Have we fallen out with China without anyone telling us?
There is talk of a possible visit to Beijing next month by International Trade Minister David Emerson, but it remains unconfirmed. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay has travelled to many countries, including the war-torn streets of Afghanistan, but he has not found time to visit one of Canada's most crucial trading partners. Beijing did get a visit from Colin Hansen, a cabinet minister in B.C. who has responsibility for Asia-Pacific affairs,. He promised to raise the tourism issue at every possible opportunity during his May visit, but failed to break the impasse. Within weeks of taking office, the Conservatives got off to a rocky start in their relations with China when Mr. MacKay said he was "very concerned" about alleged espionage by Chinese agents in Canada. Beijing denied the accusations.It would be fair to say that China is sort of the smelly annoying jerk that we put up with for no reason in my inapt analogy of the junior high gang of big countries. While we are ganging up on the little elementary school kids like Iran, Cuba and North Korea, China is happily selling us all sorts of stuff while it machine guns its protesters, spreads pollution, uses mass human labour that I can't tell from slave labour, restricts discourse, jails bloggers and does all sorts of other stuff. While we go on about spreading democracy, one-quarter of all humans seem to live under arbitrary rule...except it is not arbitrary rule without wealth. There is lots of wealth apparently flowing around certain parts and maybe that makes us feel that it is ok. Money is freedom after all, right.
But maybe our rural overlords don't think so. Or maybe they are all caught up with the keen idea of paratoopers for the Arctic. Maybe that is it.
Comments
Gordo - August 14, 2006 11:56 AM
The West is too addicted to the cheap goods that so easily flow from the Chinese gulags to actually do anything substantive. We're pathetic.
Sean - August 14, 2006 12:08 PM
Me thinks that mayhap even if they are the big smelly bully, the only way to drag them into the shower and clean em up a bit is to cozy up and convince them that they need us like we need them. In asian culture, sending a minor league (see Alan, a baseball analogy just for you) politico instead of a bigger wig is a bit insultive.
Temujin - August 15, 2006 1:40 AM
I'm not sure how Canada defending its territory has anything to do with gulags in China. We've got those resources, and we ought to be taking advantage of them... and protecting them.
Nonetheless, Canada really should be putting up at least a token gesture of disgruntlement towards China. But so should every other country in the world.
Ben (The Tiger in Exile) - August 15, 2006 3:39 AM
Actually, we have fallen out with China -- both over Mackay's comments re industrial espionage and over granting the Dalai Lama honorary Canadian citizenship.
It's sort of a half-hearted falling-out, in that we're just not actively kowtowing to them. And so...