Canada's Prime minster is acting with some moral principles in dealing with China's human rights. 

 

The Globe & Mail has a poll that asks : Do you believe Prime Minister Harper is taking the right approach in his dealings with China? 

 

One can vote yes or no. hopefully many would  vote yes.

 

To vote go to:

 

  http://www.theglobeandmail.com 

 

Then scroll down about one quarter and look on the right-hand side for a box:

 

and then vote as you wish.

 

These are the voting results so far:

 

 

 

Additional CTV article below
 

===

 

 

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061115/china_snub_061114/20061115?hub=Canada  

 

 

 

 

Updated Wed. Nov. 15 2006 3:22 PM ET 

 

CTV.ca News Staff 

 

Canada won't "sell out" on human rights to promote trade and investment with China, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says. 

 

"I think Canadians want us to promote our trade relations worldwide, and we do that, but I don't think Canadians want us to sell out important Canadian values -- our belief in democracy, freedom, human rights,'' Harper told reporters during a Wednesday stopover in Anchorage, Alaska. "They don't want us to sell that out to the almighty dollar.'' 

 

"There's always a balance to these things,'' he said. 

 

Harper is en route to Asia to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Vietnam. 

 

His remarks come after the Chinese government abruptly cancelled a private meeting between Harper and China's President Hu Jintao. The two were to meet while attending the forum in Hanoi. 

 

"The government's spinning it that the Chinese were worried that Canada would bring up human rights during this meeting, in particular the case of an Uzbeki-Canadian dual citizen named Huseyin Celil, who's in prison in China," CTV's Roger Smith, who is travelling with the Canadian delegation, told CTV Newsnet. 

 

"This whole idea that the Chinese didn't want to discuss human rights seems a little odd," said Smith. "Prime Minister Chretien used to always promise to raise human rights, and he still got meetings with the Chinese." 

 

Smith said there certainly appears to be a big shift in the government's relationship with China. 

 

"The Chretien government, with Team Canada trade missions talked about constructive engagement ... (Harper) seems to be a little more absolute, that human rights is the key issue for the Conservatives." 

 

*MacKay downplays cancellation* 

 

Earlier Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay downplayed Beijing's refusal to arrange the meeting. 

 

The Canadian Press reported Tuesday that China cancelled the meeting that was supposed to take place ahead of this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Vietnam. 

 

The move is seen by some as a snub by the Chinese over the Harper government's emphasis on human rights. 

 

But MacKay said Wednesday that the two leaders are bound to chat during the conference. 

 

"I believe that the prime minister will have the opportunity to see President Hu on the margins of the APEC summit," MacKay told CP in a phone interview from Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. 

 

"I'm sure that they'll have that important discussion and talk about issues of mutual concern." 

 

Both countries had been trying to arrange a bilateral meeting between Hu and Harper before the conference. 

 

Chinese officials said Canada had approached them for a meeting in Hanoi. But Canadian officials said it was the other way around. 

 

"China approached us about a meeting. We said yes. We have since learned that the meeting offer has now been declined," Harper's communications director Sandra Buckler said late Tuesday. 

 

"We remain open to meeting with China at any time -- at APEC or anywhere else. We would, however, want a substantive agenda on economic and trade relations and consular cases like Celil." 

 

The Conservative government has been aggressively lobbying for the release of Huseyin Celil -- held in prison by China for alleged terrorism links. 

 

China does not recognize Celil's Canadian citizenship. His family says he is being persecuted because he is a Muslim. 

 

The Celil issue is just one of a number of irritants in Canada-China relations since the Tories took power in January. Others include the granting of honorary Canadian citizenship to Tibetan exiled leader the Dalai Lama; and accusations by Ottawa that Chinese spies are stealing Canadian trade secrets. 

 

Tory MPs were also among the most vocal critics of religious persecution in China -- in particular the treatment of members of the Falun Gong faith. 

 

MacKay said today that Canada will not back off on human rights. But he added that Canada still has good relations with China. 

 

"We've said from the very beginning that we were going to put a great deal of emphasis on freedom and democracy and human rights and the rule of law and we've been very consistent and clear in communicating that with all countries," he said. 

 

"If we're going to say those things, we've got to be prepared to back them up." 

 

MacKay said he enjoys a positive relationship with China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, and will meet him on Friday. 

 

"The very first meeting that he's having at this very important summit is with Canada," MacKay said. "To that extent, I think we have good lines of communication." 

 

MacKay noted that Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl recently visited China and that Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn is there now. 

 

*China an 'important' partner* 

 

Sergio Marchi, former Canadian trade minister and current president of the Canada China Business Council, said it's important for the two countries not to let the apparent snub over the meeting escalate into a row. 

 

China "happens to be our number two trading partner behind the United States. So both globally and bilaterally, China is a very important partner," Marchi told CTV Newsnet on Wednesday in an interview from Toronto. 

 

"I think it's important that the two leaders get to know one another ... and create a mutually respecting and trusting relationship," he added. 

 

"That relationship, in my experience with China, has to start from the top and then percolates downwards to all the ministers, and particularly the vast Chinese bureaucracy." 

 

Canadian business leaders have been pressing the Tory government to reach out to China for the sake of future trade ties with the economic powerhouse. At the same time, human rights groups have been trying to remind western countries of continuing abuses in China and the region. 

 

MacKay said that's exactly what Canada wants to do. 

 

"It's in Canada's interest to not just look at a relationship as to what we can get out of it, but what we can add to it and that's how we're approaching our relationship with China,'' he said. 

 

/With files from The Canadian Press/