Zhongnanhai

Even before I begin, I feel that I must clarify my position. Having been born and raised in Saskatchewan, known to some as the bread basket of Canada, or to others as the gap between Alberta and Manitoba, I do hold a sense of pride in traveling on a Canadian passport. I do love my country, and, when I return in a couple of week's time for a visit, I plan to soak up all that I can of my great nation. However, I -- unlike most of the people in China -- am willing to take a critical view of my mother country and the problems that it creates for itself. The point of this particular post is not to slag my country, though, but to point out our deficiencies on the international level.

We, as Canadians, consider ourselves among -- if not the -- most tolerant people in the world, accepting all races, religions and lifestyles in the world into our fold. This attitude has given us a special place on the world stage as a country that doesn't move to offend very quickly, and, generally speaking, gives us a good reputation to travel on. Tell anyone in China that you are 加拿大人, (Jianada ren, or a Canadian person) it is usually greeted with a smile and the obligatory 'do you know that 大山 (Da Shan, or China Central Television celebrity Mark Rowswell) is Canadian' reference. I truly do enjoy that fact. It gives me a sense of pride in my country, and makes me feel welcome as a visitor in this country. However, more and more I'm beginning to become disheartened with our official face in this country, and the way our anointed representatives treat our own.

Under the Liberal majority government a few years ago, Canada had a pretty good relationship with China. Trade was strong, and there were very few disputes (minus the Lai Changxing case) to speak of. However, once the conservatives took over, the relationship with China began to frost over. Increased attachment with the United States on policy issues and a general increase in the hawkishness of the Conservative elements of the Canadian government toward China has made things a bit more chilly. In the not-too-distant past, when Canada's minister of International Trade and the Minister and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics, David Emerson, led a trade delegation to China, Mr. Emerson could not make himself available to do a 10 minute interview to China's main English language radio station. Instead, his Parliamentary Secretary was thrust upon me to chat about the relationship Canada and China possess, which, to be quite honest, was a pretty pathetic interview. But that is what I am not particularly bitter about. In this stage of the game, to be quite frank, Canadian politicians are pretty low players on the international level.

That said, this is not a rant about Canada's political attachment -- or lack thereof -- with China. This is meant more to be an assessment of Canada's bureaucratic system, which is represented in this country by it's embassy in Beijing. Since my arrival in Beijing, I have heard nothing but horror stories coming out from the embassy. I had generally dismissed them as random complaints by uptight Canucks who, if you rammed a piece of coal up their ass, in a couple of weeks, would crap you out a diamond. However, recent experiences and information have led me to rethink this previous conjecture.

Most recently I've had three Canadian friends get married to Chinese brides. Each and every one of them has danced on the head of a pin, never really knowing whether or not their individual brides were going to be able to travel to Canada. At first blush, you would suspect that the Chinese government might be the problem in this equation. However, it is the Canadian embassy that was cause for concern. One of my cohorts' wives was even rejected the first time, only to be accepted two weeks later! This, from a country that prides itself on being accepting of all, and will bend over backwards and take it up the tailpipe when it comes to refugees. On top of this, two of my friends have also done work for the Canadian embassy and their social functions. Both have described said parties as lackluster and -- in the words of one friend -- 'a pathetic f*&%ing joke.' Of course, this is all second hand information and, as such, would be wrong of me to write about in detail, as I could not correctly convey the particulars of every instance in a journalistic fashion. However, this past weekend your dear narrator had his first encounter with the embassy that confirmed the need to invoke a Susan Powter-like program inside the bowls of said 大使馆 (Dashiguan, or embassy in Chinese).

Canada's national sport is Lacrosse. Whatever. Saskatchewan's provincial flower is the Tiger Lily. That's all fine and good, but in reality, no one gives a tinkers damn about either! In Saskatchewan, the only thing that people really care about that grows from the ground is wheat, barley, oats and all the other crap that you can make a buck on. And in Canada, the only sport that really garners our attention is hockey! So when given the opportunity to actually take part in our glorious game (and yes, I am officially calling hockey 'ours') one can't help but jump at the chance. Being that it's summer, and the ice rinks in Beijing are way too damn far away (and I don't have my hockey equipment here), street hockey is the only available outlet for those of us in China who grew up wearing toques! As it happens, through the generosity of many a Canadian expat before us, we just happen to be endowed here in Beijing with a full regalia of street hockey gear, including sticks, nets and two full sets of goalie gear. Not a bad little collection if I do say so myself! And, up until this past weekend, the Canadian embassy was home to said gear, and would tuck it away in a storage shed inside the compound after each session. However, unbeknownst to us, this was all about to change. Through forces that are still unable to be understood, Canada's representation in China has since decided that it is too difficult a burden to store two bags of hockey gear to give their fellow Canadians a bit of a taste of home! The ridiculous nature of the arguments the guard gave were astounding. Apparently, the chief complaint is that the equipment takes up too much space in the maintenance locker. Perhaps the removal of the dozen or so discarded bicycles would be in order. Even the clean up and organization of Mao's people's preferred form of transportation would clear up more than enough room for the equipment for Canada's game. However, as the security guard put it when this theory was suggested to him -- quote -- 'This is China.' So, because 'This is China,' we Canadians are being distanced even further from the game we love, and, in my estimation, being distanced from the country we love as well.

The good news is that the equipment lives on in a different venue. The bad news is that my distain for the Canadian embassy lives on as well.

Two items to pass along this afternoon.

I was surprised and a little bemused to see a notice going out in this week's That's Beijing weekly newsletter.  Under the June 22 events column, I found this:

» Quebec National Day
Come celebrate Quebec's National Day with The Bookworm. RMB 120 includes buffet and three drinks (free for kids under 12). For tickets, contact Denise at 139 1011 9354.
6pm. The Bookworm (6586 9507)

Yes, I know this is a private event.  And as a Canadian, I don't much care if there are Quebec Nationalist events in China, Canada, or anywhere else (we are much more secure about these things).  But I still found the event humerous, considering China's track record with others who give the slightest hint of dealing with or referring to Taiwan as a nation.  

Obviously the Bookworm is a private business, and is not a reflection of the government.  But the next time some private group/company/organization decides to Honor the Dalai Lama or Chen Shui-bian or whatever or whomever else, we should remember this event in the heart of Beijing. (I am tempted to say this event "hurts the feelings of the Canadian people.")

And for a laugh, well, if you're not Peruvian, check out this story.  It appears Cameron Diaz has landed in hot water for wearing one of those Mao bags emblazoned with the red star that we see in all the tourist markets in China.

While the bags are marketed as trendy fashion accessories in some world capitals, the phrase has particular resonance in Peru.

The Maoist Shining Path insurgency took Peru to the edge of chaos in the 1980s and early 1990s with a campaign of massacres, assassinations and bombings.

Nearly 70,000 people were killed during the insurgency.

A prominent Peruvian human rights activist said the star of There's Something About Mary should have been a little more aware of local sensitivities when picking her accessories.

I'm wondering, now that superstar Cameron Diaz has been spotted sporting the Mao bag, if I should buy a bunch of these and begin peddling them on eBay. 

It's nice to see Canada having a bit more flair. Yesterday, current Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided to decline a meeting with U2 star Bono.

"I've got to say that meeting celebrities isn't kind of my shtick, that was the shtick of the previous guy," said Harper in a dig at his Liberal predecessor Paul Martin, who met Bono regularly.

"I hope we do it at some point but my principle focus in public policies is not kind of to meet celebrities," added the prime minister, a Conservative.

The Reuters story says Bono has met with George W. Bush and Angela Merkl already, but Harper says he's too busy to meet the star. 

While relieving debt to African nations is a laudable goal, it's nice to come across a politician who is more concerned with actual politics instead of photo-ops with celebrities. 

Canada underestimates Chinese power
Times Colonist
Published: Sunday May 27 

You wouldn't know it by our relatively small population, but Canadians have managed to really spread out worldwide. Here in China, it seems like every other foreigner I meet is from Toronto or Vancouver or Edmonton.

And on a recent trip to Bangkok, I saw lines of foreigners waiting to check in at a budget hotel. A majority were faithfully carrying navy blue Canadian passports as identification.

The good news is being a Canadian overseas is often much easier than being an American, or even a German or Briton for that matter, because we are generally viewed favourably.

Toronto and Vancouver have become magnets for overseas Chinese and many who fled the country during Mao's years often tried to reach our shores. We have traditionally had a good reputation as being fair and honest. But times are changing.

"Only the corrupt Chinese go to Canada," an elderly man in spectacles told me over a steaming dim sum breakfast at a park in the southern city of Guangzhou. "I don't like the Canadian government."

He wasn't referring to our government's complaints about the treatment of Huseyin Celil, the Canadian who is being held by the Chinese authorities for "terrorist activities and plotting to split the country," according to state-run media.

He also wasn't referring to the Conservative government's decision to grant honorary Canadian citizenship to the Dalai Lama, who is still seen here as a "splittist" set on breaking up the country. He wasn't talking about the frequent trips Canadian MPs are making to Taiwan, either.

No, he was talking about Lai Changxing, one of China's most notorious criminals, accused of embezzling billions of dollars and then fleeing to Vancouver, where he remains today.

Despite repeated requests to have him turned over to Chinese authorities, our government has let the legal process take its course. He's been in Canada for years and has just been given another chance to fight deportation.

It's not a good time to be a Canadian in China, because these issues are starting to trickle down into mainstream opinion, obviously guided by the monolithic state-run media machine.

But whereas Xinhua wire stories used to regularly blast former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for paying respects to war criminals at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, now the target is Canada, and most recently Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, who was being warned not to "damage Sino-Canadian ties."

But judging from the two countries' laundry list of grievances, perhaps the ties are already damaged. Canada has been one of the few countries insisting China improve its human rights record, becoming a thorn in the side of the Communist emperors in Beijing.

A recent Angus Reid poll showed 76 per cent of Canadians want our long-term policy with China based on advancing human rights and minority rights, not just economics. But the chances of that happening are slim, because there's simply too much money to be made.

China is not an "emerging" or "growing" superpower. Many feel it's become one already, and has enough economic clout to tell other countries what to do. And as much as Canadians like to think we have a say, we don't.

Other than natural resources, which are also found in other countries with friendly ties to China, we don't have a lot to bargain with. We have a relatively small population, no substantial military strength and aren't one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

We can either look the other way and cash in on China's dizzying economic growth, or we can cease trading with one of the world's largest and most dynamic economies.

CEOs, governments and companies have overwhelmingly chosen the former. They are lining up to obey whatever rule China puts in place for access to its 1.3-billion person market.

From Google and MSN, which willingly block Internet searches not palatable to the Communist regime, to the World Health Organization, which most recently denied Taiwan and its 23 million people membership thanks to pressure from Beijing, China is becoming used to getting its way.

Canadian consumers, if they are honest, would likely also prefer being able to buy cheap Chinese-made goods at Wal-Mart rather than paying more as part of an effort to pressure some far-off government to improve the human rights of people they've never met in a land they'll never see.

It all boils down to money, for governments, companies and individuals.

The one bright spot for social activists will be the Olympic Games next year. China views the Olympics as a major coming-out party and the Asian ideal of "face" means China is very sensitive about ensuring the event goes off without a hitch.

Linking Darfur to the Olympics worked for 107 U.S. congressmen, who wrote a letter urging China to take action or face an Olympic boycott. China responded by sending 275 military personnel to the region.

But it can go the other way, too, as five protesters learned when they unfurled a banner calling for a Free Tibet on Mount Everest. Instead of giving Tibetans more autonomy, China cracked down on Tibetan travel permits issued to foreigners.

Dealing with China is a complex game. But while our government's moral stance is admirable and commendable, it is ultimately doomed to fail.