Angry in the Great White North

The meeting between Stephen Harper and Hu Jintao is on again:

Chinese President Hu Jintao will meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a coming economic summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Vietnam, an official said Thursday.

In a move deemed by many to be a diplomatic snub earlier this week, China abruptly called off a private meeting between the two leaders-apparently because of Canada's criticism of human rights in China, and because of the case of a Chinese-Canadian being held there.

But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a news conference that Hu would meet Harper. However, she added that China rejects any criticism of its human rights situation.

"We oppose any country making irresponsible remarks on the internal affairs of China," Jiang said.

The Liberals are trying to get some mileage out of this:

The recent snub of Prime Minister Stephen Harper by the President of China is the latest in a long line of diplomatic blunders by the Conservative Government, Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic Dr. Keith Martin said today.

“Since Day One, this government has been dismantling Canada’s impressive international image by issuing rash and insulting comments about our trading partners and failing to progress on many of our international treaty obligations. This week alone we have been shamed in two major conferences and one massive regional summit. I don’t think our international reputation can sustain the Conservatives’ amateur approach for much longer,” said Dr. Martin.

Still, the snub has generated a lot of interest here, with many feeling that Stephen Harper is finally showing the Canada can live up to its ideals. On the other hand, there are those who fear that trade will suffer.

For these people, money is what matters.

Of course, they never actually say it in so many words.

Well, not unless you are Opposition leader Bill Graham. In October 2000, with the Liberals in power, he did say exactly that:

The Huang family of the village Caidian in the Chinese province of Hubei already had three children when local family planning officials heard about Mrs. Huang's pregnancy. The officials tried but failed to induce an abortion by injecting Huang with salt water. The baby survived the botched abortion attempt and the officials visited the family in the hospital to order the father to kill his own child. He hid the baby but when the family returned home, five government officers were waiting. They snatched away the child and, in front of the parents, drowned it in a rice paddy.

The Globe and Mail didn't notice the infanticide until Sept. 14, when it reported Canadian Alliance foreign affairs critic Monte Solberg asked for parliamentary hearings into human rights abuses in China and the infanticide case in particular. Bill Graham (Lib., Toronto Centre-Rosedale), chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said MPs could express their concern by adopting a non-binding resolution. But it's clear that Parliament will not look at this issue before Jean Chretien's planned trade mission to China in November.

A Conservative asks that Canada look into cases of Chinese infanticide. Bill Graham shuts down any of that dangerous talk, what with a trade mission around the corner. What horror if Jean Chretien didn't get his photo-op with Chinese officials? And over what? Some dead babies?

Only rubes worry about stuff like this. This is the real world. It's for grown-ups. International politics should be left to sophisticated people like Bill Graham, not to sentimental fools like Stephen Harper, blubbering on about some Canadian being held in prison, and about Chinese human rights in general.

The fact is that Bill Graham has made it clear in the past that under the Liberals, trade (and the taxes that flow from that) will always trump even the most heinous human rights violations.

Stephen Harper has shown that Canada is better than that. Certainly better than Bill Graham.