Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been trying to woo the Canadian Asian ethnic vote by making an apology for the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act, and now for the Komagata Maru incident. While both original actions were racist and unconscionable in retrospect... and the long overdue apology commendable... it would be plain silly for Harper to boycott the Beijing Olympics in his personal quest to call China on it's actions in Tibet.
So why would Harper slap the face of the homeland of Canada's biggest source of immigrants and our largest trading partner?
Gabriel Yiu is a media commentator that I got to know as we both called for redress for the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act during the 2005/06 campaign.
He puts forward a very good argument for Harper to attend the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. So I link it here for you to read.
Gee... if Harper doesn't attend the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, would he be considering the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremony... provided he gets re-elected. The same might not be so lucky for David Emerson, Harpers's newly appointed Foreign Affairs Minister, who is still beleaguered in his home constituency of Vancouver Kingsway.
But if Emerson could change his mind about the Conservative Party, and if Harper could change his mind about Emerson, then maybe Harper could still change his mind about the Beijing Olympics.
Harper shouldn’t boycott the Beijing Olympics
Gabriel Yiu
Global Chinese Press column 9.7.2008
When David Emerson was appointed foreign affairs minister, it was widely expected that the appointment could help restore Canada-China relations. Having someone who knows and has experiences dealing with China is certainly better than relying on any of Emerson’s predecessors.
However, if the Conservative government genuinely wants to improve relations with China , a great opportunity has presented itself – the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics. Prime Minister Stephen Harper should attend the Beijing Olympics in person. The Beijing Olympic Games is an historic event for China and friends of China from around the world are visiting and participating in it. If the prime minister of Canada doesn’t grace the occasion with his presence，what kind of “friend” to China is Canada？
By now, over 80 heads-of-state have confirmed their attendance
of the August 8 Olympics opening ceremony in
Beijing . The list includes US President
George Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas
Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Australian Prime Minister Kevin
Rudd and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda....
The prime minister of Britain and the president of France have reversed their earlier position of not attending the Beijing Olympics, so even if Harper changes his stand and visits China , it’s not disgraceful.
What is disgraceful is Harper’s excuse for his non-participation. Unlike the French president who cited Tibet as the reason for the boycott, our prime minister said that it is not the custom for a Canadian prime minister to attend the Olympics. Well, it’s a fact that former prime ministers of Canada had attended Olympic Games. Besides, rather than just an excuse, what kind of custom is that, and why do the Conservatives insist on sticking to it and not follow the protocol of our western allies?
In fact, the prime minister of Canada has better reasons to attend Beijing Olympics than other heads of state. First, Canada is amongst the earliest western countries which established formal diplomatic relations with China . Canada recognized China in 1970 -- that was 38 years ago -- we’re old friends. Equally important, China is currently our second largest trading partner. Moreover, Canada is the organizer of the 2010 Winter Olympics following Beijing ’s 2008 Summer Olympics.
President Sarkozy of France once said that his reason for not attending the Beijing Olympics is an expression of boycott, to express dissatisfaction with China ’s way of handling the Tibetan riots. According to the same logic, Harper’s unwillingness to participate would be seen as a boycott gesture.
President Bush said in his recent visit at the G8 Summit that if he didn’t attend, it would be an “affront to the Chinese people.” Although I dislike Bush a great deal, I have to say that he is right this time. It’s because the Beijing Olympics is no longer a matter of face and dignity just for the government of China and its leaders. It is a major event tugging at the heart of not only the Chinese in China , but the Chinese worldwide.
When the leaders of US, UK and France all understand the symbolism of their participation, why doesn’t our prime minister have the intelligence to comprehend it? For comprehend it he does not. What it shows is the same attitude and hostility towards China shown by Harper since he became prime minister.
Therefore, to those who expect that the appointment of Emerson and a nice gesture to the new ambassador of China can improve Canada-China relations, I would say those are only small gestures more aimed at getting the Chinese vote than showing a change of Harper’s attitude. After all, how many times has Mr. Harper visited Israel ? Why hasn’t our prime minister paid a visit to our second biggest trading partner?
If Harper is genuine in improving relations with China , he should take this opportunity to attend the Beijing Olympics. His sudden about-turn would certainly signal a change, and would be appreciated and rewarded by Beijing . The improved relations would help resolve the current impasse on getting the Approved Destination Status from China , and would bring in large number of Chinese travelers at the time of our economic slowdown.
Remember, the key to improving Canada-China relations lies not in our foreign affairs minister, but in our prime minister.
Also read Miro Cernetig's article
Why Canada and Vancouver need the Prime Minister to go to Beijing
