Recently in British Columbia Category

This is definitely good news for Canadians (and many others) living in Guangdong Province.

The Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell, has announced that non-stop flights between Guangzhou and Vancouver will commence next summer.

Officials signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during a bilateral meeting Thursday, confirming the commencement of the first direct flights between Vancouver and Guangzhou in 2009. Premier Campbell is also meeting with China Eastern Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airlines during his trade mission to discuss expanding transportation links between China and B.C.

"Currently, citizens of Guangdong must travel either to Shanghai or Beijing to take advantage of air services to Vancouver, or alternatively transit through Hong Kong," said Tony Gugliotta, Vancouver Airport Authority's senior vice-president of marketing and commercial development, in the release. "Direct air service will allow greater ease and comfort for the many travelers moving between our two provinces."

I have been bullish on the potential of Guangzhou for as long as readers of this blog can remember, and this is a good sign that the capital of Guangdong will cement itself as an economic hub in southern China. It has been rumored, for years, that Air Canada is also planning to open up the Guangzhou-Vancouver route, and perhaps this will spur that decision along.

As a side note, anyone who's traveled through Guangzhou's luxurious Baiyun Airport knows that it's ready to welcome more international flights. On a recent trip through China with friends, people were in unanimous agreement that Guangzhou is the nicest big-city airport in China (not including Hong Kong International). Now, more people will get to see it themselves.

There are currently non-stop flights between Guangzhou and many international destinations, including Los Angeles in the United States.

I'm sure we've all come to realize that a certain amount of paranoia runs rampant within the government and the state-run system as a whole. I mean, it can't hold a candle to the freak show that lies just below China's border in the northeast, but the years of Mao and the Cultural Revolution still seem to be influencing the state system. And one recent revelation about the state-run media really brings this point home to roost.

This past weekend a friend and colleague of mine revealed just how afraid China is of Falun Gong. I was told that before she was able to be considered for employment that she must put forward a letter from her university professors explaining to the management of the radio station that she has never been involved or associated with anyone who was part of the Falun Gong movement. It was also explained to me that this is common practice before anyone is allowed to take a position in the state-run broadcast media. Apparently, as the story goes, the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television, or SARFT, instituted this no-FG rule a few years back after -- as the story goes -- a Falun Gong member penetrated one of the broadcasting outlets here in China (can't be sure which one, but I think it may have been China Radio International) and put out anti-government messages for about 4 hours until they were discovered and, presumably, yanked off the air (and likely taken for a healthy dose of 'reeducation' forthwith)

Now I'm no fan of Falun Gong. Having been involved in the media in Canada for a number of years where the Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, as they call themselves, have complete freedom, I have dealt with many of them, and truly believe that their movement -- however spiritual in nature that it may have been when it first started -- is now run by fanatics and zealots. But still, this revelation by my colleague brings home the fact that this government is scared of these people. So the question is why? Is it the fact that they organize well? Is the idea of a spiritual movement in a Communist-run society too unappealing?

Under Jiang Zemin, the line was that the government outlawed Falun Gong because the sect was telling its members to hurt themselves. But why, with a population of 1.3 billion people, would -- and not to sound too crass -- this government give a rats ass if dozens, or even hundreds of people decided to take a dip in the Kool-aid? That theory just doesn't wash. So what is it? Why is there so much concern about this movement that the state-run broadcasting organs are making their employees pledge not to be F.G.? I'm afraid it's an answer we shall never hear directly from the horse's mouth.

In a city and country where politics permeates through virtually every aspect of society, it's nice to hear that occasionally business and political machinations can be separated.

Zhongnanhai sat down today with Annette Antoniak, President and CEO of the British Columbia Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Secretariat, for an exclusive interview. Ms. Antoniak is in Beijing as part of a fact-finding and coordination mission, given that British Columbia is playing host to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Now, granted, Ms. Antoniak has to be somewhat diplomatic, given that this particular tour is an intergovernmental affair. However, in past dealings with Ms. Antoniak in her previous role as the person in charge of the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver, I seem to recall her being a somewhat straight shooter when it came to dealing with the media.

With that in mind, during our interview with Ms. Antoniak, she was very complimentary toward both the Beijing Organizing Committee and the Beijing Municipal Government. "Anything that we have asked, they have been completely transparent and helpful to us." Admittedly, Ms. Antoniuk did concede that this transparency doesn't extend to monetary issues surrounding the games, but also pointed out that it was really none of Vancouver's concern.

So kudos to BOCOG and the Beijing Municipal Government for being a part of the 'Olympic family.' One might have assumed that given the secretive nature of Chinese officials that there may have been roadblocks. But from our chat with Ms. Antoniak, it doesn't appear to be an issue.

And an FYI for all our Canadian and Beijing readers. Expect in the next couple of weeks to see a good chunk of Canadiana opening up near Mao's bloated corpse with a definite Olympic theme.

I have been following the Victoria News story quite closely, and figured, since I've written extensively about it already, I may as well bring readers up to date.

First, and thankfully, the media in Victoria and British Columbia have begun following the story. A Channel News, a local television station, has done stories on the situation, as has the national broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Perhaps others have been involved as well, however it's difficult for me to tap all local media when I am based in Beijing. Kudos to those I haven't mentioned.

So even when perceived misdeeds are done in the western press, at least it eventually comes to light. I'm sure not every situation comes to light, but I still remain confident that most things do. As Imagethief mentioned somewhere before, one man's scandal is another man's news.

That being said, I went ahead and re-wrote my earlier blog post for publication, and many of my facts were disputed by my editor. I think it's only fair to list the corrections here.

In my blog post, I wrote the following:

...the reporter, Brennan Clarke, has resigned. His editor, Keith Norbury, has been fired. This, thanks to advertiser complaints.

To be fair, nobody has definitively said that their departures were caused by advertiser complaints. Not that I expect the advertisers to come forward and announce, "Hey, this article hurt us, so we demanded the reporter be fired." But we can certainly think logically about it, and all signs point in that direction. And if we have any further doubts, Public Eye Online posted this on its website:

In an earlier interview with Public Eye, Vancouver Island News Group president Mark Warner confirmed Mr. Norbury's firing was, in part, connected to a complaint by Dave Wheaton Pontiac Buick GMC Ltd. dealer principal Dave Wheaton.

That looks pretty good to me. Regardless, we still only know Norbury's departure was partially connected the complaint, and have no confirmed connection between the complaints and Clarke's resignation.

On to the next point:

But if two staff members, including an editor, were fired (the reporter technically resigned, but I can only assume he was asked to do so), something about this smells funny. How much pressure did the advertisers put on this small paper, which probably relies substantially on advertising? And if so, where are the stories about this? And why didn't the publisher stand up for his staff? Or was something actually wrong with the story?

It was stressed to me repeatedly that the reporter has confirmed himself that he resigned, and was not fired. Secondly, I said, "Why didn't the publisher stand up for his staff?" (First, the publisher is female, which I didn't know at the time but had corrected for the column). My editor correctly pointed out that we don't know whether the publisher stood up for her staff or not, so that question shouldn't be included.

There were other small quibbles with the column, but I thought I would set the record straight, at least here on Zhongnanhai. For the record, my column was not published in a Victoria newspaper because much of the content had originally appeared on this blog. Newspapers do not usually print material published elsewhere.

Finally, I will likely not be following this story further as it's quite local in nature and unrelated to China. But if you are interested, Sean Holman is doing an excellent job following the story on Public Eye Online.