Canadian PM raises the ire of the Chinese government... again.

My attention was drawn to an article in Canada's Globe and Mail this week that outlined an upcoming meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Dalai Lama:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to meet the Dalai Lama next month in an official encounter on a government site that will irk Chinese officials who view the Buddhist leader as a subversive enemy, sources say.

The coming meeting in a federal building is in keeping with the hard line on Tibet taken by the Conservatives since coming to office last year. It is also an important event for Mr. Harper, who kept a scarf he received from the Dalai Lama as the leader of the opposition in 2004.

I've watched Canada's relationship with intense interest since Stephen Harper and the Conservatives were elected to a minority government nearly two years ago. While many foreign leaders like to talk tough about China, Harper actually seems to be following though. The Dalai Lama Centre opened last year in Vancouver, a city his Holiness has visited twice in the past couple of years. The Canadian government also granted the Dalai Lama honorary citizenship, a move which angered the Chinese government.

But Canada is also going beyond the Tibetan issue. Lai Changxing, the man who is accused of embezzling billions of dollars, remains in Canada despite China's insistence that he be returned, and former Foreign Minister Peter MacKay has also been openly critical of China's human rights abuses. China seems to be taking jabs in return, refusing to allow the Canadian Embassy speak with Huseyin Celil, the Canadian citizen accused of terrorist activities in Xinjiang.

What I can't really understand is what Harper's motives are. I, as much as the next person, like to see foreign governments actually standing up to China and saying what needs to be said. But most of the time, complaints about human rights are made because it placates audiences (the electorate) at home, while governments go ahead and do business deals with China anyway.

Canada doesn't benefit from angering the Chinese, and meeting with the Dalai Lama on an official government residence will certainly accomplish that. Part of me is proud that the government refuses to be bullied by China. But the other part of me wonders, why?