Walking A Diplomatic Tightrope

In keeping with the ball's theme, "Hometown Canada, Le Canada, mon patelin," every candlelit table in the hall was assigned the name of a Canadian town – underlining the importance of the Canada-China relationship to the economy. "Twenty years ago you'd have had trouble attracting 20 people to such a gathering," says Toronto-born John Gruetzner, a management consultant who has lived in China for more than 20 years. But beneath the celebratory air, concerns about the Canada-China relationship continue unabated. Six months after Prime Minister Stephen Harper boldly took on the Chinese over human rights – specifically the issue of consular access to jailed Canadian Huseiyn Celil – his words still resonate in China. Such "finger-pointing" hasn't gone over well, respected Peking University political analyst Zhu Feng says. "The Chinese mood towards your country is turning sour," he says. The term – "sour" – is one that has been used by state-controlled media here. The leaders are still "angry" and the people "puzzled," says Zhu, about what he calls Canada's "harsh" treatment of China. Harper's comments in November that Canada would not sell out its values for the almighty dollar caused more than a stir here. "Among Western powers, no leader has tried to scold China in this way," says Zhu, who heads Peking U's International Security Program. The fact that discontent about Canada had filtered down to street level was first raised earlier this year when Margaret Cornish, the outgoing executive director of the Canada China Business Council, which organized the gala dinner, told a group of trade lawyers in Toronto of a discouraging interaction she'd had with a Chinese cabbie in Beijing. "We heard your Prime Minister doesn't like China," the driver told her. Says Cornish, "People are concerned. There's no doubt about that." "It's the `lecturing' thing," that troubles the Chinese, she says. http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/220745 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on June 4, 2007]

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