Canadian PM begins 4-day visit to China
China Wednesday will give a warm welcome to Canada's visiting prime minister, Stephen Harper – in Beijing for four days of talks with Chinese leaders.
"Harper is the last leader of the Group of Eight to visit China, and Chinese leaders have barely visited Canada since Harper took office," Jin Canrong, vice dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times. "The difference in values blocked the two powers from maintaining normal relations."
Random interviews by the Global Times among Chinese citizens found that the country, the second-largest in the world, is not well known in China.
Miss Jiang, 28, who works for a foreign company in Beijing, said that Canada impresses her as a country. It hosts Lai Changxing and many other Chinese immigrants, if nothing else.
"Canada is far away from China," said a company manager surnamed Wang. "But it criticizes China for its human rights record continuously. I don't know why this country is so keen on issues of other countries."
Relations have been drifting on Harper's watch, but market forces have put China in second place on Canada's foreign-trade-partner list – last year Sino-Canadian two-way trade reached a peak of 53.1 billion Canadian dollars ($50.3 billion).
In recent months, Ottawa has appeared to take a softer tone – some say in response to criticism at home from businesses claiming to be shut out of the Chinese market and from its 1.3 million citizens and consumers.
"The prime minister's visit will be a key opportunity to extend our presence in China and to promote Canadian interests," Harper's spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, told a media briefing.
"New global realities demand a modernized Canada- China relationship," he said, while downplaying the possibility of any major agreements during the December 2-6 trip. "We will not transform the bilateral relationship overnight," he said.
Harper is to travel to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong to meet with President Hu Jintao, National People's Congress Chairman Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao, the mayor of Shanghai, Chinese business leaders, and Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang.
Trade and investment, energy and environment, and public health top the agenda, said senior officials. North Korea, Afghanistan, the G20 and upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen are also likely to be discussed.
"China's huge domestic market and its role as one of the world's largest exporting nations will be an essential element of the global recovery," Soudas commented.
"Canada has a tremendous amount to offer China: resources that China needs for its growth, technology, education and connectivity to the North American market," he said.
But despite the initiatives taken by Canada, Zhou Rongyao, director of Canadian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that relations between China and Canada are not as indispensable as those between the United States and the EU.
"So I won't expect too many outcomes from Harper's visit, although at last he comes to China." (Global Times)
