with MFA VM Yang Wenchang re war in Iraq.
Meeting with Taniguchi Tomohiko, Nikkei Business Magazine.
Meeting with Rob McKenzie re CCBC.
Meeting with Keith Bradley, AECL
Keith provided an update on Qinshan. Matters are progressing well, with positive knock-on effects: signals that additional CANDU reactors could be a possibility, including a 20,000 megawat reactor by 2020, an AECL consulting role in the development of a Chinese Pressurized Water Reactor, Chinese hints at a possible ‘strategic partnership’, a comment by Liu Jibin, a senior official at COSTIND*, that ‘CANDU has a place in the future of nuclear technology in China’, and so forth.
*The Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence – COSTIND – had within its broad portfolio the China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Group, as well as links with the China Atomic Energy Authority.
Attended a Special Olympics event at Beijing Concord College in the company of Mrs. Susan Saint James, Special Olympics International Board member, in China to launch Youth Initiatives for Special Olympics China.
That evening, I hosted a dinner for Mrs. Saint James and a coterie of Beijing-based senior corporate executives who were contributors to the Special Olympics, these including General Motors, Air Canada, Nike, Prudential, The Timken Company etc. Ms. Saint James, btw, was an Emmy winning actress on TV screens of the ‘60s to ‘80s, who subsequently turned her fame and fortune to the Special Olympics. And btw 2: she spoke le français des Parisiens, having trained for an acting career in France.
Meeting with Sun Life President Jim Prieur.
Telephone call with CEO Clare Cowan, Venture Exchange Network.
Hosted lunch for Dr. Dennis Law and Madame Moon Lee, of the Center in Vancouver for Performing Arts.
Letter to Minister Wang Guangtao, Ministry of Construction, who I had met earlier in the week.
I first thanked the Minister for taking the time to meet with me and my colleagues. On substance, I first emphasized the potential of cooperation on energy efficiency. CIDA was already involved in a project to promote the use of energy efficient technologies. I suggested that the similarities of climates in Canada and China would make collaboration in this sector to the advantage of both countries. I added as well that we should consider organizing a conference to bring together Canadian companies possessing leading-edge energy efficient technologies with their Chinese counterparts and experts in the field. Issues and technologies regarding public utilities and urban planning also offered potential.
I then made a pitch for building homes in China on the Canadian model of 2X4 construction, as the technology offered energy efficiency, comfort, style and low cost. Indeed, the Ministry already had in place an MOU with Canada Mortgage and Housing, where housing policies, building codes, housing finance and training of builders were on the agenda. I welcomed the Minister to propose other areas for discussion and collaboration.
That said, not everything was rosy: his Ministry’s proposals on the minimum separation requirements between wood structures and restrictions on the height and size of such housing were not, in the Canadian view, required for fire safety purposes: such rules as currently proposed would limit the affordability and availability of the wood-based housing. Similarly, the omission of explicit mention of the 38mm size of lumber, as produced in Canada and parts of Europe, would act as an impediment to the selection of Canadian wood and again result in limiting the market potential of the building technology. I offered to connect Canadian building standards organization with their Chinese counterparts to address technical details and ensure that the Ministry’s concerns were addressed.
In concluding, I flagged the expected visits to China of Minister of Natural Resources Herb Dhaliwal and BC Premier Gordon Campbell who would undertake a joint program beginning in mid-April. I expressed the hope that Minister Wang would meet them during their visit.
Exchange with Vice-Principal John Fawcett, Colquitz Junior Secondary School in Victoria, regarding their successful cultural exchange program with the Dongshan School District of Guangzhou.
Exchange with Eneco Systems regarding their work with the Shenyang Urban Government and a successful business arrangement in the area of waste management. Eneco thanked the Embassy’s Trade Commissioner Staff, stating that their objectives were ‘successfully realized because of your support’.
Exchange with Dr. David Zakus, Director of the Center for International Health at the UofT, thanking the Embassy for the issuance of visas for a group of senior drug administration officials (25) who attended a one-week course on medical issues, all of whom returned to China. These courses were expected to contribute to the overall strategy of building significant UofT relations with China.
Letter of thanks to Vice Mayor Chen Zhefeng of the Tianjin People’s Municipal Government for a briefing he and his official provided to me and my Embassy colleagues on Tianjin’s economic development programs, including the Haihe River Development Project. I flagged the presence of Canadian companies active in Tianjin, including Sunlife Everbright (whose President I had met earlier in the day).